The federal government has announced several steps for new migrants in Australia along with funds for "social cohesion" in the community.
New Regional visas
From November 2019, two new regional visas will be introduced that require skilled migrants to stay and work in regional Australia for a period of five years.
Those that take up the new visas will then be eligible for permanent residency.
As part of a push to encourage more migrants to live and work outside of the major cities, nearly $50 million over five years will be spent on new visas to “better support the needs of regional Australia”.
Talking to SBS Urdu, Director of the Migration Lounge in Sydney, Salman Kazi, said the changes were expected but overall are ‘beneficial’ to the new migrants.
“New visas will help the people looking to migrate to Australia. Regional areas provide new opportunities along with several benefits that the government is offering to them.
“The option to choose regional areas in the country is a nice step towards making Australia home”
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Increase in Visa fees
Almost all visas from July this year will face a fee increase to the tune of 5.4%.
While some are asking why there is a need to change the visa, Mr Kazmi says that it is increased annually and applied to many visas.
The step is likely to help the government earn an extra $275 million over four years.
Decrease in Visa numbers
The coalition government had earlier announced that the numbers of visas will be decreased for four years from 2019 – 2020.
There will be 108,682 places in the skilled stream and 47,732 places in the family stream, including a combined 3,586 places for child and special eligibility streams, according to the budget.
Funds for Community language programs
More than $12 million over three years will be spent to establish the Community Languages Multicultural Grants Program, which will “support community language schools and connect young Australians to the language, heritage and culture of their community”.
A further $22.6 million over four years will be spent on growing the national community hubs program and establish the national youth hubs program.
