US migration hike Bill rattles Australia

Melbourne, June 19: Australia's problem of skill workers shortage would take another blow if the US proposal to increase the migrant intake is implemented, experts have warned.

Australian policy makers and experts have expressed fears that the US would lure away the best of the skilled workforce away from the South Pacific country.

The US Senate has recently passed a Bill to increase annual employment-based migration from 140,000 to a whopping 650,000.

If the proposals are approved by the US lower house, the maximum limit on the high-skilled H1-B working visas would jump from 65,000 a year to 115,000. This would direct skilled migrants' movement away from countries like Australia.

The booming Australian economy is feeling the skills crunch as the insatiable Chinese demand for its resources is not showing any sign of petering out in the near future.

Indian demand for Australian resources is also on the rise and would ensure the Australian economic prosperity for years to come.

The Senate Bill to increase the migrant intake reportedly also includes proposal to allow international students in the US to be given work and residency rights after they complete their studies.

These proposals have alarmed Bob Birrell, Director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University here.

''There's already significant competition for skilled migrants, especially persons who have work experience in skills relevant to an advanced economy like that of Australia or the United States,'' Dr Birrell told The Age newspaper recently.

''There's already a problem and if the US upped its level to 600,000, then it would make it considerably more difficult,'' he said.

''We are a very attractive destination for these people but definitely the pecking order is the United States one, us two and maybe Canada thereafter,'' the Australian expert added.

The Age newspaper has also quoted an American expert in stressing the point that Australian and the US skill shortage is bound to come worse as the traditional sources of skilled migrants like India are also keeping their brightest at home.

''There is a risk of losing some of the brightest to countries of origin unless the US does something to reverse the trend.'' ''The situation in India has radically changed. It is no longer a must that to be successful you have to leave India,'' the American expert was quoted as saying by newspaper.

UNI