2011 Opens With Reduced Australian Immigration

As 2011 opens, it seems that Australian immigration is set for a lot of changes. As it is, According to the latest figures, net migration into the country are actually starting to decline. And dis is despite the current boom that the Australian economy is experiencing.

According to the latest figures, the number of people moving into the country has significantly decreased as 2010 closed. Data showed that there are only around 200,000 permanent immigrants to have arrived last year, as opposed to more than 320,000 arrivals in 2009. On the other hand, October last year saw the lowest number of monthly arrivals in six year, with only around 9,000 people moving into the country.

One of the reasons that many groups have pointed out to be behind the decrease in migration numbers is the tougher set of immigration regulations being imposed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). It can be recalled that the DIAC implemented the new changes in immigration policy last year, with the hopes of better regulating it.

One of the biggest of these changes was the reorganization of the skilled migration program to better focus on higher level professionals. On the other hand, the student migration, which is one of the largest migration programs that the department is managing, also received significant changes, which resulted in the reduction in the number of foreign students by more than half. There were also a lot of changes that were implemented by the department on the general visa application process, such as the introduction of biometric identification.

Many business groups and economic experts have since expressed their worries about the reductions. They have argued that this will likely have a significant effect on the country's economy. As it is, Australia is highly dependent on immigrants for its economic growth, mainly due to its relatively small population.

Thus, many of these groups are clamoring for the government to relax these new regulations and encourage more immigration into the country. They have also urged the government to create plans that will be able to direct these immigrants to the regions that need them the most. This, they say will help prevent any economic problem that might occur, while still keeping the population manageable.

For their part, federal officials have said that the changes that they have made in the immigration programs are essential for population management. However, they have also noted that this will indeed have a significant effect to the country. Thus, they have said that they will be reviewing these new policies in order to determine which ones are really working as expected.