MIA Media release on delayed SOL

May 10, 2010

The release states:

STILL WAITING FOR SOL

On 8 February 2010, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Hon Chris Evans MP, announced awide-ranging overhaul of Australia's General Skilled Migration (GSM) program.Three months on, tens of thousands of would-be migrants, employers and higher education institutionsare still waiting on the corner piece of those changes, the Skilled Occupation List (SOL).

In missing its own 30 April 2010 deadline, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) tucked away the following statement on its website:
Update on announcement of New Skilled Occupations List:
The Government is considering the report from Skills Australia containing their Skilled Occupation List. An announcement and publication of the new Skilled Occupation List forMigration purposes will be made in May.

Compounding the ambiguity of this new "May" deadline, Senator Evans released a brief statement lateFriday 7 May 2010 suspending the processing of offshore GSM applications in three major Subclassesuntil no earlier than the release of the SOL "later this month."People have been waiting a long time for this with their fates and futures hanging in the balance," said Maurene Horder, CEO of the MIA. "This delay only adds to their confusion and discomfort.

"Part of a piecemeal rollout of GSM changes by the Commonwealth, the new SOL will go hand-in-handwith an updated GSM Points Test, which has also yet to be unveiled.The new List will be a reduced, restricted incarnation of the previous Migration Occupations in DemandList (MODL) and Critical Skills List (CSL) regimes. While the included occupations have been shroudedin secrecy, the general tenor of the changes has been widely known for some time.

There was no consultation with the MIA or any other stakeholders over these most recent suspensions,which will have significant impact on businesses representing many prospective migrants as well asemployers across many sectors."Without a date for the release and implementation of the new SOL, as well as a new GSM Points Test, the Department has made an already painful process worse," Horder added. "The MIA calls upon theMinister to bring compassion, transparency and urgency to this excruciating, stop-start rollout."

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