Today the NSW government released information regarding its State Migration Plan for this financial year.

Fortunately the occupation list will remain unchanged (except for the additional occupations) for all those Accountants and Nurses (etc) waiting out there.

However you will note in the table below that NSW plan four distinct application windows and at the beginning of the start of each period their may be changes to the occupation list. 

 

Key points about the program in 2014/15 are:

 

*Applications for 2014-15 will be lodged electronically through a new online system

 

*Applications will be open for four intakes per year with a maximum of 1000 applications per intake

 

*Application intakes will remain open for 4-6 weeks

 

*The NSW Skilled Occupation List will be expanded and will include all occupations on the 2013/14 NSW Skilled Occupation List as well as those occupations added to the SOL by AWPA in 2014 ( such as chef, Bricklayer, Wall and Floor Tiler).

 

PROPOSED CALENDAR FOR NSW SKILLED NOMINATED PROGRAM - 2014/15

 

Occupation List updated	Applications Open	Applications Close
14th July 2014	14th July 2014	11- 25 August
1st October 2014	14th October 2014	11-25 November
7th January 2015	19th January 2015	16-2 March
1st April 2015	14th April 2015	12-26 May

 

 

NSW Trade & Investment estimates a 12 week processing time frame.

 

Applications lodged by post will not be accepted.

 

We will update you again when NSW opens it's sponsorship on 14/07/2014.

 

According to The Australian, the answer is, yes they are.

In an interesting article yesterday Bernard Lane outlines the number of international students remaining in Australia after graduation is significantly increasing and when more and more students obtain thier 485 visa after their studies, this figure will increase dramatically.

In another article in The Australian, Google Australia Chief, Maile Carnegie warns of an IT skill shortage in Australia in years to come. Interesting reading however this may be good news for international students who have come to Australia to study their Masters in IT programs.

It maybe true that Australians are turning away from IT courses for their Bachelor Degrees but there is no shortage of well qualified Indian students who are studying post graduate courses to fill the gap.