The Australian government has denied that the occupation of accountants will be removed from the country’s skilled shortages lists for immigration purposes.
It had been widely reported in the Australian media yesterday that accountants were to be removed from the Skilled Occupation List. However, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection has moved fast to quell these rumours.
“There are no plans to remove accounting from the skilled occupation list for the 2015 programme year,” said a spokesman for Michaelia Cash, Australia’s Assistant Minister for Immigration. “There are processes in place to remove or add occupations to or from the skilled occupation list and these procedures will be followed as per the usual practice.”
Were accountants to be removed from the occupations in demand list, this would have be a major blow to the thousands of overseas students currently studying accountancy at Australian institutions with a view to a permanent move. Accountancy is one of the most popular courses overseas students due to a perceived demand for qualified accountants in the country.
To see if your occupation enables you to submit and Expression of Interest for a skilled visa through Australia’s skilled immigration programme, visit: http://www.immi.gov.au/Work/Pages/skilled-occupations-lists/sol.aspx
Article published 12th November 2014