Skilled and Business Migration Program

Workforce Victoria is working with industries and communities to attract and support skilled and business migrants to meet ongoing workforce needs which cannot be met locally.

Victoria's Skilled Migration Strategy for 2008-2011, Global Skills for Victoria, aims to increase Victoria's share of the nation’s intake of skilled and business migrants to 28.5 per cent by 2011. The strategy focuses on attracting highly skilled professionals, tradespeople, business owners and investors to Victorian communities and ensuring they settle in well and contribute to their full potential.

There are several components to Victoria's skills and business attraction program.

Global Skills for Provincial Victoria

A key component of the Global Skills for Victoria strategy is Global Skills for Provincial Victoria, a $3.96 million program designed to help Victoria's regions attract skilled and business migrants and link them to local employers.

Live In Victoria Website

The Live in Victoria website is an information portal for professionals, tradespeople, business owners and investors who are considering migrating to Victoria. The website contains information and case studies about living, working and doing business in Victoria, visa sponsorship guidelines for skilled and business migrants. An online visa sponsorship application facility is also available on the site.

Overseas Qualifications Unit

The Overseas Qualifications Unit (OQU) provides a range of free and confidential services to assist qualified professionals who are living in Victoria and have permission to enter the Victorian workforce. These services include recognition of overseas academic qualifications and referral to other relevant organisations and programs.

Business Migration Sponsorship

The Victorian Government assists business owners and investors to migrate to Victoria through a range of services. Services include:

• visa sponsorship for a number of business visa categories. Sponsorship may be required if a migrant does not meet the Australian Government's requirements in the areas of age, language, and assets
• briefing potential business migrants who visit Victoria to undertake market research for business and settlement purposes
• a facilitation and referral service to government and private sector agencies to link business migrants to commercial services which assist with the establishment and successful operation of Victorian businesses.

Skilled Migration Sponsorship

The Victorian Government participates in two skilled migration visa sponsorship programs: the Skilled – Sponsored (176/886) and the Skilled – Regional Sponsored (475/487) visas. These programs target professionals and tradespeople with skills that are eligible for migration in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. Services include:

• information about how to migrate to Victoria
• priority processing by the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC)
• sponsorship through these schemes, including an online visa sponsorship application process
• referral of eligible skilled migrants to employers via the Job Ready Database
• information about living and working in Victoria

The Skilled and Business Migration Program provides information and assistance to eligible international students who have completed their studies and wish to live and work in Victoria.

It also provides assistance to employers with the Australian Government's Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS).

Eligibility Lists for Skilled Migration Visa Sponsorship

Eligibility Lists are a tool used by the Skilled and Business Migration Program that identify skills in demand in Victoria. The lists provide a list of occupations that are eligible for skilled migration visa sponsorship by the Victorian Government.

Sponsorship is done under the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship's (DIAC) Skilled – Sponsored Visa (SSV) and the Skilled – Regional Sponsored (SRS) visa sponsorship schemes. The SSV and SRS schemes are DIAC programs made available to States and Territories wishing to attract a greater share of the national skilled migrant intake.

For an occupation to be listed on the Eligibility Lists, it must:

• offer medium to long term prospects for employment
• be a skill that cannot be adequately sourced by Victorian employers through local training and recruitment within the short to medium term
• align with Victorian Government or industry policies and priorities
• require a minimum level of academic or apprentice based qualifications leading to eligibility for independent migration
• be able to be filled by skilled independent migrants