Australia fears over UK visa change
15 February 2016 by News DeskVisitors from Australia on Tier 2 working visas will have to pay an AU$2,000 annual fee. It has not been made clear whether the employee, or the employer, will be responsible for paying the fee.
Visitors from Australia who stay for longer than six months will have to pay AU$400 to access services of the UK’s National Health Service.
Visitors from Australia seeking permanent residency in UK will now have to earn a minimum of AU$70,000 (£35,000) in order to be eligible to stay.
Darrell Todd, CEO of thinkingaustralia, says: “The new minimum salary rule is pretty unrealistic.
“There are many Aussies working in London who earn nothing like £35,000 a year. There are many Brits who don’t earn this kind of money either. It is hard to see what advantage is gained by insisting on such a high salary.”
The new changes to visa rules will not only affect Australian students and holiday-makers. It could also have a negative impact on Britain’s schools, for example.
Every year the UK Government welcomes 500 Australian teachers who come to work in Britain. Now the National Association of Head Teachers warns these key skills could be lost and kids education suffer as a result of the new visa changes.
“There are good reasons why so many Brits want to migrate to Australia,” says Darrell Todd. “And many people tell me that this kind of government decision-making is one of them.
“There is a very real danger that, if these new rules remain, Britain will start to lose many skilled, enthusiastic Australian workers.”
Hopes remain, however, that the new visa rules will be relaxed in order to encourage and keep skilled workers. Major unions are now lobbying the UK Government to grant an exemption for people such as Australian teachers.
And an online petition has been launched that aims to get 100,000 signatures needed to force a debate in the British parliament in a bid to get the rules changed or scrapped altogether.
Click for government info on UK Visas: Apply for a UK visa
