With All Due Respect...

I came over as a PR on a 189 that was issued in 2005. My trade was one of the five that were recently taken off the list. It's not as if it was a low skilled occupation (not that I work as that any longer). Nobody can give you anything but a pure guess (or maybe a 'guestimate'), fiftyeight. Nobody really knows what the future holds.

Pollyana

Few years back - as Pumpkin Blossom will know - we used to see loads of people coming over on trades like hairdressing - landscape gardening is the other that was popular, and at one time we even had a fair few people studying shipbuilding - they could all get sponsorship easily at the end of their courses. And even electricians, plumbers, carpenters, they could all get sponsorship back in the day. Then things changed, almost overnight. Pumpkin Blossom is one of those who was stranded with their long-term planned pathway removed.
Starkly different now, IT people still seem to have it good, though i do wonder for how long. The removal of Hospital and retail pharmacists from the SOL is a bit of a wake-up as I think thats always been seen as a "safe" way in. Even nurses are now finding it tougher to get sponsors and more are having to make their way here on independent skills, or family, visas. Big changes - which I think a lot of us hardly notice as they happen, but looking back over the years I've been watching it, the whole immigration "game" is so different now

fiftyeight

Hi guys, can you please tell where you get the statistics on occupational ceilings and how many places got filled on a given year

old.sparkles

There's been enough changes during my journey, I cant imagine all the ones you've seen. As you say, its hard to know what will happen next year let alone in 3 years or 5 years.

Pollyana

When I get to thinking about it ( like now! ) its mind-boggling really From "little" things like fee increases to huge things like the removal of the $100,000 investment, or the introduction of Skill Select.
Even Spouse Visas have changed a fair bit and they have nothing on the Skills changes

With All Due Respect...

I know a few tree surgeons who moved back in the mid 2000's who are now citizens. I emigrated as an Avionic Engineer, and that's just been removed. Makes me glad I did put the time and effort in to emigrate and get my citizenship years ago - even if I'm not currently in Oz - as I highly doubt I'd be able to do it now otherwise!

I think the point to be learnt is if after considering everything carefully you want to emigrate, and at the time you can, then there's no time like the present as the rules can change all too quickly!

old.sparkles

This is the first year that invitations have been issued - the occupational ceilings are on the reports tab of Skill Select (http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/)

Pollyana

Thats true, the other skill which is now disappearing from the list. I know someone back home who looked into moving on that skill to either Canada or Aus years ago, but they came to the conclusion the family was too settled to uproot them and move. I remember us saying at one point that it was probably a skill that would always be needed if they changed their minds when the kids were older.

With All Due Respect...

Around the same time, 2 other people I worked with moved over on PR, both assessed as the same. None of us actually work as Avionic Engineers any longer. Of the other 2, 1 is now a pilot ferrying people offshore on helicopters, and the other is in the resources industry.

All of us thought much the same though - the electrical and electronic base of that education and trade would always be a skill that would be much in demand, regardless of whether it was of use purely on aircraft or not. Seems we were wrong!

fiftyeight

Yeah it seems like a lot of IT occupations reached the ceiling:

ICT Business and Systems Analysts 1800 out of 1800
Software and Applications Programmers 5160 out of 5160

Also, these occupations are flagged by the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency as mentioned by someone here earlier.

These categories are about the only IT related ones.
There are some others relating to IT support like:

ICT Support and Test Engineers 20 out of 360
ICT Support Technicians 13 out of 3060

But it does seem like the trend is that the supply of IT occupations is getting high

old.sparkles

I'm not sure on Test Engineer, but support technicians would be a Trade skill requiring experience to get a successful assessment, so not available straight from study which is what Polly was talking about

With All Due Respect...

Not wishing to sound too negative or to put you off, fiftyeight, but I think you should concentrate on the qualification at University rather than the who knows of ifs and buts of PR in a few years. With the right qualifications and experience you'll have a great chance of being to emigrate wherever you wish once you have all that is required under your belt. Whether Australia or Canada will be an option then is simply unknown at this moment in time.

I've long considered a move into IT myself, and although my education and skills in this sector are likely much less than yours, I haven't heard anyone be particularly positive about the state of the IT sector in Australia. I suppose it's pretty hard to justify the salaries of Australian IT workers in anything but specialist, niche, or senior positions when much work can be outsourced overseas at a fraction of the cost - even more-so than in Europe or North America.

Be good at what you do and have the paperwork and experience to back it up and you'll always have opportunities, even if they may not be what you first envisaged. A lot of things can change in a few years, not just with regards to immigration policy, but also with regards to your life in general.

Planning ahead is by no means a bad thing, but you're asking questions that no-one has the answers to.

fiftyeight

Thank you for this message, you don't sound negative at all.
I have for a long time wanted to study abroad, and after doing some travelling, I knew I love Oz and Canada (Oz a bit more because of the climate). Right now Oz is kind of my "dream country", but I love Canada a lot too.

Anyhow, I don't expect anyonw to predict the future.
But even people showing me that IT professions are flagged to be removed and pointing the government change, has given me some valueable information.

With All Due Respect...

Go for what you want! If you can use your study as a possible route towards PR then by all means do it. Just don't expect things to necessarily be the same in a few years time as they are now. And if you have to stay in Tasmania afterwards as a condition of any visa you may get then you're not exactly going to be in the IT hotspot of Australia! Nothing wrong with trying though - it may all just work out peachy. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and you'll find a happy medium with a little luck and hard work.

fiftyeight

Hi, can you point me to where they write the explanation for why a certain occupation is flagged?