UK – Australia Trade agreement – immigration and visa – in principle provisions:
The recently agreed trade deal between Australia and the UK intends to allow greater mobility between the two countries. The initial provisions suggest a number of changes to visas for young people as well as other changes to temporary entry that ‘’will support economic recovery, enhance opportunities for business travel, and encourage people to travel and work in each other’s territory, on the basis of reciprocity’’.
The UK Department for International Trade published the following initial guidelines:
‘’Commitments in the mobility chapter will include:
- companies to sponsor visas committed in the FTA without first having to prove that a national of the country in question could not be hired to do the job, through the reciprocal removal of economic needs tests
- Australia and the UK to provide balanced guarantees that are broadly reciprocal to maintain visa pathways for service suppliers for a substantial number of sectors – through the binding of these sectors in the FTA
A wider range of side initiatives alongside the FTA encompassing broader demographics than Business Mobility including:
- the UK and Australia will make unprecedented changes to their Youth Mobility Schemes, making them available to nationals no older than 35 for a total stay of up to 3 years, without having to undertake specified work including regional work, for example on a farm. In line with each country’s respective immigration system, the parties will further explore opportunities to enhance the ability for citizens to live, work and travel in each country
- agricultural work – the UK and Australia will ensure we can further support agriculture and agribusiness, by outlining visa pathways to facilitate mobility for those involved in agricultural work
- Innovation and Early Careers Skills Exchange – the UK and Australia will jointly explore dedicated visa requirements, in line with our respective systems, to further enable workplace exchanges which facilitate early career mobility for those involved in innovation across industry, culture and the arts
- these changes will be made within 5 years to allow for a smooth adjustment in respective systems’’
Source: UK Department for International Trade