Popular among Indians seeking foreign jobs, Australia abolishes 457 visa policy in its ‘national interest’

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, on Tuesday, announced abolition of its visa programme called 457 which allowed businesses to hire foreign workers for a period of up to four years. The old visa policy will now be replaced with a new one with a set of restrictions to ensure that there is no shortage of jobs for Australian workers.  The 457 visa programme is the route many Indians use to find employment in Australia.

“It is important businesses still get access to the skills they need to grow and invest, so the 457 visa will be replaced by a new temporary visa, specifically designed to recruit the best and brightest in the national interest,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.

The move, according to Turnbull, has been made to ensure that businesses can bring foreign workers to Australia in case of any requirement of particular skillsets.

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PTI reports that in September 2016, there were 95,757 people in Australia who were employed there using 547 visa. The announcement comes at a time when US President Donald Trump is also going to sign an executive order to reform the H-1B visa programme in order to make it a ‘more skills-based and merit-based immigration system’.

Similar to 457 visa, the H-1B visa is also used by majority of Indian IT professionals to find jobs in United States and they may face difficulties after the new review system is implemented.