Amid the controversy and protests by electrical trades union on the issue of 457 visa being issued to Chinese without mandatory skill test for eligibility of 457 visa, the newly released official figures on 457 visa has added new dimension to the controversy.
As the Australia government on continuous denial of the claims made by the organizations like trade unions about the scale of abuse of 457 visa programme on recent free trade pact with China which leads to a flood of foreign workers coming to Australia.
Contrarily, the official figure released by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) indicates a fall in the number of Australian 457 visa workers. The figures indicate that the number of 457 visas granted in the previous government was recorded at peak level, as more than 126,000 foreign workers were granted with 457 visas in 2012/13 financial year.
The 2012/13 financial year annual intake of 457 visa workers was higher in the 20 years of programme history. The number of 457 visas issued under the current government has not increased and fell to a total of 101,970 visas being issued as of July 2015.
Michaelia cash, Assistant immigration minister, says that the 457 temporary visa programme was initiated to address the skills shortage faced in across the industries and occupations by sponsoring the temporary workers from overseas. The 457 visa workers represent about less than one percent of the all workers.
According to Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) data, In the financial year 2011/12 about 125,070 were granted, and the following year peaked to 126,348, with the government changed the number of 457 visas granted were decreased to 98,571.
