Australia's Special Visas To Foreign Talent To Help With Pandemic Recovery
NDTV
The exemption will streamline entry requirements to allow the rapid relocation of workers critical to establishing a business in Australia.
Hundreds of overseas workers could be welcomed to Australia in the next 10 months, under travel exemptions for holders of a government visa created to aid the post-pandemic recovery -- even as tens of thousands of its own citizens remain stranded overseas.
The exemption will streamline entry requirements to allow the rapid relocation of workers critical to establishing a business in Australia. Fewer than than 500 exemptions are expected to be granted to holders of the temporary Activity (subclass 408) "Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery Event" visas during the next 10 months, before the the program is designed to expire.
"This government's initiatives to bring top talent to Australia are cementing our economic recovery," Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said in an emailed statement. "Returning Australians remain the priority, however this automatic travel exemption recognizes the importance of significant investment."
At the start of the pandemic in March 2021, Australia implemented a ban on non-citizens and non-residents from entering the nation that's exacerbated skills shortages in some key industries and services. Strict caps have also been placed on its own citizens; as of late July, some 38,000 Australians were still stranded abroad.
