DIMA Annual Report 1998-99

Sub-program 1.3: Business and Temporary Entry

Performance outcomes
(i) Business mobility

The following data summarises key business and temporary entrance trends during 1998-99.

• 2 857 450 visitor visas were granted, an increase of 1.4 per cent compared with 1997-98;
• 210 000 business visit visas (sub-classes 456, 956 and 977) were granted (compared with 218 000 in 1997-98), a decline of 3.6 per cent;
• 33 000 temporary business resident visas (sub-class 457) were granted, essentially the same as in 1997-98;
• 110 894 student visas were granted, an increase of 2 per cent on the previous year (the figure does not include new visa grants providing applicants with permission to work or change of provider, which would add another 6097 visas in 1998-99);
• 64 550 working holiday maker visas were granted, an increase of 13 per cent on 1997-98 numbers;
• 4913 medical visitor visas were granted (4206 in 1997-98), an increase of 16.8 per cent;
• 5580 visas were granted for sponsored skilled migrants (compared with 5900 in 1997-98), a decrease of 5 per cent; and
• 6076 business skills category visas were issued (compared with 5342 in 1997-98) an increase of 14 per cent.

Business mobility throughout the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region continues to be supported primarily through initiatives to enhance the short-term movement of business people, including:

• the APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) Scheme; and
• a commitment by governments to expand the use of multiple entry visas.

Following a phased implementation period, the ABTC Scheme commenced permanent operations on 1 March 1999. Since then New Zealand and Malaysia have joined the expanding scheme, bringing to eight the number of participating APEC economies (in addition to Australia, Chile, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong and China).

Further discussions are proceeding with all APEC governments on proposals to facilitate long-stay temporary business entry for intra-corporate transfers of executives and senior managers.

Steady growth continued in the number of applicants entering under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme, numbers increasing from 581 in 1997-98, to 765 in 1998-99.

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Performance outcomes
(ii) Entry selection

Business migrants are surveyed at 24 and 36 months after their initial arrival for the purposes of monitoring and evaluating the program. The surveys demonstrate the positive impact of permanent business migrants. Within three years of their arrival in Australia:

• 86 per cent were engaged in business, of which 77 per cent were new business;
• each new business employed an average of five people;
• 64 per cent of businesses were involved in exports; and
• the average money invested in businesses was $600 000.

Business migrant arrivals

During 1998-99 the report, Evaluation of the Contribution of Business Migrants in Australia, was released. This commissioned research was conducted by Access Economics, and reported on departmental survey data from 1497 Business Skills Visa Class (BSC) migrants who arrived in Australia between 1992 and 1996, and comparative data from the Business Longitudinal Survey, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

It found business migrants performed very well in terms of program objectives – they have strong international links, have created employment and generally added to the level of commercial activity in Australia. When benchmarked against similar Australian businesses of a comparable age, size and industry, BSC firms are generally more productive in terms of average net worth, turnover and exports.

The report concluded that although the numbers of BSC migrants is small, the program could be seen as having a very positive impact on economic welfare in Australia.

Employer sponsored migrants

During 1998-99, 5580 people entered under the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS), Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) and Labour Agreement programs. More than 70 per cent of visas were granted onshore as employers continued to make greater use of the streamlined temporary entry programs.

The ENS, RSMS, and Labour Agreements programs provide a sharper economic focus for the migration program and address the skill needs of employers across a broad spectrum of occupations, particularly in information technology and telecommunications fields.

Visitors

During 1998-99, 2 857 450 visitor visas were issued, 1.4 per cent more than for 1997-98. The Asian economic downturn (affecting mainly visitors from Japan and the Republic of Korea) continued to balance out the extremely strong growth (averaging almost 10 per cent) in visitor visa numbers across the rest of the world (including some parts of Asia). There was a significant increase in visitor visas issued over the last six months of 1998-99.

Risk factor profile

The risk factor profile is used to help identify people with characteristics in common with visitors to Australia who have previously not complied with their visa conditions. During the year it underwent a review in line with the recommendation of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration.

An updated Risk Factor was gazetted on 26 May 1999. It now includes 43 countries which exhibit a risk rate three times greater than the global average, and have more than 500 arrivals; or six times greater than the global average, and have between 50 and 500 arrivals.

There are 11 new risk factor countries. Six countries were removed from the updated risk factor list because visitors from them now exhibit a risk rate lower than the benchmarks noted above.

Electronic Travel Authority

Australia's Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) system allows visitors to Australia to obtain authority to enter at the same time as they book their travel arrangements. ETAs are now available to passport holders from 31 countries and locations.

Currently 55 airlines and 22 500 travel agents worldwide (as well as Australian offices overseas) participate in the ETA system. By the end of 1999, more than 85 per cent of visitors to Australia will travel on ETAs. For further information about ETAs, see Sub-program 2.4.

Approved Destination Status

A formal agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Australian Government on Approved Destination Status was signed on 22 April 1999. Australia is one of only two Western countries to which Chinese citizens are now allowed to travel as tourists. The scheme is an important development for the Australian tourism industry, the first tourists likely to arrive in August 1999.

Students

Student visa grants for 1998-99 made off-shore totalled 67 130, an increase of 6 per cent on the previous program year.

On-shore, student visa grants for the program year were 43 764, a decrease of 3 per cent on the previous program year (the figure does not include new visa grants providing applicants with permission to work or change of provider).

Strongest growth was reflected in the vocational education, and university under graduate and post graduate sectors, with respective rises of 21,11 and 16 per cent.

A package of measures flowing from the recommendations of the Review of the Student Visa Program (SVP) was implemented on 1 December 1998. The measures are designed to enable controlled and sustainable growth of Australia's education industry, particularly from emerging markets, but at the same time maintain the integrity of the overseas student visa program and the migration program.

Flowing from the review, the concept of the Pre-Qualified Institution (PQI) was introduced in January 1999 with 45 education providers, representing all education sectors selected by the Department to participate in a pilot during 1999.

The PQI is a cooperative arrangement between DIMA and selected education providers to recruit genuine students from the emerging student markets of PRC, India, Pakistan and Vietnam.

Working Holiday Makers

The Working Holiday Maker Scheme promotes international understanding by providing young people with the opportunity to holiday in Australia for an extended period and supplement funds through incidental work.
The economic benefits to Australia are considerable, projected expenditure by working holiday makers being more than $500 million each year.

In 1998-99, 64 550 working holiday visas were granted, an increase of 13 per cent on the previous year. Major source countries were the United Kingdom (52 per cent), the Republic of Ireland (17 per cent), Japan (13 per cent), Canada (7 per cent), the Netherlands (6.5 per cent) and the Republic of Korea (3 per cent).

In August 1998, the Joint Standing Committee (JSM) on Migration issued a report on the Working Holiday Scheme. The report supported continuing the scheme and recommended, among other things, that Australia establish reciprocal agreements with additional countries, and that more young Australians be encouraged to take advantage of reciprocal rights to travel overseas. The Government's response to the report is to be tabled early in 1999-2000.

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Performance outcomes
(iii) Satisfaction of business and other clients

Processes have been developed to engage businesses more actively in advising on their satisfaction with Portfolio programs and services.

During 1998-99, the Business Advisory Panel (BAP), which advises the Minister on business entry policy and programs, undertook a review of business entry programs. Its report is currently being finalised.

It consulted with Commonwealth, state and territory governments, industry associations, chambers of commerce, individual business people and migration agents. Consultations were held in all capital cities, regional Australia and overseas. In addition, more than 50 submissions were received as a result of media advertising.

The review was commissioned due to a perceived softening of demand in some areas of business entry and concern that high-quality prospective business entrants were disadvantaged by existing policy settings.

A number of possible avenues for change have been examined by the BAP. These include fine tuning of some Business Skills threshold criteria, simplifying regulations so they can be better understood by clients and decision-makers, and providing greater flexibility to recognise business people with strong entrepreneurial skills, or skills of benefit to regional Australia.

As well, the BAP identified a range of strategies to improve the attractiveness of Australia's business entry procedures compared with international competitors.

It is anticipated that the findings of the review will be provided to the Minister in August 1999.

Business Centres continue to provide high level satisfaction, as attested by a number of external reviews, including the BAP Review of Business Entry Programs and the Committee of the Economic Development of Australia draft report on Temporary Business Entry to Australia.

The Department's home page on the Internet, which is accessed about 5000 times a week, was upgraded during the year.

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Performance outcomes
(iv) Health assessments

Medical screening processes aim to protect the Australian community from health risks and high costs. The Health Assessment Service (HAS) examined almost 80 000 medical and X-ray reports referred from overseas. The service sought further tests for about 15 per cent, and ultimately rejected about 1 per cent. By comparison, in 1996-1997 the HAS assessed 65 000 reports.

Turnaround times in 1998-99 improved to five days for 100 per cent of the caseload, compared with a 10-day target in 1997-98.

Health Services Australia was contracted to provide health screening services for visa applicants already in Australia, and provided reports for 10 317 applicants. A further 40 000 (approximately) examinations will have been conducted, resulting in immediate clearance.

Regional Medical Directors (RMDs) based in Bangkok and Manchester engaged, trained and monitored more than 1500 local medical practitioners in the countries where applicants require health examinations. The RMDs also provided medical clearance where there had been processing difficulties, notably in Africa, and at the refugee camps for Kosovar Albanians in Macedonia.

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Performance outcomes
(v) Satisfaction of the Minister

During the year the Minister and Parliamentary Secretary were provided with a range of advice on emerging trends and needs in Business and Temporary Entry.

To enable better monitoring of the overseas students program, a monthly report on student applications, grants, rejection rates, processing times and compliance issues was developed. Similar reports are being developed for temporary business entry and for the visitors program.

The Minister and Parliamentary Secretary were provided with regular advice on fine-tuning of policies and programs. Some key changes flowing from this advice included:

• modifications to criteria for entry under the Employer Nomination Scheme, to enable industry better access to skills in short supply;
• changes to the overseas students visa program to ensure a higher level of integrity while enabling managed growth. A key development was the Pre-qualified Institution trial; and
• advice on the Government's response to the JSCM Report on the Working Holiday Maker program.

The Business and Temporary Entry area also provided regular background briefings and speech notes to the Minister and Parliamentary Secretary.

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