Recently, Australia launched two new regional visas – Subclass 491 and 494. They are both temporary skilled visas.

Interestingly, the visa is a route to permanent residency in Australia and even citizenship.

However, it would be interesting to consider the advantages and disadvantages of these provisional skilled visas.

Advantages

• Regional visa holders can work and live in specific regions in Australia. These regions, such as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, among others, are very metropolitan cities.

They provide lots of exposure to different cultures and opportunities.

• Regional visa holders will enjoy free access to medical facilities.

Aside from that, children of regional visa holders are also liable to free public education. This will help to lower the cost of living and medical expenses

• It offers international students who have completed their studies in a particular region an additional one year to their post-study work visa
• And to the most significant benefit, skilled regional visa holders are eligible to apply for Australia PR. This will take place after 3 years of residing in a particular regional area

Disadvantages

• Before you can apply for permanent residency, you need to stay in that specific region for a minimum of three years
• Visa holders have to satisfy the minimum annual income required to apply for the PR visa. In this case, it is AUD 53,900 per annum.
• A recent study by George Tan and Andreas Cebulla from the University of Adelaide revealed that most regional immigrants find it challenging to get a job that suits their expertise
  • The study, which interviewed about 1,800 skilled immigrants further showed that there is even a misalignment between what most employers expect from these workers and vice-versa

• Another disadvantage is the Australia work experience. It has been observed that most employers will likely require job applicants to have some work experience in Australia. This will likely not favor new regional skilled migrants.

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