Aged Care workers - Australia Needs You!
With a sustained, thriving economy, Australia is currently facing an acute skills shortage affecting selected occupational groups, industry sectors and regions. Despite government announcements and programs attempting to up skill and re skill the Australian workforce, we are unlikely to fully alleviate the problem in the short term.
Population ageing and low fertility rates are placing the Australian workforce in the twenty-first century under pressure. Aged care is one of the key areas of the workforce in which labour shortages can be expected. This is likely to result in calls for these shortages to be increasingly addressed by the recruitment of more immigrant care workers, both skilled and unskilled.
Not only do we need to increase worker numbers to cater for current shortages, a growing population and the impact of the baby boomers, we also need to replace retiring workers.Forty-six percent of health care workers are over the age of 45, which is 9% above the all industry average age.
These shortages cut across all the health professions, and in the aged care sector, nurses and personal carers are in most obvious demand due to sheer numbers, but physiotherapists, occupational therapists, podiatrists and other allied health professionals are also in short supply. Rural and remote areas are often the worst hit because most Australians prefer to live in the major population centres.
Because registration of Registered Nurses, Enrolled Nurses and other allied health professionals is state based and requirements for registration can vary considerably between states, there is no central source of information on overseas registrations. This will change under the Governments proposal to introduce a national registration scheme.
Contrary to popular belief, sponsored workers are not tied to a particular employer. Workers on sponsored visas, whether permanent or temporary, must remain sponsored by an employer for any where from 3 months to 4 years depending on the class of visa. The problem for employers is the worker can move to another employer as long as the new employer agrees to take over the sponsorship
Sponsored temporary workers may also be able to apply for permanent residence whilst on temporary visas and once obtained, they are then free to move on without requiring further sponsorship.
Immigration Advice Provided by a MARA registered agent
