Today, Treasurer Scott Morrison announced his annual budget to Parliament which included a couple of items of interest to people looking to emigrate to Australia.
An annual foreign worker levy of $1,200 to $1,800 per annum will be applied to employers of temporary foreign workers, whereas employers of permanent skilled workers will be levied a one-off $3,000 to $5,000 fee.
The measures are expected to raise $1.2 billion over the forward estimates, with the money raised to be put into training initiatives for local workers.
Importantly, there will be no cut in the skilled migrant intake from the current level of 130,000 people per year, this number is important as it will ultimately form the basis for the skilled occupations ceilings which we expect to be announced in the coming weeks.