Irish Echo News

Landscape gardener and Tree Surgeon are just two of the 12 new occupations the Australian Government has added to its Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL).

Migrants who can prove they possess those skills and qualifications required on the list can apply to have their skills recognised with a view to gaining permanent residency in Australia. 

The list is updated twice a year, and the latest additions reflect the severe skills shortages and lack of workers in certain industry sectors.

Other occupations included amongst those most recently added are engineering manager, electronics engineer, optometrist and dental technician. 

A range of IT professional positions were also added to the list, with those specialising in data warehousing, Linux, .Net technologies, Solaris and Unix now being in demand. One IT occupation has been removed from the list, with Computing Professional specialising in Sybase SQL Server no longer eligible.

The MODL includes occupations identified by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) as being in national demand with sustained employment prospects.  

The MODL has its basis in the DEEWR skill shortages research, with account taken of some broader labour market information, including supply and demand trends.

The MODL is used to target the General Skilled Migration categories of the Migration Program to meet the skill shortages of the Australian labour market. 

For a full listing of the occupations officially in demand, log on to www.immi.gov.au.