Australian GTI Visa: A big draw for many highly skilled Indians despite pandemic

With the Government of Australia imposing stringent restrictions on international travel and closing all their borders for international travellers under the several categories in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a great number of Indians which includes business travellers and international students are facing difficulties. However, for some highly skilled Indian nationals, a new opportunity for immigration to Australia has been introduced that will help them get the permanent residence visa and the benefits that will follow through the same. This has now become possible to achieve through the new Global Talent Independent (GTI) visa program. With this immigration program, the government of Australia is planning to attract the best skilled, talented and economic professionals from all across the globe to help the nation recover from the impact of the pandemic.

The new GTI immigration program, which was introduced as a pilot program in the month of November in 2019 with only a meager number of 5000 places on offer, was re-launched by the government in the 2020-21 financial budget with 15,000 regions identified as the new target., Additionally to the same, the Australian government has also demonstrated its strong commitment to the new immigration program by managing and setting a rather new business and talent attraction force which will operate on a global level and has been at work from the second half of the year 2020 with a purpose to attract global businesses of high value and also exceptional talent to the nation which is needed to support and uplift the economy of the country and encourage the local employments in various regions.

In order to be granted a visa for immigration to Australia under this new program, applicants have to be highly talented and skulled in any one of the ten targeted industries, which includes, energy, agri-food and agricultural technology, advanced manufacturing and space, health industries, digital technology, infrastructure and tourism, education and financial services. Not only do the applicants have to be highly talented in these mentioned sectors, but should also be able to meet the salary equivalent to the high-income threshold which is AUD 153,600. In addition to this, they also have to present eligibility proofs that they are recognized at an international level for their outstanding achievement at then professional front. Places to apply are available for those doctorate students who will be soon completing their PhD and are in the process of completing their thesis and can demonstrate their exceptional skills and international recognition in their particular sector.

The GTI program will benefit some of the talented and best immigrants that will be landing in Australia from India as it has more flexibility as compared to all other contemporary Australian Immigration Programs. The Government of Australia is committed to accelerate the process of economic recovery in the post pandemic situation and therefore wants to attract best talent from across the globe for its future focused enterprises.

Also, the GTI based immigration program has been perceived and accepted as a better option because it is an employer or state-sponsored immigration stream and has an upper limit of age that is 55 years old, which also has the option of being eased further. The only eligibility requirement therefore for the GTI program is to receive a valid nomination from the permanent resident of Australia or Australian citizens or organizations that have a countrywide reputation in the same business sector. The reason that the applicants are not required to qualify for any particular employment category listed in the occupation list is also of great advantage for the Indian nationals and the GTI targeted industries are themselves focused upon retaining individuals demonstrating cutting edge skills.

The GTI applicant has the permission to work for an employer of their own choice and their visa will be streamlined with the arrangement made under priority processing. The route to the permanent residence takes only few months in case of GTI program. India is one of the top most locations for finding talented skilled professionals along with UK and USA as also confirmed by the data released by the Australian Department of Home Affairs where the invitations issued to the applicants under some unique talent visa categories through the GTI between the time period of January 1, 2020 and September 9, 2020 invited 265 Indian nationals.

Sumit Kumar (name changed) is a highly skilled medicine specialist who is working on an important project with a renowned genomics research firm in Pune. He received a nomination under the new GTI Immigration Program two months back from a professor teaching in a University in Australia and further to the same has also received an invitation form the government of Australia to apply for the permanent residence visa. He has great hopes to travel to Australia and be a part of the ongoing research at the Industry by the end of the month of June 2021.

There is a large amount of interest in the GTI immigration program as it has been validated as a reliable immigration option by many such highly skilled professionals working in various industries across India, despite being a new pathway for permanent residence visa of Australia. To explain further on the benefits of the same, unlike the investor visa, the GTI program does not requires to confirm any large amount of financial investments and the path that follows further after it towards the permanent residence visa of Australia is also much reliable and quick for the GTI Visa. The complete applications of the GTI Visa for Immigration to Australia has a record to get processed in a little time span of five weeks.

Moreover, there are no travel restrictions to Australia for those applicants travelling from Indian who have received the qualification and approved for the GTI visa, even amidst the pandemic, thereby making it an another big attraction. Although borders across Australia are closed for the individuals who are non-citizens of Australia, immigrants that apply under this immigration category can travel without any ongoing travel restrictions. This is the primary reason because of which this Australia immigration scheme is drawing a lot of attention among the potential and highly talented workforce in India especially in the technology sector. The new visa scheme is also of valid interest for those Indian Expats that are living and working inside Australia on other visa types as well as for those that are living in some other countries like United States of America.