These are the skills that will help you emigrate to Australia

Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has released the new Skilled Occupations List (SOL) for 2016-17.

Australia is one of the biggest gainers of South African skills through emigration, which is largely accomplished through its “skilled migration programme” which gives preference to skilled foreigners looking to make the country its new home.

The purpose of the country’s skilled migration programme is to attract “highly employable” people for migration, and it is the most common form of migration to Australia.

Recent data published by the Code For South Africa Data Journalism Academy, showed that 47,000 skilled professionals had left South Africa and entered into OECD nations for work.

The data shows that the UK and Australia were the biggest gainers of South African skills – with the UK taking in over 18,500 skilled South Africans, followed by Australia, taking 13,000.

According to the DIBP’s new guidelines, these are some of the skills that will give you preference for emigration to Australia.

There are over 185 jobs listed – below is a general overview of the types of skills.

• Chefs (excluding fast food or takeaway food services)
• Plumbers
• Gasfitters
• Panel beaters
• Carpenters
• Fitters and turners
• Welders
• Engineers (Chemical, Electrical, Aeronautical, Agricultural and many others)
• Telecoms (Network planners, Radio technicians, Engineers)
• Systems Analysts
• Programmers/Developers
• Computer Network and Systems Engineers
• Psychologists
• Doctors, Surgeons and medical specialists
• Registered Nurses and Midwives
• Veterinarians
• Actuaries, Auditors, Accountants

The Skilled Occupations List (SKO) is used for Skilled Independent Visa, Skilled Regional Provisional Visa and Graduate Temporary Visa applications.

In the same report, the DIBP has also released the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSO) which is used for Skilled Nominated Visa, Temporary Work Skilled Visa and Employer Nominated Scheme visa applications.

The CSO lists skills that companies in Australia are looking for, and employers or the state will sponsor for emigration into the country.

The full list for both classes can be found here: Australia SKO and CSOLists

A 2015 report by InterNations Expat Insider shed some light on the profile of South African expats, finding that around half of all South African expats are skilled employees or managers – and a quarter identify as being in top management positions.

New World Wealth recently revealed that thousands of South African millionaires – specifically white millionaires – had fled the country in the past year, citing political unrest and safety concerns in their decision to leave.

Between 2000 and 2014, approximately 8,000 HNWIs (people with a net worth over $1 million) left the country – a number closer to 9,000 by the end of 2015.

More on emigration

South Africa’s young white population is shrinking

Rich white millionaires are fleeing South Africa

This one graph shows that South Africans are leaving the country

Report warns of similarities between South Africa and Zimbabwe