The Two-Step Australian Immigration Policy and its Impact on Immigrant Employment Outcomes*
R.G. Gregory Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8001Research School of Economics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 0200
Abstract
Three decades ago, most immigrants to Australia with work entitlements came as permanent settlers. Today the annual allocation of temporary visas, with work entitlements, outnumbers permanent settler visas by a ratio of three to one. The new environment, with so many temporary visa holders, has led to a two-step immigration policy whereby an increasing proportion of immigrants come first as a temporary immigrant, to work or study, ...