More Irish Considering Emigrating To Australia In Economic Downturn

More Irish considering emigrating to Australia in economic downturn

Visa Bureau
30 March 2009

The number of Irish considering emigrating to Australia has increased as a result of the worsening economic condition in Ireland, reports Euronews.

Emigrating to Australia exhibitions held in Cork and Dublin have seen attendance numbers soar while the Irish government prepares itself for year another economic contraction. According to Euronews, in 2008, the Irish economy suffered its worst full-year performance on record.

Those interviewed at the fairs said the job prospects and higher quality of life were the largest pulling factors for emigrating to Australia who feel that the employment market in Ireland is increasingly destabilising and that Australia, New Zealand and Canada are attractive havens from the economic recession.

“Im a qualified mechanic, so, the way things are going here right now, who knows, in the next couple of months I may be without a job,” said a visitor to the fair.

A father of a family of prospective migrants thought migrating to Canada would be a safe option during the economic downturn.

“We are looking to go to probably Ontario in Canada. The reason is that work has died down a little bit. Were looking for a change, were looking for a better life for our baby Liam and hopefully it would be better in Canada than it would be here.”

Australia, New Zealand and Canada are each leaving their doors relatively open to skilled migration, despite recent adjustments from the Australian Government to reduce its skilled migration quota by nearly 20,000 places until the mid-year budget release. Australia is still crying out for health professionals, engineers, and IT professionals, which have remained on the Critical Skills List (CSL) as the skills highest in demand in Australia and of the highest priority for those lodging an Australian visa application form.