Refugees as Skilled Migrants: Insights from Australia’s 2018 Employer-Sponsored Refugee Migration Pilot

Abstract

Many of the more than 27 million refugees in the world today are highly educated professionals, but resolving their displacement via skilled migration pathways is typically not possible. At the request of employers facing severe skill shortages and the coordination of Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB)–a non-profit organisation–the Australian government introduced in 2018 a pilot program enabling employers to sponsor refugees through an employment contract meeting existing skilled visa requirements. The pilot effectively added immigration places to refugees, as employer-sponsored visa are uncapped in Australia. We highlight some insights collected from TBB’s 2018 and subsequent pilots.