Petition to Skilled Migration Tasmania

We respectfully call on Skilled Migration Tasmania to introduce a fairer Green Pass pathway for people working in priority occupations, including nurses, allied health professionals, and teachers, who are limited to working 24 hours per week under their visa conditions.

Recent changes to Tasmania’s skilled migration priority attributes increased the Gold Pass employment requirement from 20 hours per week to 30 hours per week. While we understand the intention of strengthening the program, this change has unintentionally excluded many people working in Tasmania’s priority occupations who are legally unable to meet the new 30-hour requirement.

As a result, these workers can no longer qualify for the Gold Pass despite contributing to Tasmania’s essential workforce. Instead, they must rely on the Green Pass, Orange Pass or Orange Plus pathways, which generally require significantly longer periods of living and working in Tasmania before becoming competitive for nomination.

For many, these pathways require between 9 and 24 months of residence. However, many visa holders in priority occupations do not have enough time remaining on their visas to meet these requirements. Consequently, many are leaving Tasmania despite wanting to continue living and working in the state.

This means Tasmania risks losing skilled professionals in occupations that it has identified as priorities, including healthcare and education, simply because they cannot legally work the additional hours required for the Gold Pass.

We respectfully request that Skilled Migration Tasmania:

* Introduce a dedicated Green Pass pathway for priority occupations affected by 24-hour-per-week work restrictions.
* Reduce the Green Pass residency requirement for these priority occupations from 18–24 months to 6–9 months.
* Recognise that these workers are already contributing to Tasmania’s priority workforce but are unable to meet the 30-hour Gold Pass requirement because of legal work limitations, not a lack of commitment.
* Help retain skilled workers who have chosen Tasmania and wish to continue contributing to its workforce and communities.

This proposal does not ask for preferential treatment. It asks for a fair adjustment that recognises the legal work restrictions faced by workers in priority occupations. By providing a realistic Green Pass pathway, Tasmania can retain skilled professionals, strengthen essential services, and continue attracting the workforce it needs.

We respectfully ask Skilled Migration Tasmania to review the current policy and introduce a Green Pass pathway requiring 6–9 months of residence for priority occupations affected by 24-hour work restrictions.