Read: Australia ditches skilled working visa for foreigners

Australia is set to scrap the 457 Visa allowing skilled foreigners to live and work in the country, on account of opening up the job market to more Australians. Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said locals should enjoy priority when it comes to skilled employment and the current skilled worker visa will be replaced with a much stricter one.

Read: The top skills South Africans are taking with them when moving abroad

Australia currently absorbs the highest number of South African emigrants, most of whom are highly skilled. The United Kingdom takes second place as a favourite country for skilled South Africans to emigrate to.

The replacement for the 457 visa will include more rigorous vetting, including tough English language requirements, criminal background checks and a reduction in the number of skills to be granted visas.

Of the South Africans who emigrate to Australia, the following skills are among the most popular they take with them:

• IT
• Accounting
• Trades: Electricians, plumbers, builders
• Engineering: Mechanical, civil etc.
• Teaching: Secondary and pre-primary

The UK looks similar, with one or two differing skills nearer the top:

• Accounting
• Engineering
• Teaching
• Hospitality
• Finance

White professionals make up a large chunk of those leaving South Africa behind, and this trend reflects quite clearly in our overall demographics, with SA’s white population being the only one showing negative growth, at around -1.5% in 2016, compared to where it was a decade before.

Do you think the new visa regulations will cause a major change in the number of skilled workers heading down under, perhaps cause a surge of new skills flowing into the UK instead?