Jettisoning 457 visa, its impacts for Indian techies

When Australia decided to do way with the 457 visa for skilled migrants, the reaction in Indian to the decision was unusually over-the-top.  Most immigration consultants in India were of the view that the reception that this news received was disproportionately depressing as Australia removed 216 occupations out of its skilled occupation list. The fact of the matter, however, is that the 457 visa place will be taken by two other visas of a two and four-year duration. If you consider the fact that in more than the 200 occupations removed from the eligible skilled occupation list, when only two IT occupations – ICT Support and Test Engineers and ICT Support Technicians - were removed, was it much ado about nothing?  It seems so. It is also true that some occupations such as Public Relations Managers Call and Contact Center Managers, HR Advisors and Market Research Analysts, which are popular in India, too were eliminated from the 457 occupation list. But tech professionals need not fret or fume, as they can still go ahead and apply under more than one category.  The Australian dream is still very much on for Indians techies.