A MAJOR shake-up to the occupations list for skilled migration has been announced by the new Labor government in Western Australia (WA).

The WA Skilled Migration Occupations List (WASMOL) used for state nomination has been slashed from 178 to 18.

A number of types of engineers are among the occupations removed from the list.

The development comes as WA Labor followed through on its promise to tear up the list of occupations that boosted skilled overseas employees to WA on the grounds that occupations removed from the list could be carried out by local employees.

All of the 18 occupations remaining on the list are from the health sector.

As part of the changes, Perth has also been removed from the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS).

Perth has been classified as a ‘region’ since it was added to the RSMS during the resource industry investment peak in 2011.

The classification offered an additional pathway to obtain a visa to work in WA.

WA now offers state nomination for the permanent Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) and the temporary Skilled Regional (provisional) visa (subclass 489) which allows migrants to live in regional Western Australia.

As part of the changes, Perth has also been removed from the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) and new applications for Perth have been suspended.

AREEA has previously advocated to have Perth classed as a ‘region’ under RSMS to assist Perth-based businesses in sourcing their skilled workforce needs.