Middle-Class Migrants for Working Class Jobs: Vocational International Graduates in Australia’s Immigration System

Across the world, there is a global race to attract and retain skilled migrants. Skilled migrants are framed as essential to address skill shortages and rejuvenate aging societies as well as economies, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘Skilled’, however, has become a thinly veiled synonym for ‘middle-class’. Middle-class migrants are desirable for they are assumed to have traits such as being driven to succeed and in valuing meritocracy. They also possess socio-economic capital i.e. they are unlikely to be a strain on the host economy, and are presumed to be readily accepted by the host society’s middle-classes. As such, middle-class migrants are frequently rewarded with work visas and with options to transition to permanent residency and citizenship, in contrast to ‘low-skilled’ or working-class migrants. Migration regimes’ efforts to court middle class migrants and keep away Others, however, have been complicated by the need for workers in the Vocational Education Training (VET) sector; a sector conventionally associated with low status and the working class. This paper draws on the findings from an evaluation of a skills assessment program for international VET students who have graduated with Australian qualifications. It examines the key characteristics of the migrants currently working in the VET sector, and contrast this to Australia’s recent policy changes aimed at (re)-attracting middle-class migrants. The case study of Australia highlights the tensions and contradictions between migration regimes’ desire for middle-class migrants and the needs of the VET sector. These tensions have implications for Australia and for countries who are seeking VET-trained migrants in general. There are also implications for migrants originating from the Global South and who fall short of regimes’ ideals of the desirable middle-class migrant.