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Australia could get the green light to begin deporting boatpeople to Malaysia as early as next week, with the Malaysian government expected to approve the controversial refugee swap within days.

MELBOURNE: Australian government plans to increase visas in skilled migrant category that was targeted by cookery and hairdressing students by almost 30 per cent under its 2011-12 migration programme.

Labor is so confident its refugee swap with Malaysia is going to slow the flow of boats that it has budgeted for the arrival of only 750 asylum-seekers next financial year, despite more than 6000 having arrived last year.

An Australian peak industry group says it does not expect hundreds of thousands of foreign workers to come into the country on a new temporary labour program.

Another 63 asylum-seekers - a rare contingent of Vietnamese - were delivered to Christmas Island yesterday as immigration officials questioned how three other Vietnamese detainees managed to escape into jungle undetected less than two months after mass escapes, chaos and

Sydney - Australia on Wednesday beckoned foreign workers with 6,000 more skilled migrant visas and a promise of easier terms for their conversion into the permanent residency that leads to citizenship.

Almost 16,000 skilled migration places will be allocated to the regions for towns with skill shortages, as part of the Federal Budget.

Industry groups and demographers have questioned whether the Gillard government's plans to boost the intake of skilled migrants to regional areas will make any significant difference to the labour shortages gripping the nation.