Australian engineers who were born overseas fear they could miss out on the AUKUS-inspired defence jobs boom because of restrictive United States security requirements.
Tough rules excluding people with links to certain countries mean employers may struggle even further to fill skills shortfalls in the technical professions required for the nuclear submarine procurement, construction and deployment.
More than half (59 per cent) of Australia's engineering workforce is overseas-born, with two thirds of new engineers coming from outside Australia every year, according to Engineers Australia.
Software engineer Eric Raygan — an Iranian-born Australian citizen who has lived in Australia since 2010 — is already concerned that the increasing focus on defence and security may leave people like him behind.
While he is securely employed, he has noticed that recruiters targeting him for new jobs in the defence sector rescind their offers when they realise he was born in Iran.
"My experience has been that quite early on in the process, after the first sort of screen or two, you're met by a barrier called the 'ITAR restrictions' imposed by the United States government," he said.
"Being born [somewhere] is something you can't really change. I have been in Australia for over a decade — for the best part of that, I've been an Australian citizen."
ITAR, which stands for International Traffic in Arms Regulations, is a US law that restricts access to materials and technical data used in defence projects, known as ITAR Controlled Material.
The regulations prohibit certain dealings with "proscribed countries" and their citizens in relation to weapons, intelligence and other related technology and information.
Eva Galfi, a principal consultant at International Trade Advisors who advises defence contractors on the ITAR regulations, said they contained many exclusions.
"The ITAR looks at not only the country of birth, but the ITAR also looks at any country that a person has held citizenship of, permanent residency of, or has any close ties to," she said.
"Those are all reasons why someone would be excluded from participating in a project that involves ITAR-controlled technology."
Many defence contractors — including six in South Australia where the AUKUS submarines will be built — have received exemptions from anti-discrimination law and can refuse potential staff based on their nationality and country of birth.
Australian staff will also need security clearances to work on AUKUS projects.
Some overseas-born engineers said they feared companies will be reluctant to employ people who might put them in breach of ITAR.
"Violating the ITAR carries significant fines and penalties, upwards of a million dollars per violation, not to mention that it interferes with our national security and with the security of all our allies with whom we work on our defence capabilities," Ms Galfi said.
Ms Galfi said the list of proscribed countries was relatively short and that engineers from those countries could get work in other expanding sectors, such as space exploration.
'Goes against the values we represent'
The South Australian government has already announced funding for new training programs to meet the skills shortfalls that could slow down AUKUS.
Universities said those courses were also likely to have security restrictions on their students.
"If we're in partnership with Defence, we have restrictions, and of course people will often need clearances for employment and we do restrict entry in those cases," University of South Australia deputy vice-chancellor Marnie Hughes-Warrington told ABC Radio Adelaide after the AUKUS announcement.
Defence industry consultants told the ABC that Mr Raygan would not be excluded from getting a security clearance.
"Country of birth in no way affects the client's ability to obtain a security clearance as long as they hold Australian Citizenship; Permanent Residency is insufficient without a waiver," Wayne Higgins, managing director at the Australian Defence Consultancy Group, told the ABC.
But Mr Higgins said the system for providing security clearances would have to be changed to accommodate the influx of workers for AUKUS.
"Recognition of equivalent foreign Baseline/Secret/Top Secret security clearances is a key factor to the success of AUKUS," he said.
"The delay in achieving Australian citizenship is often years and the current process is therefore unworkable in the AUKUS construct.
"Whilst foreign clearances are recognised for ADF exercises and operations, the same clearances must be recognised for industry to achieve the AUKUS mission.
"The simple solution is to map foreign clearances against Australian requirements and confirm that all criteria other than citizenship is met."
Mr Raygan said he felt the exclusion of people based on their backgrounds was unfair, especially if they were Australian citizens and did not hold any allegiance to their countries of birth.
"That's going to be very difficult and challenging for a good portion of people from those proscribed countries that fall under those regulations to seek employment," he said.
"It is extremely frustrating, it goes against the values we represent in this country."
