Australia has several visas designed to encourage skilled migrants to work in regional and rural Australia.
People entering the country on these visas are expected to work in regional locations for a number of years, or be sponsored by a regional employer.
But people can't be forced to stay in regional Australia once they get permanent residency.
Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge says some regional employers have been abandoned by some visa-holders, who move to the cities after only short periods of employment.
"They may sponsor people into the country but then sometimes that person will be sponsored into country then once they've got their permanent residency immediately quit the job and then move into the cities."
"So again it's against the spirit of what is trying to be achieved here and we're just taking a look at that because it's in the interests of those regional areas to develop and need people and it's also in the interests of the cities to take a bit of pressure off them."
Mr Tudge says the government is only considering changes, and is yet to formulate any proper policy on the visas.
"If they've come in on the basis of being employed in a regional area, they we think it's not an unreasonable expectation that they stay in that area for a certain amount of time."
"Now, of course, once they've got their residency and citizenship then they can move to wherever they like."
"That's the benefits of citizenship. But if they're sponsored by an employer to a regional area, then we'd like them to stay in that regional area to help develop those locations and take a bit of pressure off the cities."
Opposition leader Bill Shorten says people in regional Australia would welcome more refugees and skilled migrants in their centres.
"I think people in regional communities are up for bringing migrants to their towns. I think that in our big cities, where you are seeing strained infrastructure and congestion, people want to see a better plan in terms of dealing with those issues but there's no doubt that there are plenty of country communities with lots of success stories of migrants moving to the country and really making a qualitative difference."
Australia has a handful of visas specifically on offer to those who want to work in a regional area, including the Skilled Regional (887) and the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (187).
Only seven-thousand of nearly 190-thousand migrants to Australia settled in rural areas last year.
