Visas for offshore resources activities - (such as Oil, Gas and Mining industry)

On 16 July 2014, the Offshore Resources Activity (ORA) regulations were disallowed in the Senate. The ORA regulations prescribed the temporary visas that a non-citizen needed to engage in an offshore resources activity. They were:

• the Maritime Crew Visa (MCV) for a member of the crew of a non-military ship
• the subclass 400 visa or subclass 457 visa for non-citizens undertaking highly specialised work.

A non-citizen who was engaged in an offshore resources activity but did not hold one of the prescribed visas, or a permanent visa, would be in breach of their visa conditions.

The effect of the disallowance was that a non-citizen engaged in an offshore resources activity, or working on a resources installation, would be in breach of their visa conditions even if they held one of the three previously prescribed visas, and could not hold any other temporary visa.

This meant that that there was no longer a visa available to anyone seeking to work temporarily in Australia’s offshore oil and gas industry.

On 17 July 2014, the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection made a Determination under section 9A(6) of the Migration Act 1958 (“the Act"). The Determination exempts certain activities from the definition of “offshore resources activity” as provided by the Act.

The Determination means that non-citizens working on resources installations attached to the Australian seabed – which were already in the migration zone prior to 29 June 2014 – can continue to work in Australia in accordance with the conditions of their visa.

Non-citizens working on fixed structures – i.e. that cannot be moved as an entity from one place to another and are attached to the Australian seabed, cannot hold MCVs, as this is only valid for a member of the crew of a non-military ship. They may hold an appropriate temporary work visa, such as the subclass 457 visa or subclass 400 visa, or a permanent visa.

The Determination means that non-citizens aboard vessels (such as supply, heavy lift, dive support, pipe laying and seismic vessels) who were previously granted an MCV to engage in an offshore resources activity are not in breach of their visa conditions as a result of the disallowance.

Non-citizens aboard these vessels are now considered to be outside the migration zone, and do not need visas. For example, non-citizens aboard a vessel attaching an oil or gas pipeline to the Australian seabed do not need visas.

Non-citizens working aboard these vessels need valid visas if they enter the migration zone another way. For example, a non-citizen flying into an Australian airport en route to or from their vessel will need a valid visa to be immigration cleared.

Non-citizens aboard vessels that are considered to be resources installations when attached to the Australian seabed, such as floating production facilities, will also need valid visas.

The ORA regulations also amended the ceasing provisions of the MCV to prevent the work rights and validity of the MCV from ceasing if the vessel was deemed to be imported or entered for home consumption under the Customs Act 1901 but the vessel was not entered on the Australian International Shipping Register and the visa holder was engaged in an offshore resources activity.

As the ORA regulations have been disallowed, this no longer applies, and the previous ceasing provisions for the MCV have been restored.