Who can become a sponsor (457 visa)?

Who can become a sponsor?

To become a sponsor, you must be able to show that your business:

• is a lawfully operating business
• has no relevant adverse information against your business.

Australian businesses must also demonstrate their commitment to employing local labour as well as non-discriminatory recruitment practices.
There are two ways you can become an approved sponsor:

• Option 1: Apply to be a standard business sponsor
• Option 2: Negotiate a labour agreement.

Option 1: Apply to be a standard business sponsor

The standard business sponsorship arrangement is the most common way to sponsor a skilled worker using the subclass 457 visa program. You must lodge an application to become a standard business sponsor.


You can have only one standard business sponsorship approved at any given time (that is, one sponsorship approval per legal entity) which is usually valid for five years. You can apply to extend your sponsorship at any time during this five-year period by lodging a variation application.


The requirements for approval as a standard business sponsor differ for businesses that are outside and in Australia.


Business in Australia
You must attest, in writing, that you have a strong record of, or a demonstrated commitment to employing local labour. You must also declare that you will not engage in discriminatory recruitment practices.


Make the attestation and the declaration about your workplace record in your sponsorship application form.
You must also meet training requirements. This means you must either:

• meet the training benchmarks if you have traded in Australia for 12 months or more
• have an auditable plan to meet the training benchmarks if you have been trading in Australia for less than 12 months.

Business outside Australia
You must be seeking to employ a skilled worker to either:

• establish, or help establish, a business operation in Australia
• fulfil obligations for a contract in Australia.

If your business does not yet have an operating base in Australia, you are not required to satisfy the training requirement.

Option 2: Negotiate a labour agreement

A labour agreement is a formal arrangement negotiated between an Australian employer and the Australian Government. You might be able to enter into a labour agreement if you are in one of the following situations:

• the occupation of the workers you want to employ is not listed on the Skilled Occupation Lists (Formerly Known as Form 1121i) or theAustralian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO)
• you are a recruitment company seeking to sponsor skilled workers to be on-hired to another businesses, and the occupations requested are on the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL)
• standard immigration options are not suitable.

You must be able to provide evidence that:

• there is a genuine and systemic shortage of skilled workers
• there are no suitably qualified Australian workers available
• you have a commitment to training Australians.

A labour agreement comes into effect when it has been signed by all parties involved in the negotiations. A labour agreement is typically valid for three years.


How to propose a labour agreement


You need, among other things, to:

• identify the relevant skills shortage in the business and why these vacancies cannot be filled by Australian workers (you need to show you have tried to recruit in Australia)
• specify the number of skilled workers needed from outside Australia
• specify the skill and English language requirements that relate to the nominated occupations. Semi-skilled occupations can be considered provided they are specialised and in demand
• include copies of correspondence showing that relevant stakeholders have been consulted.

You might be able to use a template labour agreement if there is one for your industry or your worker’s occupation. A template labour agreement is a set of standard parameters for similar employers: it does not guarantee an agreement will be approved.


If the template does not suit your needs, you might be able to negotiate an individual agreement.


Labour agreements include a requirement to provide training to Australian employees.
When you have a labour agreement in place, you are an approved sponsor for the term of operation of the agreement. You can then nominate skilled workers from outside Australia under the terms of the labour agreement.


You will also need to meet your sponsorship obligations and any other terms and conditions specified in the agreement.  If you breach the terms and conditions of your agreement, we could suspend or terminate it.


Standard business sponsors

To sponsor a worker as a standard business sponsor, you must:

• be a lawfully operating business
• have no relevant adverse information against your business.

If your business is in Australia, you must also:

• meet training requirements
• demonstrate your commitment to employing local labour
• not engage in discriminatory recruitment practices.

You can use Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO for Organisations) to check the work entitlements of your prospective employees.

A lawfully operating business

You must be a lawfully operating business to apply to be a standard business sponsor. This applies to businesses both in and outside Australia.
To demonstrate this you must show both of the following:

• your business is legally established
• your business is actually operating.

A business that exists only on paper cannot satisfy this sponsorship requirement.
If you do not operate in Australia, you must be able to show that you need a skilled worker to:

• come to Australia to establish, or help establish, a business operation with connections with a business located outside Australia
• fulfil, or help in fulfil, a contractual obligation.

If your business is new, you can still satisfy this requirement if you can provide evidence that your business is in fact operating, even if this has been for only a short period of time.
Examples of the documents you can use to show that your business is legally established and operating are in the Document checklist.


If you operate a business under a trust arrangement you must provide details of the Trust Name and the Trust ABN when you complete the application form.  The application should be made using the name of the Trustee as it appears in the Trust Deed.


Details of the principals of your business such as Owners, Partners, Directors and major Shareholders should be provided when you complete the application form.


Contact us today for more information and assistance.

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457 Visa changes - visa condition 8107

Migration Legislation Amendment (2016 Measures No. 4) Regulation 2016 amends a number of provisions of the Migration Regulations 1994 as listed below:

Schedule 1 - Visa Condition 8107

• This Schedule reduces the time period that a Subclass 457 (Temporary Work (Skilled) visa holder can remain in Australia after ceasing employment with their current sponsor from 90 days to 60 days


•  If 457 holder has not found a new sponsor within 60 days of ceasing that employment, they will be in breach of their visa condition 8107 and their visa may be cancelled.


• This amendment applies to 457 visas granted on or after 19 November 2016.

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The Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) visa

The subclass 457 visa is the most common visa Australian employers use to sponsor skilled workers from overseas.

It allows visa holders to work for up to 4 years under the sponsorship of their employer. The business that sponsors an overseas skilled worker must be an approved Standard Business Sponsor to be able to sponsor someone to work on a 457.

The subclass 457 visa is a three stage process:

First Stage: The business must apply to become a Standard Business Sponsor to be able to nominate an overseas skilled worker in their company.

Second Stage: The approved business sponsor is required to lodge a nomination for a position in the business that is required to be filled.

Third Stage: The prospective 457 visa applicant needs to make an application for a subclass 457 visa.

Nevett Ford Lawyers can assist with the entire process and guide you through the various legislative requirements.  Contact us today for more information and advice.

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Business groups push for reforms to 457 visa

Business groups push for reforms to 457 visa

The campaign for reforms in the 457 visas are once again reignited by business groups in Australia, declaring that it is high time that ”misinformation” regarding the scheme that benefits skilled foreign workers be dispelled.


It is most likely that this move is just going to spark tensions with Australian unions due to the 457 visa for temporary skilled migrants, however, business groups are adamant in lining up to say that the government should get rid of Labor-era labour market testing arrangements that are at present in the scheme.




A letter has been sent to the Productivity Commission from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) stating that it is better if the labour market testing is abolished. On the other hand, the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) is warning that this requirement is just going to add red tape to the process.




This comes as a number of employer groups are preparing for a different review of the salary threshold for occupations which can be filled by workers who are holding 457 visas, in the newest inquiry that is probably going to spark controversy over the skilled migration visa scheme.




The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has foreshadowed the argument against the increase in the income threshold for 457 skilled worker visas that are beyond inflation and is arguing that employers located in regional areas should have the capabilities to hire skilled foreign workers on a salary that is at a discount to the threshold, so long as this was in agreement to the market rates of Australia for the people in that specific regional area.






Ms Jenny Lambert, the employment, education, and training director of ACCI, stated that there seems to be ”misinformation” that foreign workers are taking jobs away from Australians.


”That is the wrong basis to move forward,” Ms Lambert said yesterday.
It is by the end of April that the report from the review of the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold is expected to be submitted.






The Australian government agreed to bring forward the review of the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold – which is currently set at fifty three thousand nine hundred – under a deal with Labor to end the wrangling over the China and Australia free trade pact, otherwise known as ChAFTA.






The review is not just going to look at the appropriate level that would be most suited for the threshold, it is also going to look at the roles of indexation as well as regional concessions for the threshold.


During the debate over ChAFTA, it was insisted by Labor that the threshold be increased to fifty seven thousand dollars. However, this push was dropped after the revelation that this kind of pricing would exclude some rural areas out of the scheme should this push through.
Ms Lambert said that the threshold should hold at its present level though there were still good points of argument that were raised for the sake of indexation and inflation.






For regional areas however, there was an argument that a discount be made because there is a difference between regional and metropolitan labour markets.


”The higher you lift the threshold the less businesses and positions would be eligible to have someone come in on a 457,” Ms Lambert stated. ”And that creates real economic problems not just for the business who can not find a skilled worker, but for the regional community who may not have the services available to them because the skilled worker is not available at the price that the region can afford.”




Ms Lambert also stressed that employers should not be able to pay foreign members of their staff less than what equivalent local workers are going to be paid in that region.
Areas hit by skills shortages at that moment, areas such as in the Northern Territory, can ask for something that is called a ”designated area migration agreement.”




Employers can seek concessions of up to ten per cent that is below the threshold under the designated area migrated agreement, so long as the cost of living in that area is lower compared to the national average, and that the foreign workers there are being paid the same as Australians.






Ms Lambert however, said that businesses were not actually guaranteed there would be such agreements to cover them in their areas.






In the mean time, ACCI has made a submission to another review into migration being conducted by the Productivity Commission, saying that it does not agree with a draft finding in support of labour market testing as the testing is the same as ”asking employers to walk through wet cement.”


Mr Scott Marklamb, the executive director of AMMA’s policy and public affairs, said that while there are some highly skilled occupations that were exempt from doing the testing, the ”resource employers support the abolition of this needless and burdensome requirement.”
It was stated by a spokesman for the Business Council of Australia that it consistently called for the elimination of the labour market testing.


SOURCE: The Australian (newspaper)

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