What are the impacts of the 457 visa changes?

In Summary, the 457 visa changes have substantial effects:

1) Lodged applications for 457 visas for over 216 occupations are being declined retrospectively
2) The difficulty of obtaining short term and medium term 457 visas has increased
3) Permanent residency applications for short term occupations are blocked
4) Strict caveats for many skilled occupations are now enforced and include
- specialised job duties
- minimum levels of work experience
- new maximum age restriction
- increased English skill requirement
- limitations of the exercise of specific jobs to certain regional areas
- specific minimum market salary rates set individually for each occupation
- sponsor's minimum annual turnover and staffing levels criteria for sponsors.

Pptions moving forward?

Has your occupation been removed from the 457 Occupation List?
If your occupation has been removed from the 457 skilled occupation list, we recommend that you consider alternative pathways to a working visa within Australia and contact us now to discuss your personal situation.

Are you currently on a 457 VISA?

Even if you are currently on a 457 Visa, the changes to the 457 visa apply if your occupation has been removed from the skilled occupation lists.

If you are currently on a 457 Visa and your occupation is not listed on the new skilled occupation list, you will not be able to apply for a renewal of your visa and will need to apply for Permanent Residency.

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Parent Visa options - Australia

The Australian visa system has six classes of visas that people may be eligible to apply for if they are wanting to assist their parents to migrate to Australia.

Currently, there are two options for Parents wanting to be sponsored by their children to live in Australia.

Option 1 – Apply for an Aged Parent visa (subclass 804) or Parent visa (subclass 103)

This option has a very long waiting period for the visas to be processed, the Department of Immigration & Border Protection is currently advising that it could take up to 30 years for one of the above visas to be granted.

Option 2 – Apply for a Contributory (temporary) Parent visa (subclass 173) or Contributory (temporary) Aged Parent visa (subclass 884)

When applying for this visa, it is a two stage process. If the requirements are met, you will be issued with your temporary visa and will then have two years to apply for your corresponding permanent visa.

The permanent visa’s are the Contributory Aged Parent visa (subclass 864) and the Contributory parent visa (subclass 143) depending on the age requirements.

The contributory parent visas have much higher visa application charges, and can be in excess of $45,000 for each applicant.

What is the difference between the aged parent visas, and the parent visas?

Depending on the age of the applicants, they will need to apply for a visa in respect to their current age.

To be eligible to apply for an aged parent visa, you will need to be eligible for the ‘Aged Pension’ in Australia.

This is the age requirements.

What are the requirements?

• You must have a child who is an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen who is willing to sponsor you
• Your child must of been lawfully resident in Australia for at least two years
• Meet the age requirements as set out by the regulations
• Meet the balance of family test
• Meet health and character requirements

What is the balance of family test?

In order to be eligible to apply for any parent visa, you will need to be able to prove that you satisfy the balance of family test.

The balance of family test is used by the Australian government to measure your connection and ties to Australia.

You meet the balance of family test requirement if you either:

• Have at least half (or 50%) of your children that live permanently in Australia
• More of your children live in Australia permanently than in any other country.

Please note: you and your partners children are included in the test which includes step children and adopted children.

Nevett Ford Lawyers can assist with all aspects of the application process.  Contact us today for further information and advice. 

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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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Subclass 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa

The 187 regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa is designed for skilled workers who wish to work in a regional area in Australia. The RSMS helps businesses in regional, remote or low population growth areas, outside the major metropolitan centres to recruit skilled workers to fill positions that are unable to be filled from the local labour market. This is a permanent residence visa.

You can only apply for the 187 RSMS visa if your nominated position is located in regional Australia. Your sponsoring employer must also be actively and lawfully operating its business in this regional area. Regional areas are basically areas that are outside the major metropolitan centres of Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and Melbourne. The good news is that the whole South Australia, Western Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Northern Territory are classified as regional areas. For eligible postcodes that is outside of the major metropolitan areas, please check here.

This visa allows you to work in Australia under one of the three streams:

• the Temporary Residence Transition stream
• the Direct Entry stream
• the Agreement stream.

The Temporary Residence Transition stream is for subclass 457 visa holders who have worked for two years, while holding a subclass 457 visa, in the same occupation with their nominating employer (who is not subject to a labour agreement and who has lodged a valid nomination with us under the Temporary Residence Transition stream), who wants to offer them a permanent position in that occupation.

The Direct Entry stream is for people who have been nominated by their employer under the Direct Entry stream people who have never, or only briefly, worked in Australia temporary residents who do not qualify for the Temporary Residence Transition stream.

The Agreement stream is for subclass 457 visa holders nominated by an employer through a labour agreement.

Your role must be in a regional area and your nominating employer needs to operate their business in the regional area. Although the employer doesn’t need to only operate their business in this area, or have their registered head office in the regional area. As the nominee, you don’t have to live in the regional area. You can travel to the regional area for work purposes. However, you can’t perform your role remotely. You need to be physically in the regional area to perform your role. For example, if your occupation is IT based, and you’ve been offered a role in Ballarat but you’re able to perform this remotely from Melbourne. You are not eligible to lodge the RSMS visa.

If your role requires you to work in several locations, each of these location must be located within a regional area. Occasionally travelling to non-regional areas for meetings, presentations, training etc. is allowed. But if you need to regularly work outside of regional areas, then the nomination application won’t be approved under the RSMS pathway.

For more information or if you need assistance with a 187 RSMS Visa, contact us at Nevett Ford Lawyers.

 

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Luxembourg & San Marino to be added to Work and Holiday visa eligible countries for travel to Australia

Two new Memorandums of Understanding have been signed to establish reciprocal Work and Holiday visa arrangements with San Marino and Luxembourg. Each arrangement will allow up to 100 young adults from Australia and the partner country to enjoy a holiday in each other's country, during which they can undertake short term work and study.

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General Skilled Migration - amendment to the 'points test'

The Migration Regulations have been amended in relation to the Skilled Migration "points test" to provide additional points for applicants who:

• have completed at least two full academic years of post-graduate studies at doctoral or masters (research) level;
• in specified fields, which may include science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or information and communication technology.

Please contact us if you would like advice and assistance about your eligibility for an Australian permanent residence visa.  These changes may just mean that you can now apply.

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What are 457 visa Training Benchmarks? How do you meet the requirements?

Training Benchmarks are requirements that need to be fulfilled by the company who is applying to be a subclass 457 visa 'business sponsor'.


The requirements were introduced to ensure local Australian workers are provided training to perform the work required by the company, thus reducing the dependency of the company on overseas workers.

The Training Benchmarks are as follows:

Training Benchmark A - recent expenditure to the equivalent of at least 2% of the payroll of the business, in payments allocated to an industry training fund that operates in the same industry as the business

Training Benchmark B - recent expenditure to the equivalent of at least 1% of the payroll of the business, in the provision of training to employees of the business who are Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents.

If the business is new (operating for less than 12 months), an auditable training plan is required instead.

If you are unsure how to demonstrate that you have met the Training Benchmarks, please contact Nevett Ford Lawyers Melbourne for a more information, assistance and advice.

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