How does the 457 visa work?

With a 457 visa you can work in Australia for up to four years. You can bring your family with you (they can work and study) and you can travel in and out of Australia as often as you like.

The employer/sponsor must: 

Apply to be a sponsor to recruit overseas workers; nominate the positions they want to fill; recruit the overseas workers to fill the nominated positions; and act as a sponsor for employees applying for a visa.

 

You as the employee accept the offer of employment from the employer; apply for the visa; and meet all the conditions of your visa.

Am I eligible for the 457 visa?

To apply for a 457 visa as an employee, your application must follow that of your sponsoring employer. To be considered for a 457 visa, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must be sponsored by an employer to fill a nominated position.
• You must work in a skilled occupation that's been approved by the Australian Government on the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL).
• You must have skills, qualifications, experience and an employment background which match those required for the position.
• You must have English language skills (if you do not hold a passport from UK, USA, Ireland, New Zealand or Canada) (some other exemptions apply).
• You must be eligible for any relevant licences or registration required for the nominated position.
• You must demonstrate that you are to be paid at least the minimum salary level that applies at the time a decision is made on your visa.
• You must meet health requirements.
• You must meet character requirements.
• If you are in Australia at the time of application, you must not have prohibitive restrictions or limitations placed on your current visa.
• You must, if over the age of 18, be willing to declare your respect of Australian values and adhere to Australian law.
• You must have health insurance (some exemptions apply for certain passport holders).

Call us today if you would like more information.

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Australian Medical Treatment visa

Australia is renowned for its high level medical treatment.  Australia has many well equipped and modern hospital facilities including highly qualified medical specialists and practitioners covering a wide range of medical services. 

You may wish to consider Australia to assist with the medical treatment of your family member.  There is an Australian Medical Treatment visa available if certain criteria can be met.

What does the Medical Treatment Visa allow me to do?

If you apply and obtain a Medical Treatment Visa, then the patient (including her / his eligible family members) can travel to Australia and seek out the required medical treatment.

The visa can be granted for up to 12 months depending on the length of treatment required (if you apply for the visa whilst in Australia).  If you apply for the visa while you are outside of Australia, the visa will usually only be valid for a maximum period of 3 months.

The visa permits the patient to undergo medical treatment and attend consultations and to donate or receive an organ.

Part of the application documentation requires the patient (and family members) to demonstrate their financial capacity to support themselves for their proposed stay in Australia because the patient is unable to utilise financial benefits provided to Australian citizens and permanent residents which are by the Australian government.

If you are already in Australia with a valid visa that includes a 'No further stay condition' you will not be able to apply for the Medical Treatment Visa while you are in Australia unless a waiver is sought and obtained.

Children may also receive medical treatment in Australia if the consent of the parent/s is obtained.

Nevett Ford Lawyers Melbourne can assist you with the Medical Treatment Visa as well as all other Australian visa types.  Please contact us for further information, advice and assistance.

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Use of Labour Agreements – 457 Visas

Standard 457 applications involve the sponsoring employer nominating an occupation contained on a list known as the Consolidated Skills Occupation List (CSOL).

It sometimes occurs that a sponsor wishes to nominate an occupation which is not listed on the CSOL, in which case the standard 457 programme is not appropriate.

In situations such as this, the business may wish to give consideration to applying for 457 visas under what is known as a Labour Agreement. These agreements can be utilised in respect of skilled and semi skilled positions if it can be shown that there is a clear lack of available employees in the local labour market. For example, many abattoirs bring meat workers into Australia under Labour Agreements as there is a big shortage of people with the necessary skills to properly bone and slice meat.

The starting point in applying for approval of a Labour Agreement is to be able to demonstrate that there is a skills shortage in the relevant industry. It is also necessary to show what efforts have been taken to obtain suitably qualified persons and what training programs the employer has in place should such persons be found. It is also often necessary to enlist the support of peak body groups or unions where appropriate.

In the past there has been some reluctance on the part of employers to seek to enter into Labour Agreements – probably largely due to the perception that negotiating with a government department is a difficult thing to do. While there may be some truth in that, the department does make it clear that it is open to consider applications, and usually a well-documented case can be finalised within 80 days and even sooner, if urgent.

Nevett Ford lawyers has experience with preparation of labour agreements and would be happy to assist employers who may wish to investigate this option.

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Abbott announces reforms to the 457 visa program

The Prime Minster announced last week his plans to make changes to the 457 scheme to make the visa process more flexible and efficient  for business.

Ryan Curtis-Griffiths, Director at Nevett Ford, provided insight into the reforms for HC Magazine online.

The full article can be found at HC Online

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Onshore Medical Services - health examinations

In July 2014 the department will change to a new migration medical services provider.

The current Onshore Medical Services Contract between the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and the current service provider Medibank Health Solutions (MHS) will expire on 25 July.

From 28 July the provision of visa medical examinations and assessments to clients in Australia will commence with Bupa Medical Visa Services.

The department of immigration has stated that they believe that the change to the new service provider will bring a number of significant client service enhancements that will result in the delivery of high quality and efficient services to meet the required client service standards.  The scope of the contract will include onshore visa and migration medical services currently undertaken by MHS, as well as other visa and migration services currently undertaken by the department.

As a result, those clients seeking health examinations in Australia in July may be impacted.

·         If you are booking an appointment on behalf of a client prior to 28 July you must continue to contact MHS to organise the appointment.

·         From 28 July you are required to contact Bupa Medical Visa Services for any new onshore health assessments or reviews of past Medical Officer of the Commonwealth opinions.

·         For clients who have lodged an assessment with MHS prior to 25 July you are advised to contact Bupa Medical Visa Services on 1300 794 919 to enable the medical assessments to be finalised.

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Update: 2014-2015 Commonwealth Budget Announcement; Family and Skilled Migration

Further to the recent 2014-2015 budget announcement, more detailed figures for the 2014-15 Migration Programme have been added to the Department's website.  The composition of the programme remains stable with the overall number of visas to be granted steady at the 2013-14 level of 190,000 overall.  The percentage of skilled migration visas to family visas also remains unchanged at 67.7% and 32% respectively.  Key points: -There has been some minor rearrangement in partner, child and parent visa numbers. Numbers for other family visas which include aged dependent, carer and remaining relatives have been reduced. -Within the skilled migration streams, 1000 places have been reallocated from the skilled independent stream to the employer sponsored categories. -State and Territory nominated numbers remain unchanged. -Business visa numbers also remain the same as for the previous year. These statistics are available on the Department's website at Migration Programme Statistics. Any questions related to the announcement or Australian immigration, please contact our specialist immigration team.

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Visiting Academic visa - Australia

Visiting academic visas are available to professional academics to participate in research projects conducted by Australian tertiary and/or research institutions. It is usually not appropriate for academics who will receive remuneration in Australia or who will be teaching or lecturing.

To be eligible for a visiting academic visa, you must demonstrate - amongst other things – a significant record of achievement in your field. Just holding a PhD may not be sufficient.

If you do not appear to satisfy the requirements, our expert immigration lawyers can advise you of more appropriate visa options that may be open to you.

Before applying for a visiting academic visa, you must first secure sponsorship from an approved academic sponsor and be nominated by the sponsor.

Academic visas are usually subject to work restrictions that limit what you can do in Australia. It is very important that you understand these restrictions before applying for a visa.

Obligations are also imposed on the sponsoring organisation. Non-compliance with these obligations can result in the organisation being fined or having restrictions placed on its ability to sponsorship people in the future.

If you have any questions or require advice, please contact Ryan Curtis-Griffiths at Nevett Ford Lawyers Melbourne by telephone: +61 3 9614 7111 or by email: rcurtisgriffiths@nevettford.com.au

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