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Employer Sponsored Visas

Employer sponsored Visas are for businesses that require an employee within their business, but are unable to fill the position using Australian Labour.

The main Employer Sponsored visas include:

Temporary Business (Long Stay) - Standard Business Sponsorship (Subclass 457)

This is the most commonly used program for employers to sponsor overseas workers to work in Australia on a temporary basis.  With this visa you can employ overseas workers for a period of between one day and four years.

Employers can be either:

• Australian businesses
• overseas businesses.

Employers who apply for approval as sponsors under the subclass 457 visa program must demonstrate their contribution and commitment to the training of Australians by providing evidence of meeting the training benchmarks.

Employees must meet all the following requirements:

• be sponsored by an employer to fill a nominated position
• have skills, qualifications, experience and an employment background which match those required for the position
• demonstrated English language proficiency  
• be eligible for any relevant licences or registration required for the nominated position
  
  

Employees on this visa can:

• work in Australia for a period of between one day and four (4) years
• bring any eligible secondary applicants with them to Australia – secondary applicants can work and study
• after entering Australia, have no limit on the number of times they travel in and out of Australia.

Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 121/856)

The Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) allows Australian employers to sponsor employees who are foreign nationals for a permanent visa to work in Australia.

This visa is for Australian employers who want to sponsor highly skilled workers for a permanent visa to work in their business. The employees can be either:

• highly skilled workers from overseas (121)
• highly skilled temporary residents currently in Australia (856)

Employer requirements

To participate in the Employer Nomination Scheme, the employer must:

• be actively and lawfully operating a business in Australia
• have a genuine need for a paid employee to fill a position in their business
• follow all relevant Australian laws and have a satisfactory record of meeting immigration laws (if applicable)
• have a current training strategy for existing Australian employees, or if a newly established business, have a training plan for future training of Australian employees
• provide the employee with an offer of permanent employment.

Position requirements

The nominated position must meet the following requirements:

• be full-time, ongoing and available for at least 3 years
• provide working conditions that are no less favourable than provided for under the relevant Australian legislation and awards
• be a highly skilled occupation that is on the Employer Nomination Scheme Occupation List (ENSOL)
  Note: An employer cannot nominate a position which does not relate to an occupation on the ENSOL.
• meet the minimum salary level for ENS.

Employee requirements

The nominated person must meet one of the following requirements:

• they must have your skills assessed as suitable for the nominated position by the relevant skills assessing authority. A list of assessing bodies can be found in the (ENSOL)
• they have worked full-time in Australia in the nominated occupation on a Subclass 418, 421, 422, 428, 444, 457 or 461 temporary residence visa for the last two years prior to the visa application being made (including at least the last 12 months with the nominating employer)

or

• have been nominated to fill a highly paid senior executive position with a salary of more than $165 000 per annum (excluding superannuation or allowances).

They must also:

• demonstrate that they have the appropriate skills, qualifications and/or experience to fill the position
• meet any mandatory licensing, registration or professional membership requirements that allow them to work unsupervised and without further training
• be under 45 years of age
• provide a letter of appointment or a contract signed by both the employer and applicant
• have Vocational English language ability.

 

Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (Subclass 119/857)

The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) allows employers in regional or low population growth areas of Australia, to sponsor employees who are foreign nationals for a permanent visa to work in Australia.

This visa is for employers operating in regional and low population growth areas of Australia, who want to sponsor skilled workers to fill skilled vacancies in their business.

The employees applying for a visa can be either of the following:

• skilled workers from overseas
• skilled temporary residents currently in Australia.

Eligibility for certification of the position

The Regional Certifying Body (RCB) responsible for the area will assess the nomination to fill a position against the following criteria:

• The business must be actively and lawfully operating in regional Australia.
• The position must be full time and available for 2 years.
• The business requires a person with diploma level qualifications or higher.

Eligibility for nomination

In addition to the above, the department will also assess the application against the following criteria:

• the nomination has been approved by the relevant Regional Certifying Body
• the business follows all relevant Australian laws and has a satisfactory record of meeting immigration laws (if applicable)
• the nominated position is in a business operated by the employer
• the position is being remunerated in accordance with relevant workplace legislation and awards.

Employee requirements

To be eligible for permanent residency under this visa, you must meet all of the following requirements at the time of lodging an application.

You must:

• have the relevant qualifications for the nominated position, which is at least an Australian equivalent trade, diploma or higher qualification
• meet any mandatory licensing, registration or professional membership requirements which allow you to work unsupervised and without further training
• have been offered a full time position for a fixed term of at least two years (supported by evidence of a contract or letter of appointment signed by both the employer and the employee)
• be under 45 years old
• have Functional English language ability

For more information regarding employer sponsored visas and a tailored assessment of your individual situation, contact Ferguson Cannon on +61 (0)7 5443 6600 or email our Migration Manager at migration@fclawyers.com.au.