Any legally established and operating business can apply to be a sponsor. Employer sponsored visas allow Australian employers to source and sponsor foreign workers.
This allows businesses to address skills shortages in a narrower range of occupations in short-term, medium and long-term needs, where a suitably skilled Australian worker cannot be sourced.
An Australian employer who is seeking to sponsor a skilled worker to fill a shortage in their workplace is provided with several types of employer sponsorship visa options in line with their business requirements.
The employer-sponsored visa subclasses below cover temporary and permanent work sponsorship visas for Australia.
The TSS visa enables employer sponsorship to fill skill shortages by bringing in genuinely skilled workers where they cannot source an appropriately skilled Australian worker.
The employer nomination scheme facilitates targeted use of overseas workers to address temporary skill shortages while ensuring that Australian workers get priority.
Due to the economic consequences of Covid-19 and its effect on the Australian economy, the Federal budget for the next financial year is aimed at driving economic growth and support for job creation during Australia’s post recovery phase have thus approved the 2021 – 2022 Migration Program to address Australia’s interests first.
Economic conditions in Australia, future skill needs, the population objectives of states and territories, community views, labour force forecasts, international research, net overseas migration, and economic and fiscal modelling are taken into consideration when planning the program.
TSS visa holders can work in Australia in their nominated occupation for their approved sponsor under one of three streams:
Sponsoring employers who want to nominate applicants through the Labour agreement streams can do so in three ways.
The terms and conditions of these Industry specific agreements are fixed.
Employer sponsored visa applicants must have the skills to fill a position nominated by an approved business for an approved occupation. This will often be determined by a skills assessment.
KEY CRITERIA – EMPLOYER SPONSORED VISA APPLICANTS
As an overseas worker, you are eligible to apply for an employer sponsorship visa if you:
KEY CRITERIA – SPONSORING EMPLOYERS
Short-Term stream is valid up to two years (unless international trade obligations apply). This stream is designed for Australian businesses to fill short-term skill gaps with foreign workers on a temporary basis, where a suitably skilled Australian worker cannot be sourced. The program is uncapped and is intended to be demand driven, enabling businesses to fill emerging skill needs quickly. The 482-visa program has been structured to minimise the impact on Australian workers and the Australian community by:
FOR VISA APPLICANTS
This stream should be used in the following circumstances if:
FOR SPONSORING EMPLOYERS
This stream should be used in the following circumstances:
Medium Term – Stream is valid up to four years. This stream is designed for Australian businesses to fill medium to long term skill gaps with overseas skilled workers, where a suitably skilled Australian worker cannot be sourced. The 482-visa sponsorship has been structured to minimise the impact on Australian workers and the Australian community by:
FOR SPONSORING EMPLOYERS
This stream should be used in the following circumstances:
FOR VISA APPLICANTS
This stream should be used in the following circumstances if:
Australian employers who are seeking alternative and flexible skilled visa sponsorship arrangements may choose to enter into a negotiation with the Australian Government for a type of labour agreement specific to their skill shortage needs. The negotiations entered, utilising the appropriate Labour agreements allows the Australian employer to request terms and conditions which will define employment conditions for future overseas sponsored applicants. There are five types of labour agreements available to Australian Employers:
HORTICULTURE INDUSTRY LABOUR AGREEMENTS
FOR EMPLOYERS
The Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement now provides Australian Agriculture and Horticulture businesses opportunities to sponsor skilled and semi-skilled migrant workers for the horticulture industry, where appropriately qualified Australians are unavailable.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT TO THE STANDARD SPONSORED VISAS?
Standard employer sponsored visas such as the SC482 and SC186 can only be used to sponsor higher level skills 1-3 of the Australian skills occupation lists specific to the visa subclass stream. Generally, if the occupation required by employer is a lower skilled level 4-5, the employer cannot sponsor the nominated applicant under the standard employer sponsored visas for that occupation through the Short term or medium-term streams as the occupation does not appear in the Immigration skills occupations list for that visa subclass. Occupations listed on ANZSCO as skill level 4 to 5 are not considered as high-level skills and therefore are not included in the recurring occupations lists used by the Department of Home affairs. This however does not mean that a shortage does not exist for these lower-level occupations. In fact, due to the critical skills shortage for agriculture industries, industry bodies have rallied and worked with Government to approve a specific Horticulture Industry Labour agreement which address these areas of need.
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH IT?
The benefits of this labour agreement are specific to Industry and assists Australian Businesses who require skilled workers to fill shortages within the skills that are included in the Horticulture industry agreement. Employers who require skilled occupations that do not appear on the standard SC482 Short term or Medium-term occupations lists, may apply for an Industry Horticulture agreement, and access the skills that are expansive and available through this pathway to meet their shortage needs. Australian employers who have an approved Horticulture Industry labour agreement can sponsor overseas skilled workers for up to 31 specific approved occupations that fall within skill level 1-5 as listed in Category A & Category B occupations
KEY FACTORS
FOR VISA APPLICANTS
This stream should be used in the following circumstances if:
The SESR visa is a temporary visa that provides a pathway to permanent residence via the Subclass 191 Permanent Residence (Skilled – Regional) visa. The employer-sponsored visa is designed to respond to labour market shortages in regional Australia. It enables employers to recruit skilled overseas workers who are willing to live and work in regional Australia on an ongoing basis.
Employer-sponsored visas can only be used if the employer is genuinely unable to source appropriately skilled Australian workers. This enables temporary visa holders who have satisfied the primary criteria to enter and stay in Australia for a period of five years from the date of grant.
SESR 494 Employer-Sponsored Visa holders can work in Australia in their nominated occupation for their approved sponsor under one of the following two streams:
Employer Sponsored Visas (ES) stream.
This stream allows employers in regional Australia to recruit skilled overseas workers to work in specified skilled occupations for five where a suitably skilled Australian worker cannot be sourced.
Employer Sponsorship Visa holders may be eligible to apply for permanent residence after three years.
Labour Agreement stream. This stream may be utilised in exceptional cases where standard visa options are not available and there is a demonstrated need that cannot be met in the Australian labour market.
KEY CRITERIA – SPONSORING EMPLOYERS
KEY CRITERIA FOR VISA APPLICANTION
As an overseas worker, you are eligible to apply for this visa application if you:
In summary, SESR visa holders who satisfied the primary criteria:
KEY CONDITIONS OF THE 494 – SKILLED EMPLOYER-SPONSORED REGIONAL VISA
Applicants who have been granted the SC494 visas will become eligible to apply for PR after 3 years and transition into the SC191 visa
The permanent visa pathway will be through:
If you want to learn more about employer-sponsored visa types and which one is right for you, then we welcome you to contact the Mygration team.
Visa applications can be challenging – which is why working with a professional migration agent can be so helpful.
It is also in your best interest to ensure that you work with a registered migration agent whose license is current with the office of the OMARA.
With our continuous support, you’ll save time, money and effort, as well as improve your chances of attaining an employer-nominated visa.
From a direct entry stream to a temporary residence transition stream, our registered visa consultants can guide you through the entire process.
If you’re considering applying for a sponsored work visa in Australia, then contact our team today and enjoy great service, dependable visa advice, and all the assistance you need.
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