If you have a job offer in Australia you may qualify for a work visa valid for up to four years. Business owners and HR managers can also source overseas talent through the same program, known as the subclass 482 Temporary Visa.

What are the Requirements?

The employer needs to be approved as a sponsor

The employer is required to present documents such as financial statements, investment in training of its employees, marketing material, company registration, organizational chart and other identifying details about the company.

A business sponsorship is valid for Five years and it can nominate as many people as it wants to sponsor during this period.

Companies have certain obligations when sponsoring overseas employees and they can be monitored by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) at any time to ensure that they are meeting these obligations.

Nomination

The position that the company requires the overseas applicant to work in has to be selected from an occupation on a Government Gazette Notice, usually referred to as MLTSSL and STOL lists of occupations.

Each occupation on this list is coded according to the Australia and NZ Standard Classification of Occupation (ANZSCO). In addition, a Government Gazette notice states the minimum salary payable under this visa category. At present the minimum salary is $53,900 plus 9.5% superannuation. The salary has to be shown to be market related. In addition, labour market testing has to be undertaken for all occupations specified on the  MLTSSL and STSOL lists to satisfy the Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) that there are no local Australians available with these skills who want to work in this position.

Visa Applicant

The applicant must demonstrate by presenting evidence that they have sufficient skills acquired through recognised qualifications, training or experience to meet the requirements of the position. The fundamental requirement is two years of experience in the occupation requested for sponsorship.

There is also an English language requirement that needs to be met for all occupations, If the applicant is from a country in which English is not the first language, such as UK, Ireland, USA, Canada or NZ, an overall score of 5 with no less than 4.5 in each of the 4 bands of the IELTS test would need to be achieved for STSOL occupations in the last three years prior to lodging the application and no less than 5 in each of the 4 bands of the IELTS test would need to be achieved for MLTSSL occupations.

Police checks are also required for all applicants and these police checks are required for all countries that the applicant has lived in for a cumulative period of 12 months since the age of 16 years old.

Current 457/482 Visa holders

If a visa holder already has a 482 visa, they can transfer the remainder of the term left on the visa to a new business sponsor.