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This visa allows Australian employers to sponsor skilled workers for permanent residency in Australia.

The Subclass 186 Visa has 3 streams:

- Direct Entry Stream

- Temporary Transitional Stream

- Labour Agreement Stream

*Direct Entry Stream
Experience
You must have at least 3 years of relevant work experience

English

The primary applicant for the 186 Visa must have Competent English.

You will need to take an English test unless one of the following applies:

you are a passport holder from Canada, Ireland, UK, USA or NZ

Age
You must be under 45 years of age when you apply for this visa.

You may be older than 45 years if you are;

you are nominated as an academic by an Australian University
you are nominated as a scientist, researcher or technical specialist by a Scientific Government Agency
You hold a New Zealand Subclass 444 or 461 Visa and have been working for your nominated employer for two years

Health & Character
Meet the health and character requirements (Unless you are exempt). This requires police and medical checks.

Nomination
You must be nominated by an Australian employer and apply for the 186 visa within 6 months of the nomination being approved (If the visa and nomination applications were not lodged at the same time)

*Temporary Transitional Stream
For 457 visa or 482 TSS Visa holders who have worked for their nominating employer for a minimum of two years.

Experience

You must have been working full-time for your employer on your subclass 457 or subclass 482 visa for at least 2 years.

COVID Update

If you were temporarily stood down, had to take unpaid leave or had your hours reduced due to COVID-19, this time can still be counted towards the time worked for your employer.

English

The primary applicant for the Employer Nomination Scheme visa must have Competent English.

You will need to take an English test unless one of the following applies:

you are a passport holder from Canada, Ireland, UK, USA or NZ

Age
You must be under 45 years of age when you apply for this visa.

You may be older than 45 years if you are;

you held (or had applied for) a subclass 457 visa on 18 April 2017. In this case, you can apply up to 50 years of age
you are nominated as an academic by an Australian University
you are nominated as a scientist, researcher or technical specialist by a Scientific Government Agency
you are a medical practitioner who has worked in your position for at least 3 years as a 457 or 482 visa holder, and 2 of those years were in a regional area.

Health & Character
Meet the health and character requirements (Unless you are exempt). This requires police and medical checks.

Nomination
You must be nominated by an Australian employer and apply for the 186 visa within 6 months of the nomination being approved.

*Labour Agreement Stream

For applicants who are sponsored by an employer under a labour agreement.

This visa allows employers to sponsor skilled workers to fill temporary skill shortages in Australia.

If you are a professional or qualified tradesperson with highly developed skills, you may be able to acquire a temporary skilled shortage (TSS) visa subclass 482.

Formerly known as the 457 visa, the 482 visa will allow you to live and work in Australia for up to two or four years.

The TSS visa enables employers to address labour shortages by bringing in skilled workers to areas where employers cannot source an appropriately skilled Australian worker.

TSS visa holders can work for an approved sponsor in Australia in their nominated occupation under one of the following three streams:

● Short Term
● Medium Term
● Labour Agreement

The application process consists of three parts:

● Sponsorship Application
● Nomination Application
● Visa Application

Eligibility:

be nominated to work in an occupation on the list of eligible medium and long-term skilled occupations
have at least 2 years relevant work experience in your nominated occupation or a related field
have a relevant skills assessment if this is required for your occupation
work only for your sponsor or associated entity, unless you are exempt
meet minimum standards of English language proficiency unless you are exempt from needing to show this
have Health Insurance

Nominated by an approved sponsor:

Before you can apply for a TSS visa, your proposed employer will need to lodge a nomination application for you. They can do this only if they are an approved sponsor or have at least lodged an application to become a Standard Business Sponsor.

Your employer must nominate you for a genuine, full-time position in an occupation specified on:

Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) – up to 4 years visa with opportunity of PR after 3 years.
Short Term Skilled Occupations List (STSOL) up to 2 years visa, which may be renewed once after the initial 2 years, but with no opportunity of PR after.
Labour Agreement – up to 4 years.

Labour Market Testing Requirements

● 2 advertisements within the last 4 months to have run for at least 4 weeks
● no exemptions unless international trade obligations (ITOs) apply.
● required at time of lodgement or immediate refusal

The following evidence will generally be considered sufficient:
● the nominated position has been advertised in Australia
● the advertisement was in English and included the following information:
○ the title, or a description, of the position
○ the name of the approved sponsor or the name of the recruitment agency being used by the sponsor
○ the annual earnings for the position

● at least two advertisements were published:
○ on a national recruitment website, that being a prominent or professional recruitment website that publishes advertisements for positions throughout Australia. A general classifieds website or an advertisement through social media notification is not an acceptable method
○ In a national print media – national newspapers or magazines that are published at least monthly and marketed throughout Australia
○ on national radio – radio programmes that are broadcast or syndicated nationally.
○ accredited sponsor – on the businesses’ website.

Skilling Australia Fund (SAF) fee

This was introduced 12th August 2018 and is a major cost increase for businesses to consider.

This fee is payable per nomination application and relative to the number of years the applicant will be nominated.

The base amount for organisations with less than $10 million annual turnover is $1200, and for all others the base amount is $1800.

Visa period <less than $10 million $10 million or more

One year $1200 $1800

Two years $2400 $3600

Three years $3600 $5400

Four years $4800 $7200

Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa

Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482)