As we all know the Government announced changes to the 457 programme on the 18th April, which included:
- Some adjustments to eligible occupation lists (some additions and removals) and amendments to caveats on some occupations.
- An expansion of the required skills assessment program to include additional nationalities for a small number of occupations.
- Minor changes to training benchmarks for 457 sponsors, introducing a new instrument which provides clarification on acceptable training expenditure and payrolls.
- New requirements for police certificates will see visa applicants attaining police certificates from each country they have lived in for a period greater than 12 months in the last 10 years. Also military service records or discharge papers will be required for those that have served in the armed forces of any country in the last 10 years.
There are some additional changes to the 457 programme being introduced on July 1st 2017 regarding the new sponsorship accreditation requirements. This will ensure a larger number of lower risk sponsors have access to accreditation and priority allocation. Sponsoring businesses must meet usual standard business sponsorship requirements, as well as the additional characteristics, set out in the following four categories, to be eligible for accreditation:
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Category 1 Commonwealth, state and |
Australian workers comprise at least 75% of their workforce in Australia
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Category 2 Australian Trusted |
• Australian workers comprise at least 75% of their workforce in Australia • All employees holding a 457 visa are engaged under a written contract of employment based on the minimum employment entitlements as required under the National Employment Standards • All Australian employees paid in accordance with an Enterprise Agreement or an internal salary table that reflects the current market salary rates for all occupations in their business |
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Category 3 Low volume usage of the |
• Publicly-listed company or a private company with at least AUD 4 million annual turnover for the last 2 years • Have been an active 457 sponsor for at least 2 years, with no adverse monitoring outcomes • Have sponsored at least 1 primary 457 visa holder in the 2 years prior to the application for accreditation • Have a non-approval rate of less than 3% for the previous 2 years • Australian workers comprise at least 90% of their workforce in Australia • All employees holding a 457 visa are engaged under a written contract of employment based on the minimum employment entitlements as required under the National Employment Standards • All Australian employees paid in accordance with an Enterprise Agreement or an internal salary table that reflects the current market salary rates for all occupations in their business • Have provided details of all Principals / Directors and business activities undertaken by their business to the department |
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Category 4 High volume usage (of the |
Characteristics are the same as Category 3 with two differences: • Have sponsored at least 10 primary 457 visa holders in the 2 years prior to the application for accreditation • Australian workers comprise at least 75% of their workforce in Australia |