Long Stay (457) Work Visa - Employer/Sponsorship Obligations
Employers seeking to sponsor overseas workers can do so, provided they become Approved Business Sponsors. Sponsorship must be applied for and once granted the organisation remains an approved business sponsor for 3 years.
Criteria for Employer Sponsorship Approval.
Companies must be able to meet the following requirements
- Legally operating within Australia (ABN registered)
- Current Profit and Loss / Balance Sheet
- Employ at least 1 Australian staff member (who is not a family member of the owner/director)
- Hasn't previously breached Employment or Immigration Laws.
- Meets the Training Requirement.
Start up businesses are eligible to apply for Sponsorship approval and there is no minimum turnover required by the business and there is no need for the business to be showing a profit.
Training Requirement.
Businesses must show that 1% of their payroll is spent on training Australian permanent residents and citizens.
Costs that count towards this 1% threshold include, payment of training courses, employment (salaries) of apprentices and recent graduates, reimbursement of education fees and the employment of dedicated trainers. Owners and their families are excluded from training expenditure.
A side effect of the training requirement is that many small family businesses are unable to meet the training requirements as they either do not employ people outside of their family. One person operations are also unable to meet the training requirement.
If you are unable to meet the training requirement, you can contribute to an Industry Training Fund.
Employer Sponsorship Obligations
The government has introduced a number of obligations on businesses that seek to sponsor overseas workers.
The complete list of obligations can be downloaded here
Job Nomination
Once a business has been approved as a business sponsor, they can nominate a position that they wish to fill with an overseas worker.
Only certain Skilled, Semi-Skilled and Trade Occupations can be nominated. Here is a list of 457 Occupations.
Nominations must include the name of the visa applicant.
To lodge a nomination a sponsor should provide the job description, employment contract and evidence that the salary being offered is both above $49,330 (for most workers) and meets the salary of the market or other workers in the workplace.
Lodging nominations has become very complex and professional advice should be sought.
| 457 Sponsorship | $ 405 |
| 457 Nomination | $ 80 |
| 457 Work Visa Application | $ 350 |
| Professional Fees - Sponsorship | $ 1950 |
| Professional Fees - Nomination | $ 1500 |
| Professional Fees - Visa | $ 1500 |
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