For Employer Sponsors
Do you own, manage or operate a business that is struggling to find local workers with specials skills to grow your business? There are many opportunities for Australian employers to source overseas workers when there is a demonstrated need that cannot be met in the Australian labour market.
As an employer and business sponsor applicant, a variety of corporate documents and information will be assessed to determine if the business is lawfully and actively operating in Australia and has the financial capacity to support the costs of employing an overseas worker. Your organisation’s business background, financial capacity and reasons for sourcing overseas workers, for instance, will be reviewed by the authorities to confirm that it would be a suitable sponsor.
A business must be approved as a sponsor before a visa can be granted.
The most common sponsored temporary work visa programme is the Skills in Deman subclass 482 visa (SID visa). There are ongoing sponsor obligations associated with SID visas.
The application process includes following stages:
- A business must first apply as a Standard or accredited business sponsor or enter into a Labour Agreement
- The position is assessed through a nomination application which looks at the salary, genuine need, location, licencing/registration requirements, Australian employment terms and conditions and labour market testing for the role.
- The visa application is lodged and assesses the visa applicant’s qualifications, work experience, English levels and meet all health and character requirements.
There are a variety of employer pathways to sponsor overseas workers for a SID visa including:
Standard Business Sponsorship (SBS)
Where the role occupation is on standard, approved and current occupation lists for the TSS visa or Skilled Employer-Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa, Standard Business Sponsorship is the preferred pathway for Australian businesses.
Larger Australian employers, with large revenues, Australian staff numbers and regular movements of international workers, may be able to be assessed for accredited status which allows for faster processing times for subclass 482 nomination and visa applications. We would be pleased to assess whether your business may qualify for this status and guide you through the application process.
Your business can also become a standard business sponsor if it is domiciled overseas and is setting up an Australian branch or servicing a specific Australian contract.
We can guide you through the specific requirements for your business based on your business details. Please contact us to find out more.
Labour Agreements (LAs)
Where a role occupation is not on the standard lists ,or you are looking for concessions to certain visa criteria (such as age, English, salary, experience, location, permanent visa pathway, etc), you will need to consider entering into a specialised Labour Agreement. A Labour Agreement is developed between the sponsoring employer and the Department of Home Affairs and is generally in effect for five years. It allows subclass 482 Skills in Demand (SID) visas and/or subclass 494 skilled employer-sponsored regional (provisional) visa and/or subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) visas to be granted to the relevant overseas workers.
There are 5 different types of Labour Agreement:
Company-Specific Labour Agreement
Your business will develop a tailored agreement directly with the Department, based on a genuine skills/labour shortage not currently addressed by any other type of Labour Agreement.
We can help to determine if a company specific Labour Agreement is right for your business and prepare and lodge the company specific Labour Agreement. Please contact us to find out more.
Industry Labour Agreements are specific to an industry sector, that provides fixed terms and conditions agreed to by the Department in consultation with key industry stakeholders.
There are currently 10 industry agreements in place for the following sectors:
- advertising
- aged care
- dairy
- fishing
- horticulture
- meat
- pork
- minister of religion or religious assistant
- on-hire
- restaurant (fine dining)
The criteria that employers (and the overseas workers that they wish to sponsor) must satisfy will vary depending upon the terms and conditions of the relevant industry Labour Agreement, and the type of visa applied for.
Requirements will generally relate to the status of the employer’s business; skill level of the nominated occupation(s); salary and employment conditions; and the age, skills and English language proficiency of the overseas workers to be sponsored.
Please contact us for further information regarding the requirements for your specific industry.
Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA)
A recent initiative, DAMAs are intended to help support economic performance in regional areas of Australia, by allowing regions within a state/territory to respond to their unique economic and labour market conditions. Employers in such areas who are experiencing skills and labour shortages may seek to sponsor skilled and semi-skilled overseas workers under a DAMA.
Individuals seeking a visa under the DAMA arrangements must be sponsored by a DAMA approved employer and cannot access the DAMAs on their own.
DAMAs are managed by local state/territory governments and are generally sought either by planning commissions or regional authorities.
The following regional DAMA agreements are currently in effect:
- Adelaide City Technology and Innovation Advancement, South Australia
- East Kimberley, Western Australia
- Far North Queensland, Queensland
- Goulburn Valley, Victoria
- Great South Coast (Warrnambool City & surrounding Shires), Victoria
- Northern Territory
- Orana, New South Wales
- Pilbara (City of Karratha and the Town of Port Hedland), Western Australia
- South Australia Regional, South Australia
- South West (Dardanup Shire), Western Australia
- The Goldfields (City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder & surrounding Shires), Western Australia
- Townsville, Queensland
- Western Australia Department of Training & Workforce Development
Please contact us for further information.
The Global Talent Scheme allows accredited employer sponsors to fill a small number of niche, highly-skilled roles, where business needs cannot be met under existing skilled entry programs.
There are two GTS agreement streams:
- Established Business stream to enable sponsored overseas workers with cutting-edge skills to contribute to innovation in an established business, and improve the skills base of the business’ Australian employees OR
- Startup stream to enable overseas workers with cutting edge skills to contribute to Australia's developing startup sector, bringing new ideas, jobs, skills and technology to Australia. Startups must be in a technology based or STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) related field and first endorsed by the independent GTS startup advisory panel as a viable and genuine startup business.
An employer must demonstrate how sponsored overseas workers will act as ‘job multipliers’ in the Australian business, creating new jobs for Australians and/or transferring skills and knowledge to Australian workers throughout the life of the GTS agreement.
Compared to standard Labour Agreements, the GTS agreement provides faster processing and more flexible concessions however, approved businesses must first meet specific criteria and requirements to be considered for a GTS agreement.
Project Agreements allow project companies with genuine skills or labour shortages to sponsor skilled overseas workers for the SID visa, in order to meet peak workforce demands during the construction phase of resource or infrastructure projects.
A project agreement requires a two-stage application process:
- Project companies that own or manage the construction phase of large resources or infrastructure projects may enter into an overarching deed of agreement with the Department; and
- Once this agreement is in place, employers seeking to directly employ overseas workers may ask to be endorsed by the project company for an individual Labour Agreement with the Department.
Project companies with a project endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under the China-Australia Investment Facilitation Arrangement (IFA) may request a project agreement. In addition, this type of agreement is also available for large-scale activities, where there are multiple sub-contractors requiring a Labour Agreement.
Other temporary activities
If you have overseas individuals in mind for other specialist, short term work, a Temporary Activities Sponsorship may be ideal for your business.
With this type of sponsorship, your organisation may sponsor overseas passport holders for:
- Occupational training for staff registration, upskilling or capacity building overseas
- Staff exchanges with related businesses overseas
- Seasonal work in Agricultural or Accommodation industries
- Entertainment industry work on film, television or live productions as a performer, production or support staff
- Superyacht crew
- Research activities at an Australian tertiary institution
- Sports related activities,including playing, coaching, instructing or adjudicating for an Australian team, or providing high level sports training with a sporting organisation
- Religious work
- Australian Government endorsed events
- Domestic work (for Executives)
Georges Abou Rjeili
Rating: 5 stars
I highly recommend Migration Plus if you are looking to migrate to Australia. They were very helpful and supportive through out the whole process of my visa application specially Dr. Anna Morozov. In fact, I got my partner visa 820 in less than 3 months and now I’m a permanent resident. The follow-up and advises they had for me were very efficient.
Brian Pohakiu
Rating: 5 stars
I am so grateful for the MigrationPlus team especially Fiona and Mateja, their expertise engaged in overseeing the 482 visa (Labour Agreement) application process from the start to the eventual granting of the visas, for me and the entire family. Very competent and efficient service.
채원석
Rating: 5 stars
First of all, I would like to say a huge thanks to Mrs Mateja who consulted my case. When I left Australia, I almost gave up to get a permanent visa but I made it now. As an offshore applicant, it was not easy but Migration Plus is very helpful and professional. Absolutely, I suggest the Migration Plus to people who are preparing any visas in Australia.
Alan Galiñanes
Rating: 5 stars
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. EXCELLENT SERVICE AND PROFESSIONALISM. THEY MADE OUR DREAM REALITY. FOREVER GRATEFUL WITH THIS TEAM. THANKS.
Debbie Liu
Rating: 5 stars
Highly recommend Migration Plus, great service with the professional team. Thank you heaps :)
