Australian Immigration Daily News

The Government has released the long-awaited regulations to implement the changes to Australia's temporary skilled visa programme that were first announced in April 2017.

The Regulations wee made by Governor General Peter Cosgrove and were made yesterday, 15 March.

The Regulations will come into force on 18 March 2018, and are known as the Migration Legislation Amendment (Temporary Skill Shortage Visa and Complementary Reforms) regulations 2018. The full text of the Regulations can be accessed through this link.

We have previewed the principal features of these regulations in a post earlier this week.

Here is a summary. More detailed analysis is planned to be posted on this site in the near future.

Here are the main elements of the new regulations:

The former Subclass 457 visa will be abolished, and will be replaced with a new Subclass 482 visa, which will be known as the Temporary Skill Shortage visa.

As was the case with 457 visas, overseas workers will need to be nominated by a sponsoring employer.

The Subclass 482 visa will have three streams:

* The Short-term stream, under which overseas workers whose occupations are on the Short-term Skilled Occupation List will be able to be employed for a maximum of 2 years, unless thatlimitation would be inconsistent with an international trade obligation;

* The Medium-term stream - under this stream, workers whose occupations are on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List will be able to be employed for up to 4 years;

* The Labour Agreement Stream, which would enable skilled overseas workers to be employed under a labour agreement with the Commonwealth government, if there is a need that cannot otherwise be met by the Australian labour market and standard visa programs are not available to meet the need;

The Short-term visa will be able to be renewed only once, unless again this limitation would be inconsistent with international trade obligations.  

Applicants under the Short-term stream would have to satisfy a "genuine temporary entrant" requirement, which would be assessed against their circumstances, immigration history, compliance with visa conditions and other relevant matters. 

There will be a requirement that primary applicants for the TSS have at least 2 years relevant work experience.

There will also be an English language requirement. For applicants under the Short-term stream, this will remain the same as applied to applicants for the 457 visa. However, the Medium-term stream will require a higher level of English proficiency. Applicants will need to achieve an overall score of at least 5 on the IELTS test, and also a minimum of 5 in each component of the IELTS.

The visa application charges under both the Short-term and Medium-term streams will be higher than the charges have been for 457 visas.

The health criteria are also being made more stringent.

Applicants will have to be able to satisfy Public Interest Criterion 4007; waivers will no longer be available under Public Interest Criterion 4006A, which enabled employers to provide written undertakings that they would meet health costs if the applicant otherwise failed to satisfy health criteria. A waiver will still be available under PIC 4007 - however, applicants will need to show that they will not impose an undue burden on the Australian health system or access to services by Australian citizens and permanent residents.

The TSS will have a Condition 8607, which is comparable to the existing Condition 8107 that has applied to 457 visas, but will also specify that the holder may work only in the occupation in relation to which the TSS was issued. 

Accordingly, in order to work in a new occupation, a TSS visa holder must obtain a new nomination from the sponsoring employer and must apply for a new visa. 

Further: the visa period that will apply to dependent children who are members of the family unit will cease at the end of the day before the child's 23rd birthday.

Stay tuned for more details!