Australian Immigration Daily News

Recent tightening of the sponsorship requirements is forcing employers to seek alternative options to enable them to sponsor overseas workers.  Labour Agreements (LA’s) may offer a solution in circumstances where standard sponsorship requirements cannot be met by an employer.                                                                                           

Briefly, a labour agreement is a formal arrangement negotiated between an Australian employer and the Australian Government.  Applying for a visa under a labour agreement is the only migration pathway for employers seeking to recruit overseas workers for semi-skilled positions, or skilled positions where concessions to mainstream visa requirements are sought. 

Whilst LA’s offer some concessions including the ability to sponsor workers in semi-skilled positions, an employer must nonetheless ensure Australian workers get priority.  In addition, an employer must ensure: 

• overseas workers must be provided with terms and conditions of employment that are no less favourable than an Australian citizen or permanent resident performing equivalent work at the same workplace and location;
• terms and conditions of employment are expected to be consistent with local remuneration practices for that occupation and must meet Australian workplace laws;
• the base rate of pay afforded to overseas workers must exceed the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold ($53,900 as at 5 April 2017), unless the Minister agrees to a concession

In addition, employers must demonstrate that they made a genuine effort to recruit Australians in the occupations and at the locations covered by the proposed labour agreement as well as consult with relevant stakeholders on the proposed submission prior to requesting a labour agreement from the Department of Home Affairs. 

It with worthwhile noting that all LA’s are considered on a case by case basis and that Australian Government is under no obligation to enter into a labour agreement.  Generally, the government will take into consideration the following: 

• Australian workers are provided with first opportunity through the provision of training and employment opportunities;
•  employers seeking to utilise the labour agreement programme have a plan in place to reduce future reliance on temporary overseas workers and build capacity in the Australian labour market over time;
• skilled or semi-skilled overseas workers employed under a labour agreement are suitably qualified and experienced and able to transfer their skills to less experienced Australian colleagues;
• the number of skilled overseas workers requested under a labour agreement represents a minor proportion of the employer’s workforce; and
• the programme remains in the national interest. 

There are four basic types of labour agreements 

1. Company Specific labour agreement 

A company specific labour agreement is developed directly with an employer and will be considered only where a genuine skills or labour shortage for an occupation exists which is not already provided for in an industry, or relevant project or designated area migration agreement. The terms and conditions of the agreement are considered on a case-by-case basis 

2. Industry labour agreement 

Template labour agreement arrangements are in place for particular industries. Such arrangements provide for fixed terms and conditions agreed to by the Minister in consultation with key industry stakeholders, specific to an industry sector.

Such arrangements may be considered if the Department receives a number of similar labour agreement requests from an industry and there is evidence of ongoing labour shortages within that industry. They help ensure a level playing field across an industry by cementing a set of unique terms, conditions, concessions for certain occupations which will apply to all future labour agreements in that industry sector.  Specific industries include dairy, fishing, meat, on-hire, pork to name a few. 

3. Designated area migration agreements 

The designated area migration agreement (DAMA) programme has been developed to supplement the workforce strategies of states, territories and regions, to support economic performance and help them adjust to changing economic conditions. 

4. Project agreements 

A project agreement allows project companies experiencing genuine skills or labour shortages access to temporary skilled and semi-skilled overseas workers through the subclass 482 visa to meet peak workforce demands during the construction phase of resource or infrastructure projects. 

Project agreements are a two-tiered agreement stream; the first tier consists of an overarching deed of agreement negotiated with a project company with the second tier comprising individual labour agreements with direct employers. They are available to project companies that own or manage the construction phase of large resources or infrastructure projects. 

If an employer is interested in negotiating a labour agreement, a request can be lodged via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  The request should specify the type of agreement an employer is seeking so that correct pro-forma is provided.  

At present the Department of Home Affairs do not charge a fee for labour agreement.  Standard processing time for LA varies, however, on average, the overall process takes approximately 6 months.