Australian Immigration Daily News

The Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Act 2018 (the SAF Charges Act) is an Act relating to the ‘nomination training contribution charge’ (the charge) payable by persons who are liable to pay the charge under the Migration Act 1958 (the Migration Act) and the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations).

The charge is imposed on employers who nominate workers for temporary or permanent skilled work visas.

The SAF Charges Act commences on 12 August 2018. Section 7 of the SAF Charges Act imposes the charge payable under section 140ZM of the Migration Act. Section 140ZM is inserted by the Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Act 2018, which also commences on 12 August 2018.

The Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Regulations 2018 prescribe the amount of the charge applicable to nominations made from 12 August 2018, as follows:

 nominations that relate to temporary visas incur a charge of AUD 1200 per year of the proposed visa period or, for businesses with an annual turnover of at least AUD 10 million, a charge of AUD 1,800 per year of the proposed visa period. This charge applies to nominations for the purpose of the new Subclass 482 (Temporary Skill Shortage) visa (Subclass 482), which commenced on 18 March 2018, and nominations of holders of the Subclass 457 (Temporary Work (Skilled)) visa (Subclass 457), which was repealed on 18 March 2018;

 nominations that relate to permanent visas incur a once only charge of AUD 3,000 or, for businesses with an annual turnover of at least AUD 10 million, a once only charge of AUD 5,000. This charge applies to nominations for the purpose of the Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme) visa (Subclass 186) and the Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme) visa (Subclass 187); and

 an exception in both of the above categories is that the charge is nil if the nomination is made pursuant to a labour agreement providing for the nomination of the occupation of Minister of Religion or Religious Assistant. This is a continuation of current policy,which exempts religious organisations nominating Ministers of Religion under a Ministers of Religion Labour Agreement from the training benchmark requirements.

The charge replaces requirements in the Migration Regulations requiring sponsors under the temporary sponsored work visa program, or employers nominating a worker for the Direct Entry stream of the Subclass 186 visa, to have recently spent:

 the equivalent of at least two per cent of their business’ payroll in contributions to an industry training fund (training benchmark A); or

 the equivalent of at least one per cent of their business’ payroll on the training of Australians (training benchmark B).

Source: Migration-Skilling-Australians-Fund-Charges-Regulations-2018.pdf

Explanatory Statement: Migration-SAF-Charges-Explanatory-Statement.pdf