The first visa has been issued under the government’s new Global Talent Scheme, a quarter of the way into the 12-month pilot program. Queensland-based tech scale-up SafetyCulture recently received a visa for a product manager from the US in what is believed to be the first issued under the new scheme.
But concerns still surround the startup stream of the scheme, with one immigration lawyer saying the current format is “absolutely nonsensical” and “is going to fail”.
The Global Talent Scheme was launched in July after being announced to placate a tech sector that had been left shocked and outraged after the axing of the popular 457 visa scheme.
The new scheme sits underneath the Temporary Skills Shortage visa, and is meant to be a way for tech companies to target “highly skilled and specialised workers” that can’t be found in Australia.