DIAC have well and truly responded to the economic downturn and the associated rise in unemployment by introducing significant changes to all new Subclass 457 visa applications.
We have seen an increase in the amount of information DIAC are asking to see for new visa applications, regardless of whether or not the nominating employer is already an approved Standard Business Sponsor. The type of information being requested includes; confirmation that the proposed salary is at market rate; further detail of how the nominated position will be of benefit to Australia; details of any retrenchments of local staff or reduction in hours of staff, etc.
Due to the number of high profile reports of multiple redundancies resulting from the economic crisis, it is not unreasonable to expect DIAC to ask for further information about sponsoring additional overseas employees. However, to the dismay of employers looking to hire staff in industries still suffering from a skills shortage, these changes have been implemented across the board without consideration for industry type or company size. This means that companies legitimately looking for overseas temporary staff with a skill set not readily available in Australia are subject to the same level of scrutiny as companies in other industries where unemployment is high.
Employers reliant on the Subclass 457 visa program, as well as those living in Australia as the holder of a Subclass 457 visa may well hope that these extra requirements are a temporary measure due to unfavourable economic conditions that will ease off again once unemployment begins to decrease – and hopefully that won’t be too far away. However, an objective review of the changes DIAC have made to the Subclass 457 visa program over the last few years, i.e. the cessation of 3rd party sponsorship, introduction of formal English Language Testing in certain occupations, etc, illustrates to us that whilst DIAC still recognise that highly skilled overseas staff are necessary to the growth of Australian companies and can greatly benefit Australian employees by passing along new and valuable skills, the emphasis now is most certainly on making a case as to the value of each nominated employee and the specific benefit they can bring to Australia.
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Lastly, DIAC have also announced that at the start of the new financial year, the Minimum Salary Level (MSL) for Subclass 457 visa holders will increase by 4.1%. Traditionally, an increase in salary levels effects all new visa approvals, however consistent with the last increase of MSL, DIAC will retrospectively implement the new salary level for all existing Subclass 457 visa holders, so if you are the employer of any one on a Subclass 457 visa, we recommend that you review staff salary levels to ensure they are inline with this increase as of 01/07/2009.
Have your say: Will DIAC’s latest changes to the 457 visa help protect Aussie jobs, or will we find ourselves short of specialist skills again when the economy turns around?
Posted by lnorthover 
