Employing Overseas Skills

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Employing OverseasSkills
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• Helping Australian employers find skilled
  overseas workers
• The Australia Government has introduced a whole
  range of measures to help employers find people
  with the skills they need.
• DIMIA has a range of options which can assist
  employers if they cannot find them in the local
  labour market.

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• Options for employing overseas skills
• Working Holiday Visa
• Trade Skills Training Visa
• Employer Sponsored Options
• General Skilled Migration Options
• Elodgement

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Working Holiday Maker Visa

• Aim
• To give young people an opportunity to holiday in
  Australia and supplement their funds through
  incidental work

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• Working Holiday Maker Visa
• People between 18 and 30 may holiday in Australia
• May supplement their travel funds through
  incidental employment.
• Allows a stay of up to 12 months, work for more
  than three months with any one employer is not
  permitted.
• From November 2005, WHMs will be able to apply
  for another WHM visa if they have done at least 3
  months seasonal harvest work in regional
  Australia

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Eligible Countries for WHM

• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Denmark
• Netherlands
• Sweden
• Norway
• Ireland
• Italy
• Belgium
• France

• Japan
• Republic of Korea
• Malta
• Germany
• HKSAR (Hong Kong)
• Finland
• Republic of Cyprus
• Estonia (not yet in effect)

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Working Holiday Maker and Labour Hire Companies

• The 3 months work restriction relates to the
  end-user employer.
• Labour hire firms can refer the WHM to work for
  different end user businesses every 3 months.
• Periods of employment with branches, subsidiaries
  or affiliates of the same business in the same
  city or town are not permitted.

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• Trade Skills Training Visa
• The visa will commence with a pilot program in
  November 2005.
• The visa will be a pathway to permanent migration
  through existing regional migration visas (eg.
  457, SIR, RSMS).
• The apprenticeship training will be undertaken
  through the New Apprenticeship Framework
• - incentive payments will be paid to employers.
• Overseas apprentices will undertake their
  training on a full-fee paying basis.

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• Trade Skills Training Visa
• Applicants must
• Be 18-35 years old
• Have vocational level English
• Be able to meet educational requirements
• Be enrolled in a training course under the New
  Apprenticeship scheme
• Demonstrate financial capacity to meet fees and
  expenses
• Maintain adequate health insurance
• Be sponsored by an Australian organisation.

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• Employer Sponsored Visas
• Temporary
• Business (Long Stay) visa subclass 457
• Permanent
• Employer Nomination Scheme
• Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme

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Employer Sponsorship

• Assists businesses in recruiting overseas skilled
  workers
• Skill level managerial, professional, associate
  professional or trade occupations (ASCO 1 4)
• Minimum salary level 39,100 or 50,775 for IT
  occupations

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Regional Concessions

• Available if supported by a Regional Certifying
  Body throughout Australia except
• Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle, Brisbane, Gold
  Coast, Melbourne, Perth
• Also includes clerical, sales service workers
  plus intermediate production transport workers
  (ie ASCO 5 7)
• No minimum salary level

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Employer Sponsored Visa Applicants

• Must have relevant skills, qualifications and
  work experience for the position
• Must be of good health and character
• May be for temporary or permanent residence
  temporary employer sponsored workers can apply
  for permanent residence in Australia

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• Business (Long Stay) Visa (457)
• Temporary Visa allows stay of up to 4 years
• Visitors, working holiday makers and other
  temporary residents can usually apply for this
  while in Australia
• Employers and employees can lodge applications
  over the internet
• If the application is e-lodged with all
  documentation processing may take only a few
  weeks or less

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• The Business
• Is of good standing
• Is committed to training Australians
• Is of benefit to Australia
• Must be the direct employer
• May be a labour hire firm
• Agrees to meet the sponsors undertakings in
  relation to all sponsored employees and their
  family members

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• The Sponsors obligations
• Business sponsors agree to
• Cooperate with DIMIA monitoring
• Notify DIMIA within 5 working days of a sponsored
  person ceasing employment
• If a person was approved to work in a regional
  area, notify DIMIA of any change in work location
  
• Comply with workplace relations laws
• Ensure that necessary licences registration are
  held

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• The Sponsors obligations
• And to
• make any superannuation contributions and deduct
  and pay tax instalments
• ensure that the minimum salary is paid
• ensure that return travel costs are paid
• pay any costs to the Commonwealth incurred by
  sponsored persons
• pay any medical or hospital expenses other than
  those met by health insurance arrangements

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• Permanent employer sponsored migration
• Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)
• Require vocational English
• Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)
• Require functional English
• For employees under 45 years old
• But older ages can be approved in exceptional
  circumstances
• Only end user business may be the sponsor

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• General Skilled Migration
• Large numbers of skilled people migrate
  independently each year
• Once permanent residence has been granted,
  employing these people is just like employing an
  Australian resident

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• General Skilled Migration
• For all categories
• Applicants must be under 45 years of age
• Vocational level English
• Must be listed on the Departments Skilled
  Occupation List
• Recent work experience required except for
  certain recent Australian graduates
• Points tested

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• Lodging applications
• Electronic lodgement of many visa and sponsorship
  applications is possible from www.immi.gov.au
• Facilities to lodge other applications online are
  being developed
• e-lodged application receive priority processing
• Paper applications can also be posted to the
  department
• Application forms departmental contact details
  are available on the DIMIA website

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• Benefits of e-Lodgement
• Application lodgement anywhere, anytime
• Credit card payment on a secure site
• Ability to save, retrieve and print applications
• Attachment of electronic supporting documents
• Online application progress updates
• Electronic notification of decision

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Questions?www.immi.gov.au