The team at Visa Solutions will be closer to understanding
the finer points of the new skilled visa program later this month. A series of information sessions organised by officials from the Department of Home Affairs are planned
at major cities throughout the country.
“We’ve been invited to this event ahead
of the new Temporary Skills Shortage program which is due to be rolled out in
March. We’re hoping we’ll get more details about how it will be implemented and we’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and find out the
effect it will have on businesses wishing to take on overseas workers,” explained VSA Director Dan Engles.
The sponsored visa shake-up was announced last year
with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying “Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs. We will no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians. The new visa will better target genuine skills shortages across the country especially regional Australia.”
Temporary Skill Shortage visa (TSS) and SOL lists
The Skilled Occupation List (SOL) is a
list of skilled occupations that are in demand to encourage the Australian
economy to prosper and grow. It’s been around for some time, with people having
to nominate an occupation from SOL and to accrue points so they’re eligible for
skilled migration.
Occupations on the SOL List are
assessed on an ongoing basis with new roles being added and some taken away.
The new Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa will
come into effect in March and will replace the 457 program.
The TSS
visa will still allow skilled workers to come to Australia to help fill a
legitimate skills shortage. But this new type of visa will have fewer eligible
skilled occupations than the 457 visa.
The Short-Term stream of the TSS visa will allowing an
individual a stay of up to two years, and a Medium-Term stream will
allow a stay of up to four years. The occupations will now be divided
into the Short Term Skilled Occupations List (STSOL) for those applying under
the Short-Term stream and the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills Occupation List (MTSOL) for those applying under
the Medium-Term Stream.
These new occupation lists for the new Temporary
Skills Shortage (TSS) visa, along with the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) 186
visa and Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) 187 visa will be published
in March 2018.
The Short-Term stream visa is
renewable only once.
The Medium-Stream visa holders may
renew their visas onshore and may apply for permanent residence
pathway after working for three years in Australia.
Tighter regulations
These new visa streams will have
stricter requirements attached to them, and this includes higher English
language capability, more work experience,additional character, anti discrimination and training requirements and salary rates in line with current Australian wage. There will also be strict labour market testing requirements whch means business sponsors will have to test the local labour market before taking someone from overseas.
We’ll be letting you know about these changes in our future blog posts.
