From 23 November 2013, employers in Australia who are keen to sponsor for 457 visas are required to meet the requirements of the newly introduced Labour Market Testing (LMT) in order to employ workers from overseas.

This aims to ensure that the subclass 457 visa program will be used by businesses only when there is no suitable candidate that is available in the local labour market to fill a job vacancy.

What is a 457 Visa?

A 457 visa is a temporary work visa that allows employers to sponsor overseas skilled workers to work in Australia up to four years. A 457 visa holder is allowed to bring his/her family to work or study in Australia and travel in and out of Australia as often as they want.

Who consists of the local labour market?

Australian Citizens and Australian Permanent Residents (PR).

How will the Labour Market Testing be Conducted?

If required, Australian employers must provide evidence of testing the local labour market first through advertising and other recruitment efforts before lodging sponsorship for an overseas worker.

The sponsoring employer must:

• Provide information about where those advertisements/recruitment activities took place, the dates they occurred and the geographic target audience of the advertising/recruitment efforts
• Provide information about the outcome of those activities
• Provide the reasons why no local candidate is qualified for the nominated occupation
• Provide meet all requirements of the LMT in the twelve month period prior to lodging the sponsorship

Use of company websites and social media (such as Facebook) to advertise a job vacancy is acceptable while paid advertising is not required.

Affected Occupations and Exemptions

The following occupations are affected:

• Engineers
• Nurses
• Some trade occupations
• Some technical occupations

There are however exemptions for the above occupations. Click here to view complete list of occupations affected and exemptions to LMT.

Summary:

The impact of of Labour Market Testing is minimal especially if you are from the Asia-Pacific region. But if your sponsoring employer does not fall to any exemptions to the LMT, additional requirements must be met that may delay the approval of your 457 visa application.

If you have further questions concerning your Australian visa application or plans in migrating to Australia, please contact us for a professional consultation schedule.