Employer Sponsored Migration for Permanent Residency to Australia

Visa Categories, Requirements & General Information

 Employer Sponsored Migration for Permanent Residency to Australia:

Employer Sponsored Migration

Categories

There are 4 categories for employer sponsored migration to Australia:

These programs are employer driven. The first 3 programs enable Australian employers to recruit highly skilled workers, either from overseas or from people temporarily in Australia, where an employer has been unable to fill their recruitment needs from the Australian labour market or through their own training efforts. The IASS program enables employers (who have an approved IASS agreement) to transfer 'key' managerial and specialist employees of their company to Australia.

Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)

The Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) allows Australian employers to fill highly skilled positions in Australia with a non-Australian citizen or resident. The ENS enables Australian employers to recruit, on a permanent basis, highly skilled staff from overseas or temporary residents currently in Australia, when they have been unable to fill a vacancy from within the Australian labour market or through their own training programs.

Streamlined arrangements are in place where an Australian employer is using the ENS to nominate a person who has already been working for the employer in Australia on a temporary residence visa. Nominees in this category will generally not be required to undergo a formal skills assessment before they qualify for a permanent residence visa under the ENS.

The objectives of the ENS are to:

Disclaimer: Visa criteria constantly changes, please ensure you click the DIMIA button to view the latest official migration booklets. This page is for guidance purposes only.

Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)

The RSMS allows employers in regional or low population growth area of Australia to fill skilled positions that they are unable to fill from the local labour market. Any employer can participate in the scheme as long as their business and the position being filled is in an area covered under the RSMS. All areas of Australia are covered except Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne and Perth.

The nomination form 1054 Employer nomination under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme must be completed by the employer or someone with legal authority to act on the employer's behalf. The person signing the nomination must be at least 18 years. Under the RSMS, employers are able to nominate staff from overseas or temporary residents currently in Australia to fill full-time, permanent vacancies.

Employers who are considering nominating persons under the RSMS may locate suitable nominees in various ways, including:

 Through their efforts in testing the Australian labour market;
 Personal contact and/or experience with the nominee;
 Recommendation from third parties; or
 Through the Skill Matching Database (see below)

Skill Matching is a scheme that allows Australian employers to sponsor overseas migrants who have applied in the:

The occupational details of these applicants are placed in the department's Skill Matching Database. The database is distributed to State and Territory Governments and some Regional Certifying Bodies. An abridged version of the Skill Matching Database is available on the department's website. The data is available to employers who have been unable to recruit suitably skilled personnel from the local labour market. Skilled-Independent and Skill Matching category applicants stay in the database for a period of approximately 2 years from the date of the assessment unless they are nominated by an employer. These applicants who are nominated by an employer under the RSMS category do not need to lodge another application. These applicants are automatically deemed to have an RSMS application and can be processed accordingly.

Disclaimer: Visa criteria constantly changes, please ensure you click the DIMIA button to view the latest official migration booklets. This page is for guidance purposes only.

Labour Agreements (LA)

Labour Agreements cover both permanent and temporary entry visa subclasses. This booklet will only provide information relating to permanent entry.

A Labour Agreement is a formal arrangement negotiated between the department and DEWR, and an employer or industrial association. Labour Agreements enable Australian employers to recruit a specified number of workers from overseas in response to identified or emerging skill shortage in the Australian labour market.

Labour Agreements are designed to ensure that overseas recruitment supports the longer term improvement of employment and training opportunities for Australians. Accordingly, employers or industry associations are required to make commitments to the employment, education, training and career opportunities of Australians as part of the agreement. Employers must also demonstrate an employer-employee relationship as a pre-requisite to a Labour Agreement.

Note: Before commencing negotiations for a Labour Agreement, employers should first consider whether existing departmental visa programs meet their requirements, eg. The Employer Nomination Scheme for permanent entry, or the Standard Business Sponsorship for temporary entry.

Disclaimer: Visa criteria constantly changes, please ensure you click the DIMIA button to view the latest official migration booklets. This page is for guidance purposes only.

Invest Australia Supported Skills (IASS) Program

The Invest Australia Supported Skills (IASS) program has replaced Regional Headquarters (RHQ) agreements.

The Invest Australia Supported Skills (IASS) program is designed to encourage international firms to choose Australia as a location for foreign direct investment. It allows companies that make a significant investment in Australia to bring out key expatriate managerial and specialist employees from within the company group which are essential to establish operations in Australia.

Agreement will be for 3 years, although individual visas, once granted, may extend beyond the period of the agreement. IASS agreements are for both permanent and temporary entry of key managerial and specialist employees. Companies wishing to obtain visas for very small numbers of personnel, or which are seeking staff for existing investments, should access other business immigration programs.

Applicants must meet at least one of the following 4 criteria for investments of strategic significance to be eligible for the IASS program:

IASS agreements

IASS agreements provide streamlined immigration arrangements to organizations that the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources (DITR) has determined as being a company managing functions that support an international operation. Although IASS agreements are similar to Labour Agreements, the purpose for which IASS agreements are established is different from that for standard Labour Agreements in that:

Disclaimer: Visa criteria constantly changes, please ensure you click the DIMIA button to view the latest official migration booklets. This page is for guidance purposes only.

Nomination

All prospective applicants must first be nominated by the employer in Australia. The nomination must be received by a Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (the department) Business Centre in Australia. If the nomination is approved, the employer will advise the nominee and provide them with a copy of the nomination approval letter from the department.

The nomination should be lodged before or at the same time as the visa application. At the latest, the visa application must be lodged within 6 months of the approval of the nomination.

The same nomination must be approved before the visa application can be approved.