23/09/2024
Migration Amendment (Strengthening Sponsorship and Nomination Processes) Bill 2024
Key points
The Migration Amendment (Strengthening Sponsorship and Nomination Processes) Bill 2024 (the Bill) implements certain measures from the government’s Migration Strategy: Getting migration working for the nation (the Migration Strategy) related to skilled visas.
The Bill provides for certain settings for a new temporary Skills in Demand visa, to replace the current Temporary Skill Shortage visa. It is intended that the Skills in Demand visa will consist of:
a Specialist Skills stream for highly-skilled workers earning over $135,000 per year
a Core Skills stream for workers in an occupation in shortage earning over $73,150 per year
a stream for workers with essential skills.
The Bill sets income thresholds and provides for indexation for the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams and allows for the income threshold for a third stream to be set by the Migration Regulations 1994 or specified by the minister in writing.
The Bill also increases the time period for labour market testing (from 4 to 6 months) and provides for the publication of a register of approved work sponsors of nominated skilled temporary workers. The register is intended to improve oversight and transparency of employment of temporary migrant workers.
The Bill is part of the broader implementation of migration policy measures contained in the Migration Strategy. Stakeholders have previously commented on the relevant measures in the context of the Migration Strategy, with debate focused on the distinctions between the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams.
Background
Current temporary skilled work visas
The current visa for temporary skilled workers is the Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482). This visa replaced the Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) in 2018. It is intended to help meet skills shortages in the Australian labour market while ensuring protection of local jobs, wages and conditions. It allows employers to sponsor overseas workers where no suitable Australian workers are available.
There are 3 main streams for the visa: Short-term, Medium-term and Labour Agreement. Visa holders can stay in Australia up to 2–4 years (up to 5 years for Hong Kong passport holders), as long as they continue to work for their employer. There is no cap on the number of visas which can be granted in any year.
The sections below outline some of the settings of the visa relevant to the provisions of the Bill.
Skilled occupation lists
For the Short and Medium-term streams, the applicant must be sponsored to work in an occupation on the relevant Skilled Occupation List. The list specifies occupations for eligibility for a range of skilled visas, both permanent and temporary, and is aimed at identifying occupations where there are skills gaps in the Australian labour market which would be appropriate to fill using skilled migration.
The current Skilled Occupation List is composed of 3 main lists: the Short-term Skilled Occupation List, the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List, and the Regional Occupation List. Applicable lists and occupations for different visas are set by legislative instruments; see the current instrument for the Temporary Skill Shortage visa.
Sponsorship
Visa applicants must be nominated by an approved sponsor (employer). In order to sponsor an applicant, an employer must be approved as a standard business sponsor, which requires paying a fee (currently $420), demonstrating they are running a legally established and operating business, and having ‘a strong record of, or a demonstrated commitment to, employing local labour’. Additional costs apply when nominating a visa applicant. To maintain their status, employers must continue to meet sponsorship obligations. Certain kinds of approved standard business sponsors can also apply for accredited sponsor status, which provides priority processing of nominations and visa applications.
Salary requirements and income thresholds
Employers of Temporary Skill Shortage visa holders must ensure that the terms and conditions of employment are no less favourable than those they provide to Australian citizens or permanent residents performing equivalent work in their workplace. This includes minimum wages, hours of work and leave entitlements.
Employers must pay the employee at least the annual market salary rate and, if the worker is to be paid less than $250,000 per year, above the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT).
The level of the TSMIT is set by legislative instrument as provided for in the Migration Regulations 1994 (regulation 2.72) and changes are made by amending the instrument. The TSMIT is currently $73,150 as recently amended in line with the annual average weekly ordinary times earnings figure for November 2023 of 4.5% (see the Explanatory Statement to the amending instrument). This amount is applicable from 1 July 2024 – existing visa holders and nominations are not affected.
Key pointsThe Migration Amendment (Strengthening Sponsorship and Nomination Processes) Bill 2024 (the Bill) implements certain measures from the government’s Migration Strategy: Getting migration working for the nation (the Migration Strategy) related to skilled visas. The Bill p
