A lawfully operating business in Australia that offers the existing market pay and complies with immigration rules has the right to nominate a skilled worker for this visa. This visa is a permanent residence visa and has the advantage that the applicant could be either in or out of Australia at the time of application. It is important that the applicant holds a substantive visa or a bridging visa A, B or C if he is in Australia.
This visa can be processed via the following 3 streams:
- Temporary Residence Transition stream: Subclass visa 457 allows a skilled employee to work in their nominated occupation under their approved sponsor for 4 years. As a visa 457 holder and having worked for 2 years, you can apply for Temporary Residence Transition stream to obtain a permanent position in the same occupation with the same sponsor.
- Direct Entry stream: Another way of obtaining subclass visa 186 is Direct Entry stream. Under this stream, you would need to be nominated by your employer before 1st July 2012. Migrants who have worked or never worked in Australia or those who do not qualify for the Temporary Residence Transition stream can also apply in this method.
- Agreement stream: This is for people sponsored by an employer through a labour agreement.
The eligibility for this visa is based on the parameters of skills, age, type of stream, language, and health and character assessment.
Skills Set:
- You should be nominated 6 months before your application by an approved Australian employer.
- You should be under 50 years of age at the time of application, unless you are exempt.
- You must possess the skills necessary for the position that you have been nominated for. This includes any mandatory registration, license or professional membership.
- Have appropriate English language skills, unless you are exempt.
- Meet health and character requirements.
- Meet the requirements of the stream in which you apply for the visa.
Age criteria:
If you are over 50 years of age, you are eligible for this visa if:
- You are a nominated senior academic by a university in Australia OR a nominated scientist/ researcher/technical (scientific) specialist at ANZSCO skill level 1 or 2 by an Australian government scientific agency OR a nominated minister of religion by a religious institution.
- You have been working for at least 4 years before applying as a nominated medical practitioner and hold Subclass visa 457 or Subclass visa 422. Also, if you held subclass visa 422 for 2 years before obtaining Subclass visa 457 in the 4 years before applying.
Type of Stream:
- Temporary Residence Transition stream:- If you hold Subclass 457 for at least 4 years before applying in the same occupation for your nominating employer and were paid according to the Fair Work High Income Threshold in each of the four years.
- Direct Entry stream:- If you hold a Subclass 444 (New Zealand citizen) or Subclass 461 (New Zealand citizen’s family member) visa and you have been working for the nominating employer for at least two years in the last three years immediately before making the application.
- Agreement stream:- If the relevant labour agreement allows for a person who has turned 50 to be employed.
English Language Proficiency:
You will need to establish your proficiency in English in either of the following ways:
- Hold a valid passport issued by the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland that proves you are a citizen of that country.
- Achieve a score of at least 6 for each of the four test components (speaking, reading, listening and writing) in an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test. The IELTS should have been taken in the three years immediately preceding your visa application.
- Achieve a score of at least ‘B’ for each of the four test components of an Occupational English Test (OET) that has been undertaken in the three years preceding your visa application.
- Achieve the following minimum test scores in each of the four test components: 12 for listening, 13 for reading, 21 for writing and 18 for speaking, in a Test of English as a Foreign Language internet-based test (TOEFL iBT) test that has been undertaken in the three years immediately preceding your visa application.
- Achieve a test score of at least 50 in each of the four test components (speaking, reading, listening and writing) in a Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic that has been undertaken in the three years preceding your visa application.
It is important to note that you might not need to show adequate English language skills if you:
- Are to be employed by a religious institution and you were nominated as a minister of religion.
- Have nominated earnings at least equivalent to the current Australian Taxation Office top individual income tax rate (currently AUD 180 001), however if you are not able to demonstrate that you have functional English, you will be required to pay the second installment of the visa application charge.
- Are applying through the Temporary Residence Transition stream and
- You have completed at least five years of full-time study in a secondary or higher education institution.
- All of the tuition was delivered in English.
Health requirements:
Your health standards must adhere to the stipulated parameters. The results of your health check are generally valid for 12 months.
This condition must be met by all dependent family members included in your application, whether they are migrating or not.
You must be able to organize your health examinations upfront before applying for your visa.
Character requirements:
You are required to produce a police certificate from each country you have lived in for 12 months or more during the past 10 years after you turned 16 years of age.
This also applies to all dependent family members in the application who are 16 years of age or older.