Employer Nominated Migration Visa – Onshore in Australia or Overseas application

This is a permanent employer sponsored visa, also referred as the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS).

For temporary employer sponsored visas, you have to apply for subclass 457 visa. Employer Nomination Scheme is a permanent visa where the applicants have a job offer waiting for them, This visa can be applied on shore also if the applicant holds a temporary work visa, (some other temporary work visas are also substituted as substantive visas to apply for subclass 457) e.g.; a Working Holiday visa, a skilled graduate (temporary) visa, and a student visa. This visa is for you, if you have an Australian sponsor to sponsor you and has a job offer for you.

The 457 ENS visa is a commonly-used pathway to move onto a permanent visa.

Since 2005, this visa category has been considerably changed to encourage more skilled workers to enter Australia. Australia is eager for skilled workers, particularly who have trade skills and skilled workers from medical field like nurses and doctors

The Australian employer must pay a nomination fee to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Business Centre.

As an employee, you must also pay a visa application fee. The visa application charge is more for onshore applications. You can include your family members such as your spouse and children on the same application. It will be a combined application but only one visa fee.  Other costs include skills assessment fee (if required) medical check-ups, police clearance, documents translations if necessary, and photographs. These payments are not refundable if the application is unsuccessful.

Employer Criteria and Eligibity

Employer (Nomination): The employer provides the following information for the nomination

• The position to be filled must be on the ENS occupations list.
• The position must meet the minimum gazette salary level:
  • $47,480 for non-ICT workers
  • $65,020 for most ICT workers
• The position must be full-time and open for at least 3 years, with the possibility of renewal after this.
• The applicant must be employed in accordance with Australian labor law.
• The sponsor must demonstrate that the business is established in Australia, and is in a satisfactory financial position.
• The sponsor must establish that there is a satisfactory record of training Australian employees.

The employee must meet one of the following 3 “skill options”:

1. Skills assessment plus 3 years of work experience in the occupation (work experience can be waived in “exceptional circumstances”); or
2. Minimum salary of at least $250,000; or
3. Has been in Australia on a long-stay temporary visa (for example a 457 visa) and worked in the occupation for the last 2 years, and has worked for the employer for at least the last 12 months.

• Employee must generally be under 45 (a waiver is available in “exceptional circumstances”)
• The employee must have at least vocational English (this requirement can also be waived)

The applicant and family unit must meet full health & character requirements

Information for Australian Employers.

If you are an Australian employer and wish to fill a job vacancy from overseas by employing an employee who is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, please contact us for detailed information.

Regional (Designated Area) Employer Sponsored Migration Visa onshore and offshore(RSMS)

This subclass of visa also (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) has a larger skill options list and  helps employers who live in regional areas far away from the large cities to find skilled workers.

As a migrant applicant, you must be prepared to live in a country area or one of the smaller  cities. Country areas are beautiful and the people are very friendly and helpful to new arrivals. You can apply for this sub class on shore or offshore, but if Appling on shore then you must hold a substantive qualifying visa with working provision. This is a mandatory requirement to be eligible to apply for this subclass.

There are three stages, unless the appointment is exceptional:

• The Regional Certifying Body (RCB) must approve the nomination and job vacancy.
• The employer applies to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) to be able to employ an overseas worker by giving full details of the company structure, and the type of employee needed.
• The employer must apply for approval of the nomination of non-citizen to fill a specific position in Australia. This will involve the following:

Criteria for Employer

• Providing information on the operations of the business in Australia, and showing that it is in a good financial position to nominate the employee;
• The business must be operating in a regional area of Australia;
• The position must be open for at least 2 years;
• The position must require a diploma-level qualification, or be in a trade.

Visa Application(Employee Side):

The main requirements from the employee side are as follows:

• Must be under 45, unless exceptional circumstances apply;
• The employee must have the required skills to fill the position;
• Employee needs to demonstrate functional English – a waiver of this requirement is available;
• Although the RSMS visa has lower requirements than the ENS visa, applicants may find the RSMS to be less accommodating depending on their specific needs and situation

All members of the family unit must meet full health & character requirement.

If you wish to further discuss about ENS and RSMS visas, please contact us

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