Overview of Australian Skilled Migration and the Employer Sponsored 482 Visa Australia

Australia’s migration program is divided into four streams:

• Family
• Special eligibility
• Child
• Skilled migration program – for migrants with skills to boost productivity and fill gaps in Australia’s labour market

In 2020-21, a total of 160,052 visas were granted and the Skill stream comprised 50.7% of those grants. There are different visa types in the Skill stream such as Skilled regional Visa 491 or Skilled Nominated by State Visa 190, but Employer Sponsored Visa program makes up the largest majority (nearly a third) with 23,503 employer sponsored visas granted.

There are a few major streams for Employer Sponsorship program in Australia: 494 Regional Skilled Employer sponsored, Global Talent Visa which might ask a nominator is a company or an Australian organization, or DAMA, just to name a few

However, within the scope of this article, we will be talking about the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) 482 visa program 

The Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) 482 Visa program was designed to address identified skills shortages, allowing businesses to enhance their workforce by sponsoring workers from overseas to live and work in Australia on a temporary 482 visa. 

The 482 Visa Australia is getting more popular and being focused by Australian Government in this financial year ending June 2023 to solve the skills crisis in Australia post-pandemic Covid-19.

According to the migration planning levels announced in April, there are 30,000 places added to Skilled Migration program which has 8,000 more allocations for Employer Sponsored Visas in 2022-2023 Financial year.

The government has also announced the new stream for TSS 482 Short Term Visa holders to be eligible to apply for Australian Permanent Residency 186 Visa.

Even though there are just over 200 occupations each on the Short-Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) and Medium and Long-Term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) for the TSS 482 Visa program, certain occupations are clearly in greater demand than others.

Get access to 482 Visa Occupation lists here >>

Which Occupations are in high demand for Employer Sponsored Visa Australia?  

According to data collected in 2021, the most popular occupations in the Employer Sponsored Category can be grouped into 4 key sectors:

• Health (Registered Nurse or General Practitioner)
• Finance and Accounting (Accountants )
• IT (Software Engineer) or ICT Business and Systems Analysts
• Trades (Chef and Automotive like Motor Mechanic)

Most of these occupations are classified in the ANZSCO classification guide as Skill Level 1 (the highest level).

Only 2 of the top 10 occupations are Skill Level 2 (Chefs) or Skill Level 3 (Cooks and Motor Mechanics).

Nominations in the Employer Sponsored space appear to be skewed in favour of a level of skills commensurate with a Bachelor degree or higher qualification (or otherwise 5 years+ of relevant experience).

The majority of these occupations most in demand (except for Cooks) all come under the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) meaning visa holders can be sponsored for up to 4 years with a pathway to permanent residency from the 482 Visa.

It is necessary to make sure your occupation for 482 Visa is listed in MLTSSL so that you may be eligible for Australian PR

Australia’s growing needs in the Information Technology field is reflected in the published statistics. By far the most common occupation group in the Employer Sponsored category is Software and Applications Programmers.

This is followed by Registered Nurses and Accountants, with ICT Business and Systems Analysts and University Lecturers coming close behind.

Employers across Australia have been calling out about their desperate struggles with skills shortages in critical, high-demand sectors. The demand for skilled workers in these key industries is clearly strong, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Half of these occupations can also be found on the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL), including:

• Accountant (General) (221111)
• Management Accountant (221112)
• Taxation Accountant (221113)
• Civil Engineer (233211)
• Geotechnical Engineer (233212)
• Structural Engineer (233214)
• Transport Engineer (233215)
• General Practitioner (253111)
• Resident Medical Officer (253112)
• Medical Practitioners nec (253999)
• Registered Nurse (Aged Care) (254412)
• Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency) (254415)
• Registered Nurse (Medical) (254418)
• Registered Nurse (Mental Health) (254422)
• Registered Nurse (Perioperative) (254423)
• Registered Nurses nec (254499)
• Analyst Programmer (261311)
• Developer Programmer (261312)
• Software Engineer (261313)
• Software and Applications Programmers nec (261399)
• ICT Security Specialist (262112)
• Chef (351311)

One of the added advantages is the Department of Home Affairs gives priority processing to employer sponsored nomination and visa applications for an occupation on the PMSOL.

These occupations were calculated in the migration report of financial ending 2021 and these are not all the occupations that you can get permanent residency from a TSS 482 Visa.

Moreover, Covid-19 has made a lot of impacts on how the employer sponsored streams go. 

Please be minded that the more popular an occupation is for any migration program, the higher competitiveness you may face against until you meet the eligibility criteria.

Australia: the land of opportunity

A recent look at one of Australia’s popular job recruitment websites revealed more than 10,000 Civil Engineer positions advertised for Civil Engineers, 5000 for Software Engineers, more than 6000 for General Practitioners and an astounding 20,000 advertisements posted for Registered Nurses.

If you have sought-after skills, qualifications and employment background in the IT and health industries, there’s a good chance an Australian employer wants to hire you!

However, choosing the right occupation and work in a great location could be difficult to decide. There are actually many factors to come up with a decision of where to stay and work and what to do.

That is why Work Visa Lawyers are here to help.

If you are skilled workers, Please book an appointment to talk to one of our professional Immigration Lawyers or Registered Migration Agents about the Employer Sponsorship program in Australia.

Australia has been known for exceptional high-quality education and a quality lifestyle, with four of its cities – Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane being in the top 10 livable cities the world over.

Australia is home to 43 universities, some of them in the world’s top 100 Universities.

Australia is a safe and welcoming country; most students want to settle in Australia and get Australian Permanent Residency.

It is to be mentioned here that only a qualification cannot get a Permanent residency in Australia; you would also need to work in your occupation for a year or two to secure PR options in Australia.  So, you must have a genuine interest in the subject you study, and you are willing to work in the area after completing your study.

Being in the migration industry long enough, we have seen many students push themselves into a course of study for PR purposes, and after a few months, they want to change their major because they did not have any interest in the subject.

To follow the article about “where I should study in Australia ”, international students may be in the middle of career pathway (Big cities with giant organizations and job opportunities to grow) and PR pathway (Regional areas with higher chances of getting permanent residency).

The 2 goals do not normally share the same way for most international students. So which states in Australia are the best for each type?

Click here to read the article >

Before choosing suitable courses to study, we may need to look at some points to understand better how you will get an Australian permanent residency.

There are two most popular visa streams to get Australian PR:

• Skilled Visa (Subclass 189, 190, and 491)
• Employer-Sponsored Visa (Subclass 482, 494, DAMA and 186 Visa)

The standard requirements listed in those streams are:

• Qualification of your study that meets the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF)
• Postive Skill Assessment
• Work experience in nominated occupation
• English and Age requirements

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Here we discuss a few courses from the Australian Permanent residency point of view.

Here are certain things you should consider about courses that can lead to Permanent Residency in Australia:

• You must complete a minimum of two years of study in Australia, depending on the level or course of study.
• Your study program should be CRICOS
• You should apply for a PSWV (Post Study Work Visa 485) 485 visa or Temporary Graduate Visa 485 within six months of completing your course in Australia.
• You must follow ANZSCO(Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations) job descriptions.

There are a few substantial differences between the medium-term stream and the short-term stream of the TSS 482 visa.

At their core, both streams are part of the same temporary, skilled, employer-sponsored visa in Australia.

Many clients have made questions whether there is a pathway of 482 Visa to Permanent Residency.

Yes, even neither stream has an age requirement, but there is an age requirement for the ENS 186 visa that could be accessed via the Temporary Residence Transition stream if you hold a Visa subclass 482 in the medium-stream. This stream is a pathway to PR from 482 visa.

The key differences of are:

• Length of stay in Australia
• English test scores required
• Genuine Temporary Entrant requirement
• Possibility for “renewal”
• Availability of PR pathway (through ENS 186 visa temporary residence transition stream)

The English “exemptions” are the same for both streams (while the test scores required are different, where an “exemption” is not available).

Have a look at this TSS 482 Occupation List to determine which stream you are in.

There are many Employer Sponsored Visas in Australia, 482 Visa is the most popular amongst those. However, each scenarios will fit in each type of Sponsored Visa. 

Please have a look at all Employer Sponsored Visas in Australia here ! Or Click here for arranging an appointment with our Immigration lawyers !

What determines the stream I am in?

With sponsored and skilled work visas, selecting the correct occupation is essential. If the wrong occupation is used, this can lead to refusal of nomination and/or visa application.

For TSS 482 visa, it is important this occupation is consistently used all the way through Labour Market Testing, nomination application, contract, visa application, work experience, skills assessment (if required).

For the TSS subclass 482 visa, you are in either the medium-term stream or the short-term stream based on your occupation. If your occupation is on the MLTSSL, then you would be in the medium-term stream. If your occupation is on the STSOL, then you would be in the short-term stream. Some occupations are on the regional-occupation list (ROL) , which has some perks of the medium-term stream (4-year visa) with some of the drawbacks of the short-term (not eligible for the 186 PR pathway).

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On 01 December 2020, Pearson PTE has made major changes on PTE test score range. Thousands of international students and visa applicants may potentially impacted by such changes. 

By the time of writing this blog on 04 December 2020, the Department of Home Affairs have not yet made any changes to Australian visa English requirements in response to PTE Academic changes on score range.