A migration reform meeting in May opened the curtain on a golden era for employer sponsorship.

Unlike previous articles, today I will look at this from the employer’s perspective to break down and answer:

What has changed in employer-sponsorship policy?

What do these changes mean for me and my company?

Can I sponsor my staff for PR too?

What conditions must my business meet to be able to sponsor?

What obligations and costs do I take on when I sponsor an employee?

You’ll find the answers in this article.

Sponsorship

What has happened with employer sponsorship

Three pieces of good news

1. All short-term list occupations that apply for the Subclass 482 now also have a Subclass 186 PR pathway。

2. After holding the Subclass 482 and continuing to work for 2 years, you can apply for the Subclass 186 PR; previously this required 3 years.

3，Subclass 482 processing has sped up markedly; nomination approvals within 2 weeks are now very common, and some are approved almost instantly.

For example, the common role of marketing specialist sat on the short-term list, so previously it could only apply for the temporary Subclass 482 and could not go on to the Subclass 186 permanent residency.From now on, however, it has a PR pathway, and you only need to work for the employer for 2 years to qualify! There are many similar occupations, including finance, human resources, design and chefs, and more — meaning you can now sponsor employees in a wider range of roles for PR.

I have an employee I want to sponsor

Can my company do it?

The eligibility requirements for sponsoring an employee may not be as high as many assume. There are only two basic requirements: the company is a legally registered Australian company with genuine business activity.

Sponsorship accreditation is the first step in sponsoring a Subclass 482; it is applied for by the company, is valid for 5 years, and during that time can be used to sponsor different employees.

The second step is the nomination stage. At this stage, the nomination must be reasonable. For an existing employee, the nomination requirements are very likely to be met — as long as the supporting documents are well prepared, the nomination is generally not a problem. For a newly created position, the company needs some evidence of the genuineness of the role and its financial capacity.

It is worth noting that certain specific nominated occupations carry some prescribed requirements. For example, when nominating an accountant, the company must have more than 5 employees, turnover of more than 1 million, and the employee’s work must be at an accountant’s level. As another example, a company sponsoring a restaurant manager cannot operate as takeaway-only, and the employee’s duties must be at a management level.We call these requirements caveats, but they do not apply to every nominated occupation, so this needs to be confirmed specifically before nominating. Get in touch with us for an assessment.

The third stage of the employer-sponsored Subclass 482 is the visa application.At this stage, the employee simply needs to meet the requirements for the Subclass 482 visa themselves. This includes 2 years of work experience and an IELTS score of 5 or equivalent English result(such as PTE 36). It is worth noting here that the Subclass 482 does not mandatorily require a relevant qualification or a skills assessment (only a small number of trade occupations require a skills assessment), and with low English requirements and not even an age limit, the visa conditions are very easy to meet!

The Subclass 482 is a 2-4 year work visa that allows the employee to work full-time, but it is not yet PR.

After sponsoring a Subclass 482

how to help the employee get PR

Once the Subclass 482 is granted, the conditions for an employer to sponsor the employee for the Subclass 186 PR include:

1. The employee must be under 45 years of age

2. English of IELTS 6 in each band or an equivalent language result

3. Continuing to work for the employer for 2 years. The 2 years of work experience during the Subclass 482 must be in the nominated position, without changing employer in the meantime. If the employer is changed midway, the 2-year requirement for the transfer to the Subclass 186 must be accumulated again, and a nomination from a new employer must be obtained within 90 days of leaving — otherwise the Subclass 482 visa is at risk of being cancelled.

Can I bypass the Subclass 482 and apply directly for the one-step Subclass 186 PR for my employee?

Yes!If the employee has more than three years of work experience, a skills assessment for the nominated occupation, and IELTS 6 in each band or an equivalent level of English, you can nominate them directly for the Subclass 186 PR! A one-step application greatly shortens the employee’s wait for PR.

Compared with the pathway of working 2 years on the Subclass 482 and then transferring to the Subclass 186 (the TRT stream), the one-step Subclass 186 PR (the DE stream) has some additional restrictions. First, not every occupation can apply for the one-step Subclass 186 permanent residency, such as the finance, human resources and design roles mentioned above; second, the employee generally needs a relevant qualification and must pass a skills assessment.

Overall, if the conditions for the one-step Subclass 186 are met, lodging the one-step application is usually preferred; otherwise, you can apply for the Subclass 482 first and then the Subclass 186 PR later.

When my company sponsors an employee

what obligations do I have

The obligations of the sponsoring entity mainly include promptly notifying the Department of Home Affairs of changes to company information and to the sponsored employee’s employment status, not engaging in discriminatory recruitment, paying the fees required for sponsorship and nomination, and cooperating with the Department’s monitoring activities.

Overall, as long as the sponsorship is compliant and reasonable, employers do not need to worry about taking on excessive obligations.

Sponsoring an employee

how much does it cost

Before 1 July 2023, before，the costs an employer must cover to sponsor an employee’s Subclass 482 visa are as follows ((excluding visa fees for secondary applicants):

Item

Fee (AUD)

Sponsorship accreditation

420

Nomination application

330

Skilling Australian Fund

(training levy)

Companies with turnover under 10 million

Companies with turnover over 10 million

Multiplied by the number of years applied for *usually 2-4 years

1200 per year

1800 per year

Visa application

short-term list occupations

Medium- and long-term list occupations

*The visa fee may be paid by the employee themselves

1330

2770

Before 1 July 2023, before，the costs an employer must cover to sponsor an employee’s Subclass 186 visa are as follows:

Item

Fee (AUD)

Nomination application

540

Skilling Australian Fund

(training levy)

Companies with turnover under 10 million

Companies with turnover over 10 million

*One-off payment

3000

5000

Visa application

4240

*The visa fee may be paid by the employee themselves

I’m willing to sponsor, and my employee is eligible

how do I start

My employee is eligible — how do I start sponsoring?

If applying for the Subclass 482, the steps are as follows:

1，Assess accreditation — if you need to sponsor a Subclass 482, you must first apply for sponsorship accreditation.

2，Prepare the documents and the employment contract, and lodge the nomination application. Some sponsored persons who do not hold a Chinese passport need labour market testing; if so, this must be prepared first.

3，The employee lodges the visa application。

If applying for the Subclass 186, the sponsorship accreditation stage is not required — you go straight to the nomination and visa application.

Compared with other skilled migration pathways, employer-sponsored applications involve far more complex documentation and a heavy paperwork load — get in touch with us to assess and lodge yours.

‍

Frequently asked questions

Q1My financial position is only average, or even not great — does that mean I can’t sponsor?

This needs to be assessed case by case. If losses in certain periods are consistent with the characteristics of the industry or are otherwise reasonable, there is still a chance to proceed with sponsorship.

Q2 My company has fewer than 5 staff, or turnover under 1 million AUD — can I still sponsor my employee?

Not every nominated occupation has to meet these caveat requirements; it needs a case-by-case assessment.

Q3 Is there a specific ratio required between PR and TR holders at my company?

This depends on the industry and the company’s actual situation; there is no strict requirement.

Q4 My employee hasn’t worked for me before — their experience was gained elsewhere. Can I sponsor them?

Yes. Before applying for the Subclass 482 or Subclass 186, it doesn’t matter where the work experience was gained. However, when transferring from the Subclass 482 to the Subclass 186, if going through the TRT stream the employee must continue working for the Subclass 482 employer。

Q5 How much salary do I need to pay the employee?

This is based on market conditions: it needs to be around the average salary for that role in that region. In addition, for applications lodged before 1 July 2023before, the salary may be no lower than 53900; for applications lodged after 1 July 2023, the salary may be no lower than 70000。

Q6 The employee wants to apply together with their family — is that possible?

No problem.

Q7 The employee has a previous visa refusal — can they still apply for employer sponsorship?

A refusal history will not usually cause a Subclass 482 refusal on its own。However, a refusal history may affect whether an employer-sponsored visa can be lodged onshore in Australia — get in touch with us for a detailed assessment。

FAQ

In fact, employer sponsorship is, for both employer and employee, not as difficult as people imagine. With 2 years of work experience and a job under a lawful, compliant employer — or by finding such a job — the chance of being able to apply for a Subclass 482 is far from low.

At the same time, compared with the Subclass 189/190/491, the employer-sponsored application process is more complex and involved, and the documents vary far more from person to person.

Moreover, for the applicant, exploring the possibility of employer sponsorship does not get in the way of continuing to work towards the Subclass 189 or state nomination.

Why not bring your CV and let me assess it for you.

Here are some sponsorship-accreditation and nomination-approval cases

for your reference!

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