In recent years,the employer-sponsored migration programmehas been reformed, making things harder, with much higher requirements for both applicants and employers. Under such strict assessment standards, we have recently still managed to securea nomination for a “high-risk” occupation, which is no small feat!
Success story
Highly representative
Next, let’s look back at this highly representative case:
The employer’s situation
Company P owns multiple mobile phone and accessories stores across regional areas in south-eastern Australia, with a stable business,and approached me in October hoping I could act as full agent for the employer-sponsored process, to ensure her employee could stay on securely in the regional area and keep working for the business.The employer wanted to sponsor one of her employees as a Marketing Specialist, to help drive the business’s expansion.
The Marketing Specialist role
The Marketing Specialist role may look common and straightforward on paper — it seems like anyone working in marketing could qualify —but ANZSCO’s actual description of this occupation has almost nothing to do with marketing itself, and instead leans towards market research, coordination and overall market planning.This means the sponsoring business needs to meet a certain scale requirement. On top of that, because retail was hit hard during the pandemic and profitability was low, considerable effort was needed to explain the genuineness of the position.
Most important of all — the reasonableness of the nominated occupation
After conducting an in-depth business investigation for our client,we gave sound advice and guided the employer through completing the Labour Market Testing, then provided extensive supporting materials — such as financial reports, organisational charts and position descriptions — to demonstrate the legitimacy of the business sponsoring this position,and ultimately secured both Sponsorship approval and the 494 occupation Nomination!
Timeline
Sponsorship application lodged 18 November, approved 14 December!
RCB application lodged 17 December, approved 21 December!
Nomination lodged 8 January, approved 22 February!
From working holiday to migration
To successfully secure an employer-sponsored visa, the applicant’s own qualifications are essential too!The sponsored employee in this case, Ms Q, is currently working in Australia on a working holiday visa. She holds a degree from a UK university and has three years’ work experience in the marketing department of a listed online education group in China.With both her English and technical requirements met, she successfully transitioned from a WHV to the 494 provisional-PR visa! After another three years working for the business, PR will follow!
Working holiday visa holders typically spend much of their time in regional areas, working there too, so there are plenty of opportunities for regional employer sponsorship,and as long as the employer meets the sponsorship eligibility requirements and the applicant meets the requirements themselves, the Subclass 494 visa can be a solid option.For more details, see:Visa about to expire? You may be able to transition directly to PR or provisional PR! This group of people actually has the “capital” to consider staying on through migration!
Here, let’s also revisit
the basic requirements for the Subclass 494 visa
See below
Subclass 189 EOI by occupation
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Subclass 494 visa requirements for employers
The employer must be locatedwithin a Designated Regional Area of Australia(that is, Australia’s so-called regional areas — more specifically,everywhere apart from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane);
The employer needs approval, in the regional area, fromthe local Regional Certifying Body (RCB).
Subclass 494 visa requirements for applicants
The applicant must hold the nominated occupation’sskills assessment;
The applicant must have at leastthree years of relevant full-time work experience;
The applicant must be under 45 years of age (exemptions may apply for some individuals);
The applicant must provide proof of English language ability(at least IELTS 6 in each band);
The applicant’s occupation must be on the Subclass 494 occupation list;
The position must be full-time and a genuine role.
From 494 to permanent residency
The Subclass 494 visa is valid for 5 years. Before it expires, meeting the requirements around continuing to live and work in a regional area, along with the income threshold, allows you to apply for the Subclass 191 permanent visa. The requirements for the Subclass 191 visa are as follows:
1. The primary applicant must hold a Subclass 494 visa andlive and work in a regional area for at least three years;
2. The primary applicant must earnat least $53,900 in pre-tax income each year for three years;
3. Both the primary and secondary applicants must comply with the regional visa conditions (residence, work, study, etc.);
In addition, visa holders can access some PR-equivalent benefits, including Medicare and certain healthcare and education entitlements
The Subclass 494 pathway
is well suited to
Overall,the Subclass 494 regional employer-sponsored pathway offers a major advantage to applicants who can’t reach a high points score, or who don’t have much study experience in Australia, but who already have some work experience — either onshore or overseas — especially professionals with overseas experience,as the three years’ work experience in the nominated occupation can be from either overseas or Australia, while the requirement of IELTS 6 in each band is also relatively reasonable.
Take, for example, occupations that are popular but not on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List:Marketing Specialist, Cafe & Restaurant Manager, Financial Investment Manager, and others.
Also,many city areas such as the Gold Coast, Perth and Wollongong are now also classified as regional areas, offering quite a few job opportunities.So if you were previously worried that regional areas would be deserted and empty, you can rest easy. To work out whether where you live and work counts as a regional area, mainly check whether the postcode appears on the Department of Home Affairs’ list of Designated Regional Areas. The list is below:
For more on the application requirements for the regional employer-sponsored Subclass 494 visa,
what qualifications an employer needs to be eligible to sponsor,
and the latest policy updates on employer sponsorship,
feel free to add Consultant Will on WeChat!
He’ll help you plan a comprehensive employer-sponsored migration strategy!
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