With the shemozzle of the last couple of years, we are all longing for the day that things are feeling a bit normal again. Normal for Australia is having international borders that are walls and rather gateways to magical destinations, family, friends and for a lot of Australian business, access to skilled labour that is not home grown.
But aren’t there lots of Australians without jobs?
Skilled labour that comes from overseas is used to supplement the Australian workforce in sectors that cannot source enough people to do that jobs that are required. For example, Australia’s Earth science capability is based on the work of geologists, geotechnical engineers, geophysicists, and environmental scientists among many other occupations. However, in 2020, nationwide there were only 200 new graduates in the Earth sciences field. What that means for Australia is the demand on future exploration to find natural resources or minerals, especially with a growing need for renewable energy sources for batteries, electric cars and wind turbines is limited. This future trend is to set by past trends and as such there is a need to support Australia’s workforce with experienced skilled workers in Earth sciences with workers from outside of our borders.
The TSS Visa.
What this means is that organisations in Australia will use what is known as the Temporary Skills Shortage Visa (Subclass 482). This visa allows approved organisations to sponsor individuals in occupations that are deemed by the Australian Government to be at a shortage. The Earth sciences industry is one that has many occupations on the Skilled Occupation Lists which is indicative on demand in the industry. But, with borders still closed is it worth it to start the visa process now?
Our position would be that, yes, the time is now to start filling your critical skills shortages.
The reason for this is that first and foremost you must run a labour market testing campaign that lasts for at least 28 days on three sources, including the Australian Government’s JobActive website. This can be anytime in 4 months prior to lodging the nomination application, and after any redundancies in the nominated occupation. Then, once the application is lodged processing times could be up 11 months. This is of course, is the worst case however it does allow time for the logistical planning that comes along with employing persons from outside of Australia. This planning is further complicated of course by exit and entry restrictions from countries and into Australia.
But what if the visa doesn’t get granted? Generally, if the requirements are met on the nomination and the visa then the visa likely to be granted to the individual you are sponsoring.
For the nomination the main considerations are:
• Appropriate labour market testing has been completed
• The role is genuine and required
• The business has financial capacity to support the individual
And, for the visa the individual should meet:
• The skill requirement for work experience and / or an appropriate qualification
• English language testing, unless a passport from Canada, USA, UK, NZ or Ireland is held
• Health and character checks
The great thing about the visa application, is that while the application is in process the individual can continue to gather items like the health, character, and English testing results. Of course, there is some small risk that an issue will once these results are received, however as immigration lawyers, we would vet the applicants for you from an immigration perspective to minimise this risk as much as possible. And, in ten years and after 1000s of work visa applications, there has only ever been a handful of unexplainable results.
So, when should your business start getting ready for borders to open? Now. The time is now.
If you need assistance navigating the TSS program, please reach out to our Director & Creator, Rachael Bosnjak.
Otherwise, stay safe, plan well and cross your fingers for borders to open soon.
Rachael is our Legal Practice Director, Youtube Host and Creator of Passage Migration Consulting.
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