457 Visa is now invalid after Australia Introduces Temporary Skill Shortage

Australia has finally removed the popular 457 visa program, with a new legislation becoming effective from 18 March.   The country has come up with new visa program as TSS (Temporary Skill Shortage) which has replaced the older one.

The Migration Legislation Amendment Regulation 2018 has invalid the 457 visa and replaced with the new Subclass482 visa. After introducing new visa, employers are permitted to access skilled international workers if they are not able to find workers with essential skills within the country.

You can have a new visa in two streams Short term and medium term which requires compulsory work experience in addition to better English language proficiency for the medium–term visa. it will be necessary for applicants to gain skill assessments that are positive before they can start applying for visas.

“Experts are of the belief that many overseas students who could obtain employer-sponsored visas after graduating will find it tough to get these new visas because of extra conditions,” said SBS Punjabi.

The short-term visas under the TSS will be granted for two years and the medium-term visas for up to four years with the IELTS (International English Language Testing Service) exam under which overall band score of 5 and at least 5 in each of the four components in necessary.

Under the short-term visas, people are not allowed to get a pathway to permanent residency. Australia’s Federal Government has already implemented major transformation in 2017 to employer-sponsored visas which will become effective soon.

In future, businesses who want to sponsor overseas skilled workers on short-term visas of TSS can bring them under occupations listed on the STSOL (Short-term Skilled Occupation List). For the four year visa, they can access them in occupations on the MLTSSSL (Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List).

TSS also includes Labour Agreement Stream that lets employers of Australia access skilled overseas workers in line with a labor treaty with the government, where it can be shown that needed talent is not available in the labor market of Australia.

If you are looking to migrate to Australia, talk to West Highlander –the world’s no.1 immigration and visa consultancy, to apply for a relevant visa