Changes to ENS Occupations List and Salary Level
By Mark Webster
5 December 2010
Changes to the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) program come into effect today.
The changes are to the following areas:
- Minimum salary level to be exempt from skills assessment or 2 years residence in Australia to qualify for ENS
- A number of occupations have been added to the ENS Occupations List, and one removed
Minimum Salary
There are 3 possible skill options which an applicant must meet for grant of an ENS visa.
Broadly speaking these are:
- Skills assessment in the occupation plus 3 years of work experience in the occupation
- 2 years in Australia on a long-stay work visa (most commonly a 457 visa)
- Meeting a minimum salary level for high level executives
The change introduced on the 5th of December is to the third option - the previous minimum salary to meet this skill option was $165,000, and this salary level has now been raised to $250,000.
The Department of Immigration claims that this change has been introduced because salaries have moved since the introduction of this skill option in 2005.
Please note that no change has been made to the minimum gazetted salary for occupations otherwise - these remain at $65,020 for IT professionals or $47,480 for other occupations.
Changes to ENS Occupations List
A number of occupations seem to have been excluded by accident by DIAC from the ENS Occupations List when they moved from the previous ASCO system of occupational classification to the ANZSCO system on 1 July 2010.
The reason for the exclusion of the occupations seems to have been that a number of ASCO occupations were split into a number of specialisations under ANZSCO.
As a result, the closest match was included in the new ANZSCO ENS List, but a number of the specialiations which would have been included in the relevant ASCO occupation were excluded.
A good example of this was the occupation of Graphic Designer - this was split under the ANZSCO system into specialisations such as Illustrator, Multimedia Designer and Web Designer as well as the occupation of Graphic Designer itself.
This issue has been somewhat redressed by the 5 December changes, with the following occupations added to the ENS Occupations List:
| ANZSCO | Occupation |
| 111111 | Chief Executive or Managing Director |
| 131113 | Advertising Manager |
| 139911 | Art Administrator or Manager |
| 149311 | Conference and Event Organiser |
| 224912 | Liaison Officer |
| 232313 | Jewellery Designer |
| 232414 | Web Designer |
| 234212 | Food Technologist |
| 234514 | Biotechnologist |
| 249112 | Education Reviewer |
| 263112 | Network Administrator |
| 263213 | ICT Systems Test Engineer |
| 311311 | Fisheries Inspector |
| 311399 | Primary Products Inspectors nec |
| 312114 | Construction Estimator |
| 323212 | Fitter and Turner |
| 452314 | Snowsport Instructor |
Whilst this is a good start, there are a number of occupations, particularly in the IT sector which are still not included in the ENS List without any logical reason.
Examples include:
| ANZSCO | Occupation |
| 131114 | Public Relations Manager |
| 132111 | Corporate Services Manager |
| 135112 | ICT Project Manager |
| 222312 | Financial Investment Manager |
| 223211 | ICT Trainer |
| 225211 | ICT Account Manager |
| 225212 | ICT Business Development Manager |
| 232413 | Multimedia Designer |
| 234311 | Conservation Officer |
| 234511 | Life Scientist (General) |
| 241311 | Middle School Teacher |
| 251911 | Health Promotion Officer |
| 261211 | Multimedia Specialist |
| 261212 | Web Developer |
| 263211 | ICT Quality Assurance Engineer |
| 263212 | ICT Support Engineer |
| 263299 | ICT Support and Test Engineers nec |
| 313113 | Web Administrator |
| 313199 | ICT Support Technicians nec |
| 323213 | Fitter-Welder |
| 342411 | Cabler (Data and Telecommunications) |
| 342412 | Telecommunications Cable Jointer |
| 612112 | Property Manager |
| 612115 | Real Estate Representative |
It seems particularly bizarre that the occupation of Snowsport Instructor has been added to the list, whereas a highly skilled and in demand occupation such as ICT Project Manager has been overlooked.
The occupation of Medical Technicians (Not Elsewhere Classified) has been removed from the ENS List.
This is consistent with the exclusion of other medical technicians such as Anaesthetic,
Cardiac, Operating Theatre and Pharmacy Technicians.
Conclusion
The changes noted above will be of benefit to a number of occupations which seem to have been excluded from ENS list due to error.
However, the increase in minimum salary for the executive level skill option will disadvantage people who are being paid over $165,000 but less than $250,000.
In addition, there are still a number of occupations which should logically be on the ENS list but which are still excluded, particularly in the IT field.
Feel free to contact us if you wish to discuss applying for ENS visas.
Sources
ENSOL Legislative Instrument
Join our HR Professionals Database
Follow Us:
|
