Accredited Sponsor Program for 457 Visas Announced
By Natalya Khodan03 November 2011 Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced last Wednesday that he was creating a new accreditation scheme for the 457 visa system set to begin on November 7. Company sponsorship will be valid for 6 years, should the company meet "Accredited Sponsor" requirements. At the moment sponsorship is only valid for 3. All the following criteria must be met to gain "Accredited Sponsor" status:
- be a government agency, a publicly listed company, or a private company, with a minimum of $4 million turnover per year over the last three years;
- have been an active Subclass 457 visa sponsor for the past three years (with a break of no more than six months, which was not due to any sanction);
- have no adverse information known of it based on Department of Immigration and the Department of Employment monitoring, including formal warnings and sanctions;
- have had at least 30 primary Subclass 457 visa applications granted in the previous 12 months;
- have lodged a high level of Decision Ready applications over the previous two years;
- have a non-approval rate of less than three percent during the previous three years; and
- have Australian workers comprising at least 75 percent of its workforce in Australia, and have made a commitment to maintain this level.
