Labour Market Testing for 457 Visas
By Mark Webster
Friday, 07 June 2013 |
Evidence of Attempts to Fill the Position Locally
Under the proposed legislation, employers may need to provide evidence that they have made attempts to fill the position locally before looking to sponsor. Evidence that can be provided would include:- Advertising of the position by the employer
- Participation in career expos
- Fees paid for recruitment
- Results of recruitment attempts
Alternatives to Providing Evidence of Recruitment Efforts
Instead of providing evidence of recruitment efforts, employers would also be able to provide:- Research into labour market trends
- Letters of support from government agencies
Exemptions to Labour Market Testing
Where there has been a recent major disaster, employers can be exempted from the labour market testing requirement. Apart from this, the legislation allows for most occupations to be exempted from labour market testing. In particular, the following types of occupations can be exempted by being listed on a legislative instrument:- Professionals and Managers: Occupations requiring a bachelor degree or 5 years of work experience would be exempt by default
- Associate Professionals: Occupations requiring a diploma or 3 years of work experience would be exempt by default
Conclusion
If the Migration Amendment (Temporary Sponsored Visas) Bill 2013 is enacted, the new labour market testing requirements will have a significant impact on employers using the 457 program. In particular:- Employers sponsoring trade and technician occupations will need to provide labour market evidence in most cases
- Most professional and management occupations should be exempt, but will require them to be explicitly listed in a legislative instrument as being exempt.
- Where labour market testing is required, this could add weeks or months to the time taken to obtain the necessary 457 visa. It may also require additional recruitment expense and administrative overhead for the process