Today we have covered the new English Language requirements for applicants, please wait for our next edition to read in detail about the Labour Market Testing Requirements.
Start-up businesses now have restricted terms of sponsorship and can only be granted approval for an initial twelve months which can be extended if the business meets the re-application requirements. Therefore all 457 visa holders sponsored by start-up businesses are limited to an initial twelve month visa.
English language requirements for the 457 visa has been made more stringent with the definition now aligned with the Employer Nomination Scheme.
Occupation based language exemptions have now been removed, which means that a prospective 457 applicant will have to give either an IELTS or Occupational English Test (OET). The required test score of 5.0 for IELTS in all four bands or OET score of 'B' in each of the four components, has to be less than three years old at the time of the 457 visa application.
Exemptions other than the Occupation based ones remain that is:
1. The nominated employee's salary has to be over the updated ELSET amount which is a base salary of $96400.
2. The nominated employee has a passport from Canada, United States of America, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and New Zealand.
3. The nominated employee has completed at least five consecutive years of full-time study at secondary or higher education level.
All sponsorship, nomination and visa applications have to be lodged online. All applications made by and related to overseas business sponsors will now be processed in Australia.
1st of July 2013 onwards it is mandatory for 457 visa holders to commence work within 90 days of arriving in Australia.
The grace period for a 457 worker to find another sponsor if they cease employment has been extended to 90 consecutive days from the earlier 28 days.
