New labour market testing and skilling australians fund rules

If you are intending to sponsor an employee, you need to be aware that there are new rules in place for Labour Market Testing (LMT) and Skilling Australians Fund (SAF).

Labour Market Testing

A position that is going to be sponsored must be advertised for at least four (4) weeks and not earlier than four (4) before the employer lodges the nomination application.

• At least two advertisements must be published:
  • on a recruitment website with a national reach in Australia (e.g. seek.com). You can place the advertisement on LinkedIn’s online recruitment platform, but vacancies restricted to LinkedIn profile members only are not acceptable;
  • in print media with national reach in Australia; or
  • on radio with national reach
• The advertisement must be in English and must include the following details:
  • the title, or a description, of the position;
  • the skills or experience required for the position;
  • the name of the approved sponsor or the name of the recruitment agency being used by the sponsor; and
  • the salary for the position (if the intended annual earnings for the nominated position are lower than AUD96,400). It is acceptable to publish a salary range – for example $100,000 to $200,000;
• The advertisement must accept applications or expressions of interest for at least four weeks after it is first published

Skilling Australians Fund

The Subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage visa, the Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme Visa and the Subclass 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visas will require compliance with SAF.
The SAF has replaced the training benchmarks. The SAF is divided not to small business (under $10 million per year turnover) and large businesses. The payments are calculated as follows:

Subclass 482 Nominations:

• Small business: $1,200 for each visa year
• Large business: $1,800 for each visa year

Subclass 186 & 187 Nominations:

• Small business: $3,000
• Large business: $5,000

Refunds are generally not available for the Levy paid for Subclass 482, however it is possible under the following:

• applications where the employer’s sponsorship application is refused
• applications where the employer’s sponsorship is approved, but the employee’s subsequent visa application is refused based on character or health grounds.
• when an approved subclass 482 holder does not actually commence work with the sponsor
• when a subclass 482 visa holder ceases work with their sponsoring employer in the first 12 months of employment. The refund will be calculated based on the balance of the years remaining on the visa.
• when the nomination was withdrawn

If you would like to know more about the new labour market testing, skilling australians fund or any employer sponsored visa information, please contact our team of Registered Migration Agents today.