English Language Requirement
From 1 August 2013, some of the retrospective aspects of the legislation introduced on 1 July 2013 has been removed. It means that applicants who lodged a Subclass 457 visa application prior to 1 July 2013 and who were exempt from the English language requirement at that time on the basis of their nominated occupation will continue to be exempt at the time of decision.
The English language requirement for the Subclass 457 applications will continue to be a time of decision requirement.
Mandatory Skills Assessments
Effective from 1 July, all applicants nominated in the occupations of Program and Project Administrator or Specialist Manager nec are required to undertake formal skills assessment.
Cap on Nominations
Employers are now required to state and justify the number of nominations they wish to apply for the duration of the sponsorship.
Mandatory electronic lodgement
All subclass 457 sponsorship, nomination and visa applications must be lodged using the online facility. Sponsorship, nomination and visa applications associated with overseas business sponsors will now be processed in Australia.
Employment conditions
If 457 primary visa holders cease to work for their sponsor, they are now given 90 days instead of 28 days to:
- find another employer to sponsor them
- apply for a different visa
- make arrangements to leave Australia.
Labour Market Testing
The requirement for employers to undertake labour market testing to look for local candidates first is expected to come into effect later in the year before November.