We’re your trusted employer-sponsored visa lawyers
Whether you’re a skilled worker looking for work in Australia or an employer looking for a skilled worker to fill your labour shortage, our expert immigration lawyers can help you with your employer-sponsored skilled visa needs.
What is an employer-sponsored visa?
Employer-sponsored visas are Australian work visas that allow Australian employers to sponsor overseas workers to fill positions in their business where they have been unable to find skilled labour in the local employment market.
There is a range of employer-sponsored skilled visa options available:
- Subclass 482 Skills in Demand (SID) visa: A temporary employer-sponsored visa, for up to a 4-year visa term, with two streams – the core skills stream and specialist skills stream.
- Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) visa: A permanent residency visa with three streams – Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream; Direct Entry (DE) stream; and Labour Agreement stream.
- Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa: A 5-year provisional visa with two streams – Employer Sponsored stream and Labour Agreement stream.
- Subclass 191 Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa: A permanent visa for holders of a subclass 494 visa who have held that visa for 3 years and complied with its conditions.
All employer-sponsored visa options are based on an employer sponsoring a worker for a position in their business where they are unable to source labour in the local employment market, and on the worker’s skills – a worker must meet the minimum requirements in terms of qualifications and experience (this will depend on their chosen occupation).
Why work with a PAX immigration lawyer?
- Your PAX lawyer will have experience in all visa subclasses and visa refusals.
- Doing your employer-sponsored visa application yourself puts you at risk of making potentially irreversible errors.
- Your lawyer will be fully informed of the law, regulations, policy, Review Tribunal and case law decisions. Applying the law is critical; just knowing it isn’t sufficient.
- Each visa application is different and your PAX lawyer will treat it as such.
- Your dedicated PAX lawyer will manage your case from start to finish, and be available anytime for questions.
Our promise to you
- We get things right the first time, helping you avoid mistakes on visa applications that lead to costly and stressful refusals or delays.
- We’ll provide you with professional support and immigration assistance to lighten the burden of your legal matters, so you can focus on what matters.
- We’re considerate of your financial circumstances. Our visa immigration lawyers provide you with accurate and fair visa costs throughout the legal process.
- Ethics and integrity underpin everything we do at our law firm, from the corporate clients we service to the quality of work we deliver.
FAQs
Visa applicant requirements
“If you’re considering a move to Australia on an employer-sponsored visa and wondering what the eligibility requirements are, it vastly depends on what visa you’re seeking and what industry you work in,” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.
“Some conditions may include agreeing to stay at the role for a fixed period of time, agreeing to relocate to a particular region for the work, or you may be required to undertake a skills assessment or demonstrate a certain amount of experience in a similar role,” says Mario.
The team at PAX Law will help you understand the conditions of your visa and help you organise your skills assessment and/or put together the necessary documents for your application. Get in touch today.
Employer-sponsor requirements
“There are also requirements that apply to the employer sponsor, which may vary depending on the visa type or if there are specialist skills required from your employee,” says Mario. “As well as being able to prove that your business is actively and lawfully operating and that you’ve attempted to source local labour, some of the conditions that you may need to meet as the employer include meeting minimum salary requirements, or for a Core Skills 482 visa the role must be included on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL), and have the capacity to retain the employee in the position for an agreed length of the visa period.”
If you’re uncertain about your obligations as an employer, the PAX Law team can help you understand what’s needed and help you prepare your documentation. Get in touch today.
“It can take several weeks to prepare and lodge an employer-sponsored visa application, with the time largely dependent on how promptly you and your sponsor supply the necessary information and documents,” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales. “The Department of Home Affairs processing times may vary – our team will be able to provide likely processing timeframes for your application.”
“Yes, on an employer-sponsored visa, you can add additional applicants for dependent family members (e.g. your spouse/de facto partner, children under 18, and other dependent relatives) to your visa application at the time of lodging it,” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.
“Where you can live on an employer-sponsored skilled visa depends on the conditions of the visa you are granted,” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.
“For example, the ENS visa has no conditions – you can live anywhere in Australia (though you must uphold your agreement to work for your nominating employer for two years from the visa grant). The SID visa doesn’t have any conditions on where you can live, but you must work for your nominating employer in the nominated occupation that was approved.
“The SESR visa does impose conditions on where you and any dependent visa holders can live in Australia. All SESR visa holders must live in a designated regional area of Australia for the visa term,” says Mario.
“Whether you can work for different employers on an employer-sponsored skilled visa depends on the conditions of the visa you have been granted,” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.
“Some visas require the holder to fulfil a certain time period in their role, like the ENS visa, which requires an agreement of two years in the position, and some other visas require the holder to only work for the sponsor in the nominated position,” says Mario. “Note that these work restrictions only apply to the primary visa holder. Generally work restrictions don’t apply to dependent visa holders on employer sponsored visas.”
For the SID and SESR visa, you can stop working for the sponsoring employer in the nominated position, but any such period must not exceed 180 consecutive days and the total number of days on which the holder does not work must not exceed 365 during the total visa period.
For the ENS visa, no conditions apply. However, as part of the ENS visa application, you agree to take up the position for at least two years.
Meet the PAX Law Team
PAX Law founders Mario and Constantine are respected thought leaders in Australian immigration law, and lead our team with the highest standards of ethics and integrity. We recognise the level of trust you place in us and provide emotional support throughout the entire visa process.
Mario Amor
Principal Solicitor
Constantine Paxinos
Director
Christina Paxinos
Practice Manager
Natalia Zambrano
Assistant
Hear from our clients
Next steps
Fill in the below form to book a personalised, one-on-one consultation with one of our expert visa immigration lawyers. We can meet online or in person at our Sydney or Adelaide offices.
The personalised consultation costs $330 (this includes GST) and we’ll credit this fee against the overall price for the visa process. During the hour-long consultation, you’ll receive a genuine analysis of your case and personalised advice to help you understand your strategy, risks, timelines, costs, and pros and cons of different options.
Together, we’ll work to achieve your immigration goals and secure your future in Australia.
Book a consultation