Australian businesses are increasingly experiencing a shortage of skilled workers and under current migration policies, which make it difficult for skilled people to migrate to Australia if they do not have a job already waiting for them, this is not going to change in the foreseeable future. If an employer is unable to find a suitable Australian person to fill a position, they may consider the possibility of sponsoring a skilled person from overseas. It is a well-known fact in business circles, however, that sponsoring an employee from overseas under one of the skilled migration programs is frought with difficulties and many business are reluctant to take it on because the requirements for sponsorship are so onerous.

Therefore the expectation is that under the current migration policies of the Australian Government - with its heavy focus on employment and its reluctance to attract migrants who don't have the prospect of a job - more and more employers will begin to make use of the kinds of services provided by agencies like AustJOBS, where they can look for overseas staff with the qualifications and skills they require and where they will make all the necessary arrangements through an associated Migration Agent, as well as being able to advertise the positions they need to fill.

Temporary Work Visas - an attractive option

An employer can sponsor you to come to Australia on a Temporary Work Visa (Subclass 457), whose proper title is "Business (Long Stay) Visa". This visa enables you to work in Australia, fully paid, for up to 4 years and gives the employer an opportunity to assess if they have made the right decision in appointing you; if they did, they may want to keep you on and offer you a job, which will make you eligible for a permanent entry visa through the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) or the Regional Sponsored Migraion Scheme (RSMS). Furthermore, while in Australia on a 457 visa you may lodge an application for Permanent Residence through the Subclass 175 or 176 visa (see above) and wait for the processing of your application to be finalised while you are working in Australia.

A Note of Warning!

You've got to be careful, however: the fact is that if you are hoping to be able to settle in Australia through the Temporary Work Visa route, you may find that you can't - because you do not meet all the Skilled visa requirements and we have actually had quite a few people in our office who were exactly in this awful situation. In other words, before you take this route and up-root yourself and your family to come to Australia on a Temporary Work Visa, you have to make absolutely certain that you will be eligible for a Skilled Visa in due course. You can, of course, determine this yourself, but to be on the safe side you are strongly advised to work with and through a Migration Agent such as AMES. One reason is that the regulations and policies governing skilled migration (as well as being pretty complicated to begin with) change all the time - this year for example the government is conducting a major review of the Temporary Residence Program and while no-one can predict what the outcome will be, it is certain that there will be changes. Another reason is that all the documentation you submit for your Temporary Work Visa will be taken into account by DIAC in later applications, so it is critical that the forms and documents you send to DIAC are prepared perfectly, as well as being consistent: this will definitely be the case if you work with a Migration Agent.

Find out how you can get a Temporary Work Visa ....