NF Workforce Mobility

🚨 COVID-19 ALERT - Concessions for 457/482 Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa holders in Australia

The Department of Home Affairs has on the weekend announced concessions relevant to visa holders currently in Australia as follows:

🔺 Visa holders stood down

🔹 may maintain their visa validity
🔹 may extend their visa subject to the sponsoring employer being willing to do so
🔹 may work reduced hours without the risk of breaching visa conditions; may take leave without pay or part-time work
🔹 may access to up to $10,000 in superannuation for this financial year

🔺 Visa holders laid off

🔹 may seek a new sponsor
🔹 if they cannot find a new sponsor, the government is urging visa holders to leave Australia subject to their visa conditions
🔹if 4-year 457/TSS visa holders (in the medium-term stream) can be re-employed after the coronavirus pandemic, their time already spent in Australia will count towards the skilled work experience for permanent residence

If you have any queries, or require any advice, please reach out to us at [email protected]
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Travel Ban - Australian Citizens and Permanent Residents - Outbound

Effective from 12pm on 25 March 2020, in order to protect the health of the Australian citizens and permanent residents, they are precluded from travelling outside Australia unless they fall within the exemptions referred to below.

🔴 Exemptions
🔹 a person ordinarily resident in a country other than Australia
🔹 a person who is a member of the crew of an aircraft or vessel (other than the outgoing aircraft or vessel) or is a worker associated with the safety or maintenance of an aircraft or vessel (other than the outgoing aircraft or vessel)
🔹 a person engaged in the day-to-day conduct of inbound and outbound freight
🔹 a person whose travel is associated with essential work at an offshore facility
🔹 a person who is travelling on official government business (including a member of the Australian Defence Force)
🔹 a person who is granted an exemption by an Australian Public Service employee in the Australian Border Force in exceptional circumstances

🔴 Criminal offence
An Australian who fails to comply with the travel ban may commit a criminal offence and be:
🔹 imprisoned for a maximum of 5 years; or
🔹 fined $63,000

We strongly recommend that businesses ensure that their Australian employees do not travel outside Australia until the travel ban is lifted.

​If you believe an exemption applies to your Australian employee, please contact us for advice and confirmation.

Proposed Changes to the Occupation Lists – Traffic Light Bulletin

📍 Background

The Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business (the Department) is responsible for undertaking regular reviews of the Short-Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL), the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) and the Regional Occupation List (ROL).
The Department reviews these lists which underpins, among others, the employer-sponsored program to ensure they respond to genuine skill needs in Australia.

📍 Traffic Light Bulletin

The Department recently published a Traffic Light Bulletin which outlines the proposed changes to the skilled migration occupation lists and is seeking public submission by 12 February 2020. The Department will then review the submission and provide recommendations to the Government. The final decision of update/changes in the occupation lists is likely to be made in March 2020.
The proposed changes include the following 4 types:
• Flagged for removal from the STSOL
• Flagged for moving between lists (MLTSSL/ROL to STSOL, STSOL to ROL/MLTSSL or ROL to MLTSSL) – please refer to below
• Flagged for addition to the lists – please refer to below
• Flagged for recommending for a salary caveat

📍 Occupations that are moved to MLTSSL

We believe the following occupations that have been flagged to be moved from STSOL/ROL to MLTSSL are very relevant to many employers:
• Sales and Marketing Manager with a salary caveat of AUD120,000
• ICT Project Manager with a salary caveat of AUD120,000
• Information and Organisation Professionals nec with a salary caveat of AUD90,000
• Insurance Loss Adjuster with salary caveat of AUD80,000
• Procurement Manager without salary caveat imposed

If the above proposed changes are implemented, employers are able to recruit overseas skilled workers under those occupations on a 4-year visa instead of a 2-year visa.

📍 Occupations that are added to STSOL

We believe the following occupations added to STSOL are beneficial to the employers that are in the health and aged care sector:
• Aged and Disabled Carer
• Nursing Support Worker
• Personal Care Assistant

In addition, Corporate Treasurer has also been added to STSOL.

We will provide updates on the relevant occupation lists once the Department has announced its final decision.

The Department of Home Affairs released on 16 November 2019 two regional visas, namely 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (494 visa) and 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (491 visa).

📍 Benefits of new visas:

✅ Priority processing of regional applications
✅ Lower cost to employers with only one SAF levy stage for the 494 nomination (compared to the two stages for the current TSS to 186 permanent resident pathway)
✅ Incentives for migrants to stay in regional areas longer term as they build ties through workforce and community participation
✅ Can apply for permanent residence without a second nomination stage, if eligible, through the subclass 191 visa from 16 November 2022
✅ Broader range of occupations available than non-regional pathways
✅ Expanded and consistent classification of regional areas

For more details, please visit our blog:
https://bit.ly/36opC0b