The ugly, the bad and some good - recent changes to Australia's 457 visa scheme

The subclass 457 visa scheme has been the subject of much debate in recent months. With federal parliament having now come to a close, we take the opportunity to look at what amendments have actually been, or will be, made to the scheme.

The Ugly – Labour Market Testing

It will soon be necessary, as part of the nomination process, for subclass 457 visa sponsors to provide evidence of:

• labour market testing; and
• information about the retrenchment or redundancies of Australian citizens or permanent residents working in the nominated position in the 4 months before the nomination (if applicable).

A number of exemptions to this requirement will apply, with the most relevant being where the nominated occupation is an occupation which has been specified by the Minister of Immigration as being exempt from the requirement. At the date of this article, the list of occupations which will be exempt from labour market testing is not available. It is however likely