By Ron Kessels & Ashleigh Whittaker
Of great interest to many businesses is the recent announcement
from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship
(DIAC) of the introduction of a sponsor
accreditation scheme which aims to offer priority processing of
subclass 457 applications to certain eligible sponsors who meet
additional requirements.
Accredited status can be applied for starting 1 November 2011,
as part of an existing Business Sponsorship agreement, or as part
of a new sponsorship application. Once accredited, sponsors will
have access to 'priority processing' for all future
subclass 457 nomination and visa applications during the validity
of the agreement. We understand that the agreement will be for a
period of six years (rather than the usual three years) and would
aim to reduce processing times for subclass 457 nomination and visa
applications to five working days.
