Tweaks to Labour Market Testing

LMT changes try to simplify the 482 visa process

Temporary skilled work visas are designed to help employers facing skills shortages. The process of sponsoring an employee sees employers nominate a position. The nomination is approved and then they can proceed with sponsoring their candidate.

Employers wanting to sponsor 482 visa applicants need to prove the business case for nominating an overseas worker for a job. One of the ways sponsoring employers need to show this is through Labour Market Testing (LMT). What does Labour Market Testing involve and how will the changes help make the 482 visa nomination process simpler.

Tweaks to Labour Market Testing

Sponsoring employers looking to nominate an occupation for a subclass 482 visa must carry out Labour Market Testing. The purpose of Labour Market Testing is to prove the employer faces a skills shortage, cannot fill their vacant positio

n from the Australian talent pool and needs to look to overseas talent for the job.

Currently Labour Market Testing involves employers showing they have taken efforts to search for local talent for a minimum of 28 days. To do this, sponsoring employers can post job adverts on recruitment sites with national reach for a minimum of 28 days. In addition, one of the places employers had to post the job advert was on the Workforce Australia website.

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LMT evidence valid for longer

After 28 days, employer sponsors can then nominate the position they want to sponsor. However, they must make the 482 visa nomination within a certain timeframe otherwise they will need to repost the job adverts for 28 days again. The timeframe in which employers must nominate a position has been extended from 4 months to 6 months.

Job Ads on Workforce Australia website no longer compulsory

The other change which the Government claims will reduce complexity relates to what sites employers are expected to post their job adverts. It had been a prerequisite for sponsoring employers to post a job advertisement on the Workforce Australia website to meet the conditions of LMT. Although employers still need to post the job advert on three recruitment platforms with national reach, employers no longer need to post any of those job adverts on the Workforce Australia website to meet their LMT requirements.

The Government announced these changes as part of its Migration Strategy, released last December. These Labour Market Testing changes will affect employers nominating 482 visa applicants.

These LMT changes will likely affect the soon-to-be introduced Skills In Demand Visa. The Skills in Demand Visa will be replacing the subclass 482 visa later this year.

For advice on Labour Market Testing and sponsoring skilled workers from overseas, contact us today.