What does this visa allow you to do?

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This visa provides the holder with Australian permanent residency with no conditions. Dependent family members may be included. The holder can live and work wherever they like in Australia. Although the visa is granted based on the holder being skilled in a specific occupation, once granted, the visa doesn’t require you to seek or maintain employment in this occupation.

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Who can apply this visa?​

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The Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186) has three (3) streams:

• Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream

• Direct Entry stream 

• Labour Agreement stream.

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1. Temporary Residence Transition stream

The Temporary Residence Transition stream allows applicants who have held a Temporary Work (Skilled) visa Subclass 457 with the nominating employer to apply for Permanent Residence.

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To be approved under the Temporary Residence Transition stream:

• the nominating employer must:

  • continue to be actively and lawfully operating

  • have continued to meet the relevant training requirements 

  • have complied with its obligations as a Subclass 457 approved sponsor

  • have no adverse information against it

• the nominated position must:

  • be the same (or a closely related) position as was approved for the Subclass 457 visa

  • continue to be a genuine position

  • be a full-time position available for a minimum of two (2) years from the time the visa is granted

  • continue to meet the market salary rate and conditions (provide terms and conditions no less favourable than those afforded to Australian citizens and Permanent Residents in similar roles)

• the visa applicant must:

  • have held a Subclass 457 visa to work in the nominated (or closely related) position, with the nominating employer, for at least the two (2) years prior to application

  •  have at least Vocational English

  • meet relevant health and character requirements

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2. Direct Entry stream

The Direct Entry stream allows applicants who do not meet the requirements of the Temporary Residence Transition stream to be nominated by an employer for Permanent Residence.

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To be approved under the Direct Entry stream:

• the nominating employer must:

  • be actively and lawfully operating in Australia

  • meet the relevant training requirements 

  • have no adverse information against it

• the nominated position must:

  • be a genuine position

  • be a full-time position available for a minimum of two (2) years from the time the visa is granted

  • be for an occupation listed on the Consolidated Skilled Occupations List (CSOL)

  • provide terms and conditions no less favourable than those afforded to Australian citizens and Permanent Residents performing similar roles

• the visa applicant must:

  • be under 50 years of age

  • demonstrate Competent English

  • hold a successful skills assessment for your nominated occupation from the relevant assessing authority (unless exempted)

  •  have at least three (3) years of highly relevant work experience

  • meet relevant health and character requirements.

 

3. Labour Agreement stream

The Labour Agreement stream is for applicants who are nominated by an employer who has entered into a Labour Agreement negotiated and agreed to be the Australian Government.

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Applicants under this stream need to meet the age, skills and English language requirements provided under the relevant Agreement, in addition to relevant health and character requirements.

 

What are the common application criteria?

• Age: Primary visa applicant must be under 45 years of age at the time that the visa application is lodged. There are only a few allowed exemptions to this age requirement.[ https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L00301]

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• English: Competent English language ability is required for both the TRT and DE streams. Primary applicants under the Labour Agreement stream must also demonstrate Competent English ability, unless the Labour Agreement provides a lower English requirement. The English test result must be obtained within the last 3 years immediately before the date of lodgement of the visa application.

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• Holds (or is eligible for) any mandatory registration, licence or professional membership: If any mandatory registration, licence or professional membership is required, this mist be hold at time of application. 

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• Health and character: Primary visa applicant and all members of his or her family unit must satisfy the health and character requirements. If any member of the family unit fails to satisfy the health and/or character requirements, then the visa applications may be refused for the primary applicant and all family members (also known as ‘one-fails, all-fail rule’, even though the family member is not included in the visa application).

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