Australian Nomination Visa

Purpose of an Australian Nomination Visa

An Australian Nomination visa is designed to bring highly skilled workers to Australia. However, it is only for specific fields where there aren’t enough people in Australia to fill the necessary roles. These visas need applications from both the employer and the employee, so they can be quite a complicated process with many steps.

Here at The Migration Place, we’ve helped countless people and companies through this process, so please contact us if you’re concerned about the difficulty. We can help determine an application strategy, and we can give you a better chance of having the process successfully completed in the shortest amount of time.

Australian Nomination Visa Types

There are two main routes to obtaining an Australian nomination visa. The first is the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa, which has three streams. It requires you to be nominated by an Australian employer and is useful for companies who cannot find Australians with the necessary skills. The second is the Skilled Nominated (Subclass 190) visa, where you will be nominated by and Australian state or territory government. This is most common in less populated areas that are trying to increase their population or grow a specific industry.

Depending on the stream, these visas provide temporary or permanent status to the holder. Most of them will also allow immediate family members and dependent children to come to Australia for the duration of the visa.

Australian Nomination Visa Requirements

The requirements for this visa vary depending on whether you apply for the Skilled Nominated visa or an Employer Nomination Scheme visa. For either of the subclasses, there must be a sponsor to nominate the worker. The worker will also generally have to pass an exam or show some other proof that they possess the desired skills for the role. Some Australian nomination visa types also have age limits that restrict the nominations of people too young or old. Most of these visas require a minimum proof of English language knowledge, and all of them require proof of health and character requirements.

Australian Employer Nomination Visa Companies

Unfortunately, not all companies operating in Australia can be a sponsor for these types of visas. Before sponsoring, a business must obtain an approved status with the Australian government. Once they do this, they will be eligible to sponsor employees, but they can’t simply hire for any position- only those that are on approved lists. An immigration lawyer is able to help a company become eligible to sponsor as fast as possible, and we can also help determine if the desired employee types are approved, and figure out ways to convince the authorities that they are necessary to the local needs.

Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186)

This is a very common Australian nomination visa, with a two-step process for hiring skilled workers. The first step is that an approved Australian employer must nominate the worker, and after the approval process is completed, the worker has to apply for the working visa.

It is a permanent visa, and it has three possible streams. The first is the Temporary Residence Transition stream, and it’s for employees who have worked for two years on a subclass 457 visa, and the employer now wants to hire them on a permanent basis. Next is the Direct Entry stream, and this one is for people have been nominated by an employer specifically under this stream, have never worked in Australia, or temporary residents who can’t qualify for a temporary stream. The last is the Agreement stream, and it is designed for workers who are sponsored through a labor agreement by their employer.

This is an example of a visa that has an age requirement, because it limits the applicants to those who are under the age of 45. However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, being nominated as a senior academic by an Australian university, a minister by a religious institution, or having already been working in Australia on a temporary visa could allow people over the age limit to still qualify. Speak to an immigration lawyer if you’re trying to find out if there’s an exception that fits your case.

Awards Won

Finance Monthly – Law Awards 2017: Migration Law Firm of the Year – Australia
Lawyer Monthly Legal Awards 2016: Migration Lawyer of the Year
AI M&A Award 2015: Most Innovative Migration Firm Australia