How to get a working visa for Australia

A working visa to Australia (or skilled visa as it is more commonly known) is a type of visa which is based on an applicant’s skills, qualifications and/or employment experience. The primary purpose of Australia’s skilled migration progr

amme is to fill skilled labour shortages in the local employment market. It achieves this by targeting specific areas of need, primarily based on specific skilled occupations. Some skilled visas are designed to meet skills shortages in certain geographical areas (including in regional Australia). Employers can also sponsor or nominate suitably skilled applicants to fill vacancies in individual businesses, thereby addressing an employer-specific need.

Both temporary and permanent residence skilled visa options are available (including a possible future pathway to permanent residence for certain temporary skilled visa holders).

A skilled visa enables you to contribute to the Australian community and the economy and at the same time, experience the lifestyle benefits that Australia offers and for which it is renowned around the world.

How can you get a working visa for Australia?

The first step is to determine whether you meet the eligibility requirements for a skilled visa to Australia. Each type of skilled visa is designed to meet a specific purpose, which means that the requirements to qualify for each will vary and you will need to select the right one for you based on your individual circumstances.

What types of skilled visas are available?

A Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) subclass 482 visa is an employer sponsored temporary visa which may be granted for up to 4 years. It consists of 3 visa streams, namely, a Short-term, Medium-term and Labour Agreement stream. A subclass 482 visa may provide a pathway to permanent residence with an employer nominated visa after 3 years (transitional arrangements are available to certain subclass 457 visa holders, the predecessor to the current TSS visa).

An employer nominated visa, which is a permanent residence visa, comprises of the following two visa subclasses:

Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) subclass 186 visa; and
Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) subclass 187 visa (to be replaced with a Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa commencing from 16th November 2019).

Each employer nominated visa subclass consists of 3 visa streams, namely a Direct Entry, Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) and Labour Agreement stream.

The General Skilled Migration (GSM)visa program offers the following 3 skilled visa options:

Skilled (Independent) subclass 189 (a permanent residence visa);
Skilled (State Sponsored) subclass 190 (a permanent residence visa which requires State Sponsorship approval); and
Skilled (Regional) subclass 489 visa (a temporary residence visa comprising of State Sponsored and Family Sponsored visa streams. A pathway to permanent residence may be available after 2 years. This programme will be replaced with a Subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa commencing from 16th November 2019).

Although not part of the skilled visa programme, a Working Holiday Maker visa allows you to combine travel and work (and short-term study/training) if your main purpose is to spend a holiday in Australia. It is available to applicants who hold a passport from a selected list of countries, and who are aged up to 30 (and 35 in some cases). It consists of the following subclasses:

Working Holiday (subclass 417) visa; and
Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa.

A Working Holiday Maker visa is granted for a period of 12 months, with options to qualify for a second and third year visa if certain requirements are met.

You might also like to consider a Temporary Graduate subclass 485 visa, which allows you to work and study in Australia for between 18 month and 4 years (thiswill depend on whether you apply under the Graduate Work or Post-Study Workstream).

For applicants seeking to establish or invest in a business in Australia, a BusinessVisa can be a good option to consider. This visa class consists of a Business Innovation and Investment subclass 188 visa, which is a temporary visa (with a pathway to permanent residence) and a Business Talent subclass 132 visa, which grants automatic permanent residence in Australia.

Constantine Paxinos is a Registered Migration Agent and Chartered Accountant. He is a director of PAX Migration Australia, a leading, award-winning immigration agency based in Adelaide, South Australia. He has worked closely with international students for the last 5 years and has assisted hundreds of students with graduate and permanent visa pathways and is an active advocate for growing international students.