On March 18, Home Affairs introduced a new legislative Instrument reflecting the new changes of employer sponsored visas.
The instrument extends the exemption to the repealed subclass 457- Temporary Work (Skilled) visa holders and adds a PR pathway for subclass 482- TSS visa holders in the short-term stream came into effect on 18 March 2022.
This instrument creates two types of Specified people:
Specified 457 visa holder is a person who held a 457 visa on 18 April 2017 or was an applicant for a subclass 457 visa on 18 April 2017 that was subsequently granted, and
Specified person will be, commencing on 01 July 2022, a person who was in Australia for at least 12 months between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021, and at the time of the application is employed by a company actively and lawfully operating in Australia.
482 Short Form Occupations
215 additional occupations on the 482 short-term list, including
The Explanatory Statement states that a specified person will allow access to permanent residence “for the existing subclass 482 visa holders in the short-term stream.”
The definition does not specify a visa and therefore does not exclude any person who was in Australia for at least 12 months between 1 February 2020 and 14 December 2021 from becoming a specified person by being subsequently sponsored for a 482 visa in the Short-term stream and later being nominated for a 186 visa under the Temporary Residence Transition stream.
Specified persons must:
have held one or more 457 or 482 visas for at least 3 of the previous 4 years immediately prior to when the nomination application was lodged,
employed on a full-time basis in the position in relation to which the 457 or 482 visa were granted as the holder of one of these visas for at least 3 of the previous 4 years immediately prior to when the nomination application was lodged with unpaid leave not counting. Again, if they were sponsored in an independent contractor occupation they are required to be employed in the occupation for 3 years.
Because most 482 visas in the Short-term stream are granted for at most 2 years unless an international trade obligation applies, many of those wanting to qualify as a specified person will need to apply for a further 482 visa with the same employer.
For both specified 457 visa holders and specified persons:
there is no requirement for the nominated occupation to be on the 186 visa occupation list,
if they took unpaid leave or had their full-time employment reduced due to COVID-19-related lockdowns during a concession period, which commenced on 1 February 2020 and is still going, the required 2 or 3 years of employment is reduced by that period.
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