Some news have been released for the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa subclass 494 which will open for applications on November 16th.
The visa will have 2 different streams:
- Employer sponsored for employers who hold Standard Business Sponsorship
- Labour Agreement for employers who are party to a work agreement, negotiated between the company, government and other stakeholders
Some of the key points of the new visa are below:
- Position that will be filled must be located in a designated regional area of Australia. It appears that this will be all of Australia outside of the metropolitan areas of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Perth.
- The position must be genuine, full time and available for at least 5 years.
- The nomination application of the position must include a contract that is signed by both the applicant and sponsor and Regional Certifying Bodies will need to confirm that the salary is market rate.
- Applicants must have a skills assessment and has 3 years of relevant work experience (exemptions may apply).
- The visa, if granted, will be valid for 5 years with a number of reporting conditions attached.
- After holding a subclass 494 visa for 3 years, applicant can apply for a Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional), subclass 191, visa,WITHOUT needing to have the employer sponsor them, provided they have complied with all the conditions on the visa
There will be transitional arrangements in place for applicants that held or had applied for a subclass 457 visa before 17 April 2017, or a subclass 482 visa before 20 March 2019, but the Department of Home Affairs has not released any information yet.
More information will be released in the coming weeks, contact us today if you want to know more about this visa and book a consultation with us to analyse your specific situation!
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