Tuesday, 16 February 2016

NEW Short-Term Mobility Visa


Starting July 2016, a new visa program will be implemented by Australian Immigration, called the Short-Term Mobility Visa, which is supposed to make it easier for skilled migrants to come and work in Australia. This visa is valid for a 12 month period and allows the nominee multiple entries into Australia to undertake “specialised work” for short-term appointments.

The Short-Term Mobility visa is part of the Federal Government’s plan to simplify the visa system and enable Australian businesses a lot more flexibility in terms of attracting skilled migrant workers for short-term periods of employment.

This visa will allow employers to fill short term vacancies for specialised workers and may include intra-company transfer and foreign correspondents.
The Short-Term Mobility Visa will only apply to a small sub-set of people, such as high-level executives who may be coming to Australia to set up divisions of their businesses, or software developers that are installing specialised computer programs or equipment especially for Australian companies.
One of the benefits of this visa is that applicants do not need to meet a minimum level of English language proficiency or undertake laborious labour market testing (unlike the subclass 457 visa) and will only be required to fulfil basic health, character and safety requirements. However, while it may appear an easy option for skilled migrants, this visa is only really geared towards a small target audience of professionals with a specific skill set.
The development of the Short-Term Mobility visa has likely been prompted by frustrations experienced by Australian businesses unable to find staff to fill the gap between the subclass 400 and subclass 457 visas.
This visa can be applied for within Australia or overseas, however, family members of Short Term Mobility visa holders are not permitted to be included on the same visa application. In instances where the work is considered ongoing, visa holders will likely need to apply for another visa such as the Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visa.
We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.


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