457 VISA - Sponsorship 'Training' requirements

Training requirements

You must show that you have contributed to the training of Australian workers by providing evidence of meeting the training benchmarks. These benchmarks were introduced to ensure that the employment of workers from outside Australia is not seen as an alternative to training Australian workers.
To be approved as a standard business sponsor, you must either:

• meet the training benchmarks if you have traded in Australia for 12 months or more
• have an auditable plan to meet the training benchmarks if you have been trading in Australia for less than 12 months.

If you negotiate a labour agreement, your business will have to meet a similar training requirement as part of the agreement.

Training benchmarks

If your business has been trading in Australia for more than 12 months, you must show you have contributed to the training of Australians.
You show this by meeting one of two benchmarks. This can be either:

• Training benchmark A: recent expenditure to the equivalent of at least two per cent of the payroll of the business, in payments allocated to an industry training fund that operates in the same industry as the business
• Training benchmark B: recent expenditure to the equivalent of at least one per cent of the payroll of the business, in the provision of training to employees of the business who are Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents.

You must provide evidence of expenditure relating to the training benchmarks when you submit your sponsorship application. Not providing evidence can cause a significant delay in processing your application.
Businesses that do not yet have an operating base in Australia do not need to meet the training benchmarks.

Payroll

Payroll is the amount of money an employer pays in wages to their employees in the 12 months immediately before you lodge your application for sponsorship.
Payroll expenditure includes any:

• wages
• remuneration
• salary
• commission
• bonuses
• allowances
•  superannuation contributions (mandatory or otherwise)
• eligible termination payments that are defined as wages in the Act relating to payroll tax in the relevant state or territory.

Payments to contractors or sub-contractors count as payroll if the contractor provides some labour services in fulfilling the requirements of the contract. For example, if your contractor is a bricklayer or a carpenter, any payments you make to them should be included as payroll expenditure.

Recent expenditure

For expenditure to qualify as recent, it must have occurred in the 12 months immediately before you lodge your application. This applies to both benchmarks.
If you include payments to contractors in your payroll expenditure, you can also count any eligible training expenditure on them towards the benchmarks.

Industry training funds

Industry training funds are statutory authorities responsible for providing funding for training of eligible workers in certain industries, such as construction and mining.
You should contribute to a fund that operates in the same industry as your business. If your industry does not have an eligible training fund, you can contribute to:

• a recognised industry body that provides training opportunities for its members, provided they reserve the funds contributed for training
• a recognised scholarship fund at a university or TAFE college that supports education or training for Australians in the same or a similar industry as your business.

Examples of ways to meet the training benchmarks

You can show you meet the training benchmarks in relation to your Australian employees by:

• paying for a formal course of study for your Australian employees
• funding a scholarship in a formal course of study approved under the Australian Qualifications Framework for your Australian employees
• employing apprentices, trainees or recent graduates on an ongoing basis in numbers proportionate to the size of the business
• employing a person who trains your Australian employees
• paying external providers to deliver training for Australian employees
• providing on-the-job training that is structured with a timeframe and clearly identified increase in the skills at each stage, and demonstrating all of the following:
• the learning outcomes of the employee at each stage
• how the progress of the Australian employee will be monitored and assessed
• how the program will provide additional and enhanced skills
• the use of qualified trainers to develop the program and set assessments
• the number of people participating and their skill and occupation.

Expenditure that cannot count towards this benchmark includes expenditure for training that is:

• delivered on the job, other than on-the-job training that meets the requirements outlined above
• confined to only one or a few aspects of the businesses broader operations, unless the training is in the primary business activity
• only done by people who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents
• only done by people who are principals in the business or their family members
• only relating to a very low skill level having regard to the characteristic and size of the business
• wages paid to staff for the time they spend at training.

Expenditure on apprentices and trainees

Apprenticeships and traineeships are training positions. You can count 100 per cent of the salary provided to an apprentice or trainee towards training benchmark B if:

• they are employed under a formal agreement (known as a training contract)
• the training contract has been lodged with the relevant state or territory government authority.
• If you employ an apprentice through a Group Training Organisation you cannot include any commission paid to third parties but you can still include 100 per cent of their salary.

Expenditure on graduates who are part of a formal training program

One hundred per cent of a graduate’s salary can be counted towards training benchmark B if the graduate’s position is part of a formal, structured graduate program of up to two years, or if it is part of a professional year following their graduation. The occupation in which the graduate is working must be relevant or related to the subject of their recently completed qualification.

Expenditure on graduates who are not part of a formal training program

Graduate positions that are not part of a formal, structured graduate program are considered differently because they are already fully qualified for their positions and they can already perform all their duties:

• you can count only the expenditure that is for the formal training aspects of the graduate position towards training benchmark B
• you cannot count the total salary of these graduates because graduate positions are not, in themselves, considered to be wholly training positions.

A recent graduate is someone who has completed their higher education studies within the 24 months before you lodge your application to become a standard business sponsor.

Training provided by a franchise head office for franchisees

Training provided to employees of franchisees can be counted towards training benchmark B if you:

• submit quantifiable evidence of structured training provided to your employees (for example, session plans, learning objectives)
• make a commitment to continue to provide training to your employees
• quantify the actual expenditure on training.

If the franchise head office provides the training, you must provide documents that show exactly what percentage of the franchise fee is attributed to training. An estimate of the training component will not be accepted; neither will the entire franchise fee.

Auditable plans

An auditable plan must clearly identify how the applicant intends to meet one of the training benchmarks. An auditable plan must:

• relate to the immediate future (within the next 12 months)
• clearly articulate the forecast payroll for the next 12 months
• show the intended expenditure towards training benchmark A or training benchmark B
• show a clear intent to implement the plan.

An auditable plan to meet training benchmark B must clearly articulate the type and duration of training, and the estimated cost of delivering the training.

Agree to the number of subclass 457 workers to be nominated

In your sponsorship application, you must tell us the number of people that the business proposes to nominate during the period of approval as a sponsor. You will need to justify why you are proposing that number. The visa processing officer could use the information in your application to propose an alternative number of people to you. You must agree in writing to a number for the sponsorship agreement to be approved.


Conact us today if you need further information or assistance.