From
7 November 2011, the Department of Immigration & Citizenship have decided
that businesses with an excellent record of legal compliance and a long and
positive history of lodging subclass 457 visa applications for overseas
employees, will be able to make application for “accredited sponsor”
status. Accreditation will qualify them
for “priority processing” of all subclass 457 nomination and visa
applications. It is anticipated that
processing will be finalised within 1-2 weeks, rather than the current median
of 22 days.
How to apply for sponsorship accreditation
To
qualify for Accredited Status, sponsors will have to demonstrate several
characteristics in addition to the standard sponsorship requirements at the
time of application.
Accredited
status can be applied for by either submitting a new sponsorship application or
applying for a variation of a current sponsorship agreement.
Sponsors
can apply for accredited status by the same methods as applying to become a
standard business sponsor that is by using eVisa or paper form 1196s.
If
the employer does not meet the characteristics for accredited status, the
application for standard business sponsorship will still proceed and be
assessed in the usual way.
If
a sponsor does not maintain these characteristics, Accredited Status can be
revoked which means priority processing will be retracted. The validity length
of the sponsorship cannot be changed, and will remain at six years.
Characteristics that must be met
Sponsors
who want to be approved for Accredited Status must meet all of the
following characteristics:
- be a
government agency, a publicly-listed company, or a private company, with a
minimum of $4 million turnover per year for the last three years
- have
been an active subclass 457 visa sponsor for the past three years (with a
break of no more than six months, not due to any sanction)
- have
no adverse information known about them based on Department of
Immigration and Citizenship and Department of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relation monitoring, including formal warnings and sanctions
- have
had at least 30 primary subclass 457 visa holders granted in the previous
12 months
- have
lodged a high level of decision-ready applications over the previous two
years
- have a
non-approval rate of less than three per cent for the previous three years
- have
Australian workers comprising at least 75 per cent of their workforce in Australia
and a commitment to maintain this level.
An accredited status sponsorship
agreement is valid for 6 years,
rather than the usual 3 years.
Nevett Ford Immigration
Lawyers can provide advice and assistance to your business in making
application for Sponsorship Accreditation to streamline your recruitment of
personnel from overseas.
Please contact Ryan Curtis-Griffiths, Director,
Nevett Ford Lawyers Melbourne by email: rcurtisgriffiths@nevettford.com.au
or by telephone: +61 3 9614 7111 if you require any advice or assistance.
