What is the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional Visa of Australia?

Australia has recently released the legislation for the Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) Visa. The Visa will be introduced on 16^th November this year. However, details like the occupation list for this Visa is yet to be released.

The Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional Visa would have 2 streams:

1. Employer-sponsored for Australian employers who hold Standard Business Sponsorships. Overseas business sponsors are exempted.
2. Labour Agreement for Australian employers who are participants in a work agreement. The work agreement could have been negotiated between the company, its stakeholders or the government.

Irrespective of the stream that one applies for, the job location should be in a designated regional area in Australia. Regional areas are all areas which are outside the metropolitan areas of Perth, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Applicants also need to have a genuine full-time job offer for a period of at least 5 years. New provisions have been introduced which can cancel this Visa is the job is found to be fake.

To apply under the employer-sponsored stream, the nominated position should include a contract between the Australian sponsor and the employee. The salary offered should be according to the existing market rate for that particular occupation. Regional Certifying Bodies would need to provide confirmation that the salary offered is at the market rate.

Eligible applicants will also need to have a positive Skill Assessment and at least 3 years of relevant work experience. The health requirement under this Visa stream may be waived off.

The validity of the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional Visa would be 5 years. However, the Visa would come with a number of attached conditions.

Subclass 494 Visa holders will be eligible to apply for a Subclass 191 Permanent Residence Visa after completing 3 years. They do not need employer sponsorship to apply for a PR Visa, as per SBS News.

However, while applying for PR it is mandatory that they were compliant with all the conditions of the Subclass 494 Visa.

Y-Axis offers a wide range of visa services and products for aspiring overseas immigrants including General skilled migration – Subclass 189 /190/489 with RMA review, General skilled migration – Subclass 189 /190/489, Work Visa for Australia, and Business Visa for Australia. We work with Registered Migration Agents in Australia.

If you are looking to Visit, Study, Work, Invest or Migrate to Australia, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Consultant.

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