Progressive Immigration System For Business Employers In An Essay.

Requirements of Subclass 457 work visa

Describe about the Progressive Immigration System for Business Employers.

The purpose of progressive immigration system of Australia is heading towards reducing the skills deficiency. The Subclass 457 work visa is a temporary business visa according to which, employers are permitted to sponsor the workers from foreign nations. As per 457 visas, the employers from Australia and foreign countries can sponsor a skilled worker for a period from one day to four years. Moreover, the family members of the workers are also allowed to stay with them and work or study during that period.[1]

The requirements of 457 work visa include;

i) Employees should be sponsored by eligible employers,

ii) Employees must have experience, skills and qualification as required for the position offered

iii) Employees must show English language skill by getting score of 5 in IELTS exam.

iv) Employees must be eligible for relevant licenses associated with the position.

Therefore, Wang would be required to achieve overall cut-off points in all the exams and a minimum score in each component of the exam. The essential scores for each English test are mentioned below:

i) Overall score of 5 in IELTS and cut-off score of 4.5 in each section is required,

ii) Healthcare Professionals are required to pass Occupational English Test (OET). Also, to be eligible, "B pass" is essential in all sections of test,

iii) Overall score of 36 is required in TOEFL iBT. In addition to overall score, listening and reading section requires cut-off score of 3 and speaking and writing section requires cut-off score of 12,

iv) Average score of 36 is needed in Pearson Test of English (PTE). Also, cut-off score of 30 is necessary in each section

v) Average score of 154 is required in Cambridge Advanced English (CAE). In addition, cut-off score of 147 in needed in each section.

All the applicants must meet the essential requirement of English Language Testing for achieving work visa unless one of the following exceptions applies on them (acacia-au, 2015);

i) They are passport holder of countries such as the UK, Canada, USA, Ireland or New Zealand;

ii) They have completed the education of 5 years up to secondary or tertiary level through English medium

iii) They are to be paid an amount of $96,400 over the English Language Skills Exemption Threshold (ELSET).[2]

If Tran is eligible to apply for a worker to come to Australia and follow all the essential requirements of an employer under 457 visas, he can sponsor Wang. However, his demand of money in exchange is illegal and if Tran agrees to pay the amount, it would be considered as illegal on his part too. Under new civil and criminal penalties and visa cancellation provisions formed in 2015, as a part of 'paying for visa sponsorship', various sanctions are imposed on a person who demands, offers, or provides an advantage in exchange of visa sponsorship or employment as, this type of conduct is considered as unacceptable by the government of Australia.[3] On the other hand, as mentioned in the case, there is an English language problem with Wang; he must have to qualify all the language tests as desired by the 457 visa or he might fulfill all the criteria desired for exemption from the tests.

English Language Testing Requirement

If else, they would be found guilty, civil penalty provisions will be applied on both of them being employer and employee for breaching the Migration Act of Australia.[4] In sponsorship related civil penalty provisions, a penalty is to be paid by the alleged person as a substitute.[5] For work related civil penalty also, a penalty is to be paid as a substitute.[6]

Skilled Migration visas provide an opportunity to the workers who are skilled to stay and get employment in Australia. According to the General Skilled Migration Program of Australia, migrants or workers who possess certain skills can apply for the permanent visa of Australia on the basis of their qualification, work experience, and language ability. A skilled worker program known as SkillSelect was introduced by the Australian immigration in 2012. The interested person is needed to present an Expression of Interest (EOI) before applying for visa. The SkillSelect is an electronic two-stage procedure according to which, potential visa applicants have to raise demand for skilled immigration through an online EOI. On the basis of EOI, applicants are then invited to submit their application for Australian visa.

The selection of the applicants is considered on the basis of score candidate obtain in their points test which involves various selection standards. All the applicants must fulfill the English language requirements essential for the visa. They are required to obtain their essential skills assessment before submission of EOI.

 Thus, if Ada wants to apply for migration to Australia under the skilled visa, she is required to submit an EOI before applying for visa. On the basis of her EOI, she might be invited for submitting her application. Meanwhile, she has to qualify the point test score and English language requirement which is also essential for Australian visa.[7]

For the purpose of immigration to Australia, applicants are required to score cut-off points in the Points Test Score. Points are given in test on the basis of English language proficiency, age, educational background, and many more parameters.[8]

She must apply under Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189). Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189) are applicable to the workers, who have cleared their points test score and are skilled and are not being backed by any organization or family or selected by a state or provincial government. When they are considered as eligible to apply, they are required to choose an occupation mentioned on the related skilled occupation list.[9] They must have achieved skills desired for the nominated occupation. They must be below the age of 50 years and have at least competent English language knowledge. They are required to attain the score mentioned in the invitation letter on the basis of elements in the points test.[10]

Penalties for Breaching Migration Act

Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) codes is a search facility that gives latest information on General Skilled Migration visas for subclass 189, 190 and 489. It is a skills based classification system which can be utilized by the users to sort all professions in Australia as well as New Zealand. They can also compare the occupation statistics which is being produced by both the countries. This web based search function provides a keyword and a list of possible occupation titles which when clicked shows the definition of occupation.[11] The ANZSCO code for Ada's occupation of pediatric nurse should be 254411 as Nurse Practitioner. The responsibility of assessing the skills needed for migration lies with Assessing authorities. The assessing authority in case of Ada should be Medical Board of Australia (MBA) and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC).[12]  

The age of Ada is 33 years and she has obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Birmingham University (UK). Her work experience at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) in Hong Kong is over 5 years. She obtained a score of 6 in IELTS test in all 4 test components. Her sister is an Australian citizen who is ready to sponsor her and her family for migration if required.

Ada is applying for Skilled Independent (subclass 189) visa. Thus, she needs to obtain 60 points pass marks.

i) According to the age criteria, she is 33 years; she is eligible for 25 pass points.

ii) In English language ability test criteria, she obtained a score of 6 in IELTS test in all 4 test components; she has not scored any points as there are 0 points for a score of 6 in test.

iii) Her work experience at Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) in Hong Kong is over 5 years. Hence, she is eligible for 10 points under abroad employment in nominated skilled occupation.

iv) Her score for educational qualifications should be 15 pass points as she has obtained her bachelor’s degree in Nursing from recognized University.

v) Her sister is an Australian citizen and she is ready to sponsor her and her family for migration if required, she can receive 10 points under the criteria of points for sponsorship by an eligible family member but to avail this facility, she must have to apply for visa under subclass 489.

Therefore, her total point score will be 25+ 10 + 15 = 50. The minimum pass points for Visa subclass 189 is 60 points and she has scored 50 points. She has not passed the point score test essential for obtaining the visa of Australia.[13] Her score affects the visa she applied for and she should opt for the sponsorship visa subclass as her sister is eligible to sponsor her. She would achieve 10 points if her sister sponsors her and she would then be eligible for the visa under subclass 489. Therefore, it is recommended that if she is applying for visa of Australia, she should apply under subclass 489 instead of subclass 189; otherwise she would fail the points score test.

The cost to be paid for the visas changes from time to time and it is based on the date on which the application of visa is received by the authorities.[14] If the price increases between the period of lodging application and receiving of application, the applicant is required to pay the increased charges for the application. Under current visa pricing table, for Skilled Independent (subclass 189) and even if she changes her option and apply for subclass 489, she is required to pay $3600 as base application charges as she comes under the category 12a or 12d respectively according to the subclass in which she is applying. Her husband is also applying for the visa, so additional applicant charges for her husband would be $1800. The age of her son is 10 years; she has to pay additional applicant charges of $900. Therefore, she has to pay $6300 as application charges for Visa of Australia. Moreover, under the category of 12a, if the applicants are assessed as not possessing functional English, she would be required to pay the additional second installment of $4885. Therefore, the visa application charge to be paid by Ada would be $6300 along with the second installment of $4885 due to lack of functional English criteria.

References

Acacia, Online Points Test for Skilled Migration (2016) Acacia-au.com <https://www.acacia-au.com/skilled-migration-points-test.php>

Anzscosearch, Search by Assessing Authority (2014) Anzscosearch <https://www.anzscosearch.com/search-by-assessing-authority-post/>

AustLII, Migration Regulations 1994 (2016) Austlii.edu.au <https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_reg/mr1994227/>

AustLII, Migration Regulations 1994 - REG 5.20Acivil Penalty Provisions (2016) Austlii.edu.au <https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_reg/mr1994227/s5.20a.html>

AustLII, MIGRATION ACT 1958 - SECT 5Interpretation (2016) Austlii.edu.au <https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s5.html>

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1220.0 - ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, 2013, Version 1.2 (2016) Abs.gov.au <https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Latestproducts/1220.0Search02013,%20Version%201.2>

Australian Government, Work Visa Scams (2015) Border.gov.au <https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work-1#>

Australian Government, Skilled Independent Visa (Subclass 189) (2016) Border.gov.au <https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/189->

Australian Government, Fees and Charges for Visas (2016) Border.gov.au <https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa/Fees#>

Australian Visa Bureau, Australia Skilled Immigration Points Test - Australian Visa Bureau (2016) Visabureau.com <https://www.visabureau.com/australia/immigration-points-test.aspx>

Australian Visa Bureau, Australia Skilled Visa Requirements (2016) Visabureau.com <https://www.visabureau.com/australia/visa-requirement.aspx>

Webster, Mark, Average Band Scores Accepted for 485 and 457 Visa English Tests | Acacia | Immigration Australia (2015) Acacia-au.com <https://www.acacia-au.com/average-band-scores-accepted-for-485-and-457-English-Tests.php>

Work Permit, 457 Work Visa | Australian Skilled Immigration (2016) <https://www.workpermit.com/australia/457-work-visa.htm>

Work Permit, Australia Visa | General Skilled Migration (GSM) Program | Australian Immigration Visas (2012) Workpermit.com <https://www.workpermit.com/australia/general-skilled-migration.htm>