AUSTRALIA: Confirmation of New Labor Market Testing Requirements

October 8, 2020


Labor Market Testing for Temporary Visas

The Australian government has released new legislation on the Labor Market Testing (LMT) requirements for employer-sponsored visas.

Employers looking to nominate a foreign worker for a subclass 482 TSS visa or a subclass 494 SESR visa are now required to advertise the nominated position in three different places, one of which must be the government’s Jobactive website.

The balance of the advertisements can be on:

  • a recruitment website with national reach in Australia (other than Jobactive);
  • print media with national reach in Australia;
  • radio with national reach in Australia;
  • if an accredited sponsor – on the sponsor’s website.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) provides instructions on what must be included in the advert, and how long it is required to be live. Nominations that do not meet the new LMT requirements will be refused.

Nomination applications lodged before 1 October do not need to meet this additional LMT requirement.

Labor Market Testing for Permanent Visas

As part of the original announcement, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) advised that there would now be an expectation that employers nominating workers for permanent ENS and RSMS visas would also need to provide evidence of undertaking LMT. It was unclear if this was meant to include both Direct Entry and Temporary Residence Transitional applications.

At the time of publishing, there has been no mention of LMT for the permanent visas in the new legislation and there has been no update to Department policy to reflect this expectation.

Our Advice

We advise caution when submitting ENS and RSMS applications without evidence or an explanation of recruitment efforts.

Employers who may be affected are encouraged to contact a Newland Chase immigration specialist for case-specific advice.

For general advice and information on immigration and business travel to Australia, please contact us.