Federal Government announces changes to 457 Skilled Visa Program

The Government has announced that it will introduce a penalty making it unlawful for sponsors to receive a payment in return for their sponsorship of workers on 457 visas.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has also advised that it will work with the Australian Taxation Office to ensure workers on 457 visas are receiving their nominated salary and are not undercutting Australian workers.

The English language test will become more flexible and applicants will now have to average a score of five across the four components, instead of passing each one.  It is also proposed that applicants will not be able to achieve anything less than 4.5 in any of the components.

The Government has also given a commitment to carefully watch the development of a new training fund to replace the current scheme for training contributions.

For more information about these changes please contact Esef Mirascija, Solicitor and Registered Migration Agent No. 0000959.