Businesses that would like to hire or transfer workers from overseas need to be approved by the Department of Home Affairs as a Standard Business Sponsor (SBS) to sponsor employees under the TSS visa (Temporary Skill Shortage visa or 482 visa). Larger businesses that have a on going visa sponsorship requirement can apply to become Accredited Sponsors.

Accredited Sponsorship

Australian employers that have a regular ongoing need for sponsoring overseas employers, either by international transfer or direct employment may be eligible for Accredited Sponsorship.

The benefit of being an Accredited Sponsor is faster turnaround times, streamlined processing and longer Sponsorship duration, with approvals being given for 6 years compared to the standard 5 years.

Sponsors approved with accredited status will also be eligible for streamlined processing of nominations, including most ANZSCO level 1 and 2 occupations where the base salary will be greater than $75,000.

REQUIREMENTS

The requirements for accredited sponsor status, as of 1 July 2016 are:

• be a government agency, a publicly-listed company or a private company
• at least AUD four million annual turnover for the last three years;
• have been an active 457/TSS visa sponsor for at least three years (with no more than a 6 month break in the past 36 months)
• no adverse information (based on monitoring, including formal warnings and sanctions);
• have sponsored at least 10 primary 482 (TSS) visa holders in the 24 months prior to the application for accreditation;
• have lodged an agreed level of decision-ready applications over the previous two years;
• have a non-approval rate of less than 3% for the previous three years;
• have Australian workers comprising at least 75% of their workforce in Australia
• Accredited sponsorship may be available to businesses who do not meet all of the above requirements in limited circumstances

BENEFITS

• Accredited sponsors receive streamlined processing on all 482 visa applications, reducing the processing time from months to days in some cases
• The labour market testing requirements are more relaxed for accredited sponsors, with these businesses permitted to utilise advertisements placed on their own website, rather than through national recruitment websites
• Applicants for 482 visas on the basis of sponsorship by an accredited sponsor do not need to provide police clearance certificates for every country in which they have resided provided the business can attest to their good character, again significantly reducing processing times

WHO CAN APPLY FOR ACCREDITATION?

In order to qualify for Accredited Status, a sponsor must meet all the requirements for Standard Business Sponsorship and meet all of the following additional characteristics of one of the four categories:

Category 1: Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies

• Have Australian workers comprising at least 75% of their workforce in Australia

Category 2: Australian Trusted Traders

• Have Australian workers comprising at least 75% of their workforce in Australia
• Engage all 457 and TSS Visa holders as employees under a written contract of employment as required under the National Employment Standards.
• Have all Australian employees paid in accordance with an Enterprise Agreement or the current market salary rate table for all occupations in their business.

Category 3: Low volume usage (of the 457 and 482 programmes) and high percentage of Australian workers (at least 90%)

• Be a publicly-listed company or a private company
• At least AUD four million annual turnover for the last two years
• Have been an active 457/TSS sponsor for at least two years
• Have no adverse monitoring outcomes
• Have sponsored at least one (1) primary 457/TSS visa holder in the two years prior to the application for accreditation
• Have a non-approval rate of less than 3% for the previous two years
• Have Australian workers comprising at least 90% of their workforce in Australia;
• Engage all 457/TSS holders as employees under a written contract of employment as required under the National Employment Standards
• Have all Australian employees paid in accordance with an Enterprise Agreement or the current market salary rates as an internal salary table for all occupations in their business
• Have provided details of all business activities undertaken by their business to the department
• Have provided details of all Principals / Directors of their business to the department

Category 4: High volume usage (of the 457 or 482 (TSS) programmes) and medium percentage of Australian workers (at least 75%)

Characteristics are the same as Category 3 with two differences:

• Have sponsored at least ten (10) primary 457/TSS visa holders in the two years prior to the application for accreditation
• Have Australian workers comprising at least 75% of their workforce in Australia

Note: The Department may approve accreditation for start-up businesses that do not meet these requirements, in limited circumstances (e.g. part of a government entrepreneurship program/award winner). These will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. For migration purposes, a start-up business is a business that has been operating in Australia for less than 12 months.