Significant changes have been made to skilled occupations lists effective 19 April 2017.
These changes affect applicants for:
Temporary Work (Skilled) Subclass 457 visas
General Skilled Migration visas
Permanent Employer Sponsored visas
This article goes through the effect of the changes to the occupations lists.
SOL Changes
The Skilled Occupations List (SOL) has been replaced by the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL).
Applicants must have an occupation on the MLTSSL if applying for:
Skilled Independent Subclass 189 visas
Graduate Temporary Subclass 485 visas (Graduate Work Stream)
Skilled Regional Provisional Subclass 489 visas (Family Sponsored)
The occupations on the MLTSSL are exactly the same as on the SOL.
The MLTSSL also forms part of the STSOL which is used for employer sponsored and state nominated visas. There are 16 occupations on the MLTSSL which cannot be used for state nominated and employer sponsored visas ie:
Skilled Nominated Subclass 190 visas
Skilled Regional Provisional Subclass 489 visas (State Nominated)
Employer Nomination Scheme Subclass 186 visas (Direct Entry)
Temporary Worker (Skilled) Subclass 457 visas
Training Subclass 407 visas
Occupations being on the MLTSSL but not on the STSOL is certainly unexpected, and we expect there will be some changes to the MLTSSL from 1 July with these occupations quite possibly being removed from the MLTSSL also.
The 16 occupations on the MLTSSL but not on the STSOL are as follows:
Project Builder ANZSCO 133112
Production Manager (Mining) ANZSCO 133513
Medical Administrator ANZSCO 134211
Ship’s Engineer ANZSCO 231212
Ship’s Master ANZSCO 231213
Ship’s Officer ANZSCO 231214
Chemical Engineer ANZSCO 233111
Materials Engineer ANZSCO 233112
Electronics Engineer ANZSCO 233411
Industrial Engineer ANZSCO 233511
Production or Plant Engineer ANZSCO 233513
Civil Engineering Technician ANZSCO 312212
Telecommunications Network Planner ANZSCO 313213
Pressure Welder ANZSCO 322312
Stonemason ANZSCO 331112
Electrical Linesworker ANZSCO 342211
CSOL Changes
The Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL) has been replaced by the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL).
Applicants must have an occupation on the STSOL if applying for:
Skilled Nominated Subclass 190 visas
Skilled Regional Provisional Subclass 489 visas (State Nominated)
Employer Nomination Scheme Subclass 186 visas (Direct Entry)
Temporary Worker (Skilled) Subclass 457 visas
Training Subclass 407 visas
200 occupations have been removed from the CSOL to create the STSOL.
In addition, there are 24 “regional” occupations on the STSOL which are only open for:
Skilled Regional Provisional Subclass 489 visas (State Nominated)
Employer Nomination Scheme Subclass 186 visas
Temporary Worker (Skilled) Subclass 457 visas where the employment is in a regional area as specified for RSMS visas
The regional occupations are ones which would typically only be appropriate to rural areas and are as follows:
Aquaculture Farmer ANZSCO 121111
Cotton Grower ANZSCO 121211
Flower Grower ANZSCO 121212
Fruit or Nut Grower ANZSCO 121213
Grain, Oilseed or Pasture Grower (Aus) / Field Crop Grower (NZ) ANZSCO 121214
Grape Grower ANZSCO 121215
Mixed Crop Farmer ANZSCO 121216
Sugar Cane Grower ANZSCO 121217
Vegetable Grower (Aus) / Market Gardener (NZ) ANZSCO 121221
Crop Farmers (nec) ANZSCO 121299
Apiarist ANZSCO 121311
Beef Cattle Farmer ANZSCO 121312
Dairy Cattle Farmer ANZSCO 121313
Horse Breeder ANZSCO 121316
Mixed Livestock Farmer ANZSCO 121317
Pig Farmer ANZSCO 121318
Poultry Farmer ANZSCO 121321
Sheep Farmer ANZSCO 121322
Livestock Farmers (nec) ANZSCO 121399
Mixed Crop & Livestock Farmer ANZSCO 121411
Production Manager (Forestry) ANZSCO 133511
Wine Maker ANZSCO 234213
Agricultural Technician ANZSCO 311111
Primary Products Inspectors (nec) ANZSCO 311399
Impact on General Skilled Migration
There will be no impact on applications for:
Skilled Independent Subclass 189 visas
Graduate Temporary Subclass 485 visas (Graduate Work Stream)
Skilled Regional Provisional Subclass 489 visas (Family Sponsored)
However, we expect the MLTSSL to be revised on 1 July 2017, with some occupations quite possibly being removed.
There will be an impact on state nominated subclass 190 and 489 visas. The list of available occupations is reduced by:
16 occupations which are restricted on the MLTSSL as noted above
200 occupations dropped from the STSOL
24 rural occupations which are no longer available for the subclass 190 visa, but remain available for the 489 provisional visa
Some states have already announced that they will be revising their occupations lists for state nomination to reflect these changes.
If you have received a SkillSelect invitation prior to 19 April, you should not be affected by the change.
Impact on 457 Visas
The list of occupations available for 457 sponsorship has been reduced as follows:
16 occupations which are restricted on the MLTSSL
200 occupations dropped from the STSOL
24 rural occupations which are no longer available unless the employment is in an RSMS postcode
In addition to this, there are now restrictions on certain occupations – referred to as caveats in the legislative instruments.
These restrictions could be as follows:
Minimum salary for the position
Size of the business – minimum $1 million turnover and 5 employees
Restrictions on the type of activities involved in the position
Restrictions on the activities undertaken by the business
These changes affect any applications which have been lodged but not finalized prior to 19 April, and any applications lodged after this date.
There will also be changes to the visa period of 457 visas granted after 19 April. If the occupation is on the shorter MLTSSL, the visa will be valid for 4 years. Otherwise, the visa will be granted for 2 years.
Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)
There are 2 main streams for the ENS visa:
Temporary Residence Transition Stream: where the applicant has worked in Australia for the nominating employer on a 457 visa for the last 2 years; and
Direct Entry Stream: this option requires one of the following:
A skills assessment and 3 years of work experience in the occupation or
A base salary of at least $180,000
NZ citizen or family member working for the employer in Australia for the last 2 years
The changes to the occupations list only affect the Direct Entry Stream – not the Temporary Residence Transition Stream.
The occupations list for the Direct Entry Stream has been reduced as follows:
16 occupations which are restricted on the MLTSSL
200 occupations dropped from the STSOL
The changes affect applications lodged on or after 19 April 2017, but not pending applications as far as can be determined.
Future changes could restrict the Temporary Residence Transition Stream to only occupations on the MLTSSL but the relevant legislation has not yet been released.
Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme
The changes to the list do not affect the RSMS visa as far as can be determined.
Future changes may require a minimum work experience of at least 3 year and a reduction of the upper age limit from 49 to 44, as well as possible changes to the RSMS occupations list.
