The Government announced several significant reforms to the migration system in the Federal Budget. One key change announced was a reduced work experience requirement to qualify for a Subclass 482 Skills In Demand (SID) visa (previously the Subclass 482Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa).
The Government has now confirmed that as of 7 December 2024, SID 482 visa applicants only need to demonstrate one year of work experience (instead of two) in their occupation or related field to qualify for the visa.
Note however that if a qualification is not held, further work experience will be needed in lieu of a qualification. There are some further considerations when determining if work experience is suitable and exactly how much is needed depending on the qualification that is held, the skill level, and the recency of the work experience.
In this article, we examine the 482 visa grant criteria as they apply to work experience, following these changes.
What Are The 482 Visa Work Experience Requirements?
To qualify for a Subclass 482 visa, applicants are required to meet the prescribed visa grant criteria. As the primary applicant, this includes criteria relating to your skills in your nominated occupation.
The primary applicant must satisfy both common criteria (to be met by all primary 482 visa applicants) and additional criteria (which is based on the visa stream for which you are applying, i.e. Specialist Skills, Core Skillsor Skills in Demand Labour Agreement stream). We can look at this tranche 1 and tranche 2, as both sets of requirements must be met in order to qualify for a 482 visa.
Common Visa Grant Criteria
One visa grant requirement which must be satisfied by all primary 482 visa applicants is to demonstrate that you:
‘… have the skills, qualifications and employment background that the Minister considers necessary to perform the tasks of the nominated occupation.’
This is an overarching common criterion that must be met by primary applicants under the Specialist Skills, Core Skills and the Skills in Demand Labour Agreement streams.
How Is This Requirement Assessed?
Immigration policy stipulates that when assessing this requirement:
‘… the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) should be referred to as the principal source of information on the skill requirements for the nominated occupation, that is, the level of qualification required and/or the number of years of experience an applicant should have to be able to perform the occupation.’
Please note that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has announced that a new occupation classification system, called the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA) will replace ANZSCO on 6 December 2024.
Whilst ANZSCO still applies, it stipulates that certain occupations require a qualification. Relevant experience and registration/licensing may also be required.
For example, for Accountants, ANZSCO states that:
‘most occupations in this unit group have a level of skill commensurate with a bachelor degree or higher qualification. In some instances, relevant experience and/or on-the-job training may be required in addition to the formal qualification (ANZSCO Skill Level 1) Registration or licensing may be required.‘
For other occupations, a specified number of years of relevant experience may substitute for a qualification. This applies to the occupation of Hairdresser which, under ANZSCO, requires:
‘an AQF Certificate III including at least two years of on-the-job training, or AQF Certificate IV (ANZSCO Skill Level 3). At least three years of relevant experience may substitute for the formal qualifications. In some instances, relevant experience and/or on-the-job training may be required in addition to the formal qualification.’
For some occupations, a mandatory skills assessment is required. Immigration also has the power to request a skills assessment to demonstrate that the applicant has the required skills, qualifications and experience to perform their nominated occupation.
Accordingly, the tranche 1 criterion is based on the indicative skill level specified under ANZSCO for the nominated occupation. This requirement is not affected by the reduced work experience changes that have been introduced.
And so taking our example of a Hairdresser, a 482 visa applicant nominating this occupation who demonstrates at least three years of relevant experience to substitute for a relevant qualification is still required to meet the ANZSCO indicative skill level for this occupation (i.e. three years of relevant experience) to meet the common criterion outlined above.
An Accountant, on the other hand, cannot substitute work experience for a relevant qualification. SID visa applicants nominating this occupation must have a bachelor degree or higher to meet the ANZSCO indicative skill level for this occupation.
Criteria For Primary 482 Visa Applicants Under The Specialist Skills And Core Skills Streams
In addition to the common criteria outlined above, 482 visa applicants under the Specialist Skills or Core Skills stream must have worked in their nominated occupation or a related field for at least one year to meet the 482 visa grant criteria. This has been reduced down from two years, which applied previously to TSS visa applicants under the Short-term and Medium-terms streams).
This ‘one-year’ work experience requirement is not in addition to any work experience requirements outlined in ANZSCO occupation definitions.
Taking our earlier example of Hairdressers, 482 visa applicants nominating this occupation who do not have a relevant qualification still need to demonstrate that they have at least three years of relevant experience to meet the common criteria to qualify for a 482 visa. Even though the applicant could meet the additional criterion with only one year of relevant skilled work experience.
Why? Because 482 visa applicants must satisfy both the common and additional visa grant criteria that apply to the stream which they are applying for.
Contrast this with a Hairdresser who does have a relevant qualification as per ANZSCO. In this case, the applicant is able to meet both the common criteria and additional criteria with one year of relevant skilled employment experience to qualify for grant of a 482 visa.
Criteria For Primary 482 Visa Applicants Under The Labour Agreement Stream
482 visa applicants under the Labour Agreement stream must demonstrate that they have worked in their nominated occupation or a related field for at least one year (reduced from two years), in addition to the common criteria outlined above.
Alternatively, the Minister may consider it reasonable in the circumstances to disregard this requirement. This is relevant where the labour agreement in place provides for a concession to this requirement, in which case meeting the work experience requirements outlined in the labour agreement are sufficient.
Although the 482 visa work experience requirement has been reduced from two years down to one year for all 482 visa applicants (including for those applying under the labour agreement stream), this change has little practical effect as the required work experience for an occupation being nominated under a Labour Agreement is based on the executed Labour Agreement in place, and this may already stipulate a reduced work experience requirement (which may be less than two years).
When looking at the common criterion, although this applies to labour agreement stream applicants, the Labour Agreement already stipulates the terms and requirements that sponsored 482 visa applicants must satisfy.
Conclusion
To conclude our discussion and to reiterate, all 482 visa applicants must meet a ‘common criterion’ to have ‘the skills, qualifications and employment background that the Minister considers necessary to perform the tasks of the nominated occupation.’ This is assessed against the indicative skill level as prescribed for the nominated occupation under ANZSCO. For occupations where more than two years of work experience is required to substitute for a formal qualification, this common criterion still applies (regardless of the reduction in the work experience requirement from two years down to one year) following these changes.
Labour Agreement stream applicants also continue to be assessed based on the work experience requirements as specified in the executed Labour Agreement under which they are sponsored by an employer.
For applicants to whom the reduced one-year work experience requirement applies, this is a significant change which will benefit affected applicants by allowing them to qualify for a 482 visa sooner, with less skilled work experience required than was previously the case for TSS visa applicants. Especially with recent changes to immigration policy, whereby there is no longer an expectation that work experience has been undertaken in the last five years, or that it be full-time work, to meet the 482 TSS visa work experience requirement (although full-time work is still preferred and would weigh strongly in an applicant’s favour). And that means a quicker pathway to permanent residency (for applicants transitioning to a Subclass 186 permanent residence visa).
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Australia’s migration laws are complex, and each case is different. We recommend that you seek professional advice if you are interested in applying for an Australian visa, as being fully informed will give you the best chance of achieving a successful outcome on your case. A migration professional can help you to do this.
For up-to-date advice on your eligibility for an Australia visa, including a 482 visa, contact PAX Migration Australia, a leading immigration service providing advice on a range of visas. Contact us for a no-obligation discussion on how we may be able to assist you in achieving your migration goals in Australia.
