After US H-1B Visa Nightmares, Dream Of Australian Work Visa Cut Short for Thousands Of Indians

Much to the chagrin of thousands of Australia's citizenship seekers, the continent nation's department of home affairs has abolished Subclass 457, the much sought-after temporary work visa and, instead, introduced the "temporary skill shortage visa" (TSS) that entails tougher norms. The subclass 457 was a popular visa category for Indian workers who wish to work in Australia. The move came days after the United States decided to suspend premium processing of H-1B visa petitions for fiscal year 2019. H-1B visa is popular among Indian IT professionals.

Though a new visa regime makes way for the earlier one, however what distinguishes this from the earlier visa rules is that now, the students who graduate from Australian universities will find it hard to get the work visa since the minimum work experience of two years is mandatory now in the TSS visa. Only those Indian students who have worked for a minimum of two year before flying abroad for higher studies will be eligible for the newly-introduced TSS visa.

Additionally, it would be relatively expensive to the employer since the firm that is sponsoring the candidate need to contribute to a skilling fund, thus dis-incentivising the firm to recruit an expat worker over a a native.

The visa referred to as the TSS visa enables employers to address labour shortage by bringing in skilled workers from abroad when the persons with requisite skills are in shortage in Australia.

There are three streams for the TSS, short-term, medium-term and the labour agreement stream. The length of stay is between one to four years depending on the nominated occupation, the visa stream and circumstances. One must have the skills to fill a position nominated by an approved business for an approved occupation.

To be able to apply for temporary skill shortage visa, one must follow these steps:

A. Gather documents.

B. Lodge your sponsorship by attaching all relevant documents to your application and paying sponsorship application charge.

C. Lodge your nomination application online and paying nomination application charge.

D. Decision on sponsorship will be taken wherein you will be intimated whether the sponsorship has been accepted or not, and if not, then the letter will entail why was sponsorship refused.