The contents of this article are correct as at 12 November 2013.
It was announced yesterday that from 23 November 2013, standard business sponsors (i.e. 457 sponsors), will be required to undertake Labour Market Testing (LMT) prior to lodging a 457 nomination application.
Unfortunately, the much needed detail concerning LMT has not been released by the Department.
Types of Testing Required
Sponsors will be required to provide evidence of their attempts to recruit suitably qualified and experienced Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents to the position, as well as details of any advertising (paid or unpaid) of the position or any other similar position.
However, at the present time there are no specific instructions on the required form, context or duration of the advertising. The Department has indicated that LMT would not be an onerous requirement, and that it may be sufficient to provide evidence of advertisements placed in newspapers, or on job search websites (e.g. SEEK, CareerOne).
The Department has also indicated that it would expect the advertisements to be of a kind normally placed by a business attempting to recruit workers.
Further details concerning advertising requirements are expected to appear in a legislative instrument in the next week or so.
Exemptions
There will be three (3) categories where LMT will not apply:
a) Where it would be inconsistent with Australia’s international trade obligations. However, at this stage the extent of this exemption category has not been announced.
b) Where a major disaster has occurred in Australia and the exemption is necessary or desirable in order to assist disaster relief or recovery.
c) The Minister may specify, by way of legislative instrument, the nominated occupation based on skill and occupation which is exempt from LMT. However, there is as yet no legislative instrument.
We will post further news concerning the LMT provisions, as soon as it is available.
Should you have any queries regarding the above or any other Australia immigration matter please feel free to contact Visa Lawyers Australia .