Australian Education and Migration Services
TSS visa enables employers to address labour shortages by hiring skilled workers where they cannot find an appropriately skilled Australian. It facilitates employment of foreign workers to address temporary skill shortages, while ensuring that Australian workers get priority. TSS visa holders can work in Australia in their nominated occupation and may have a pathway to permanent residency.
A business can sponsor someone for this visa if they cannot find an Australian citizen or permanent resident to do the skilled work. The business must be an eligible Standard Business Sponsor(SBS) or an Overseas Business Sponsor (OBS) to sponsor you under the TSS visa.
You can be in or outside Australia when you lodge your application (or hold a BVA, BVB, BVC).
The TSS 482 visa is comprised of a Short-Term stream, Medium-Term stream and Labour agreement stream.
Short-term stream – this is for employers to source genuine temporary overseas skilled workers in occupations included on the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) for a maximum of two years each time (or up to 5 years for Hong Kong passport holder)
Medium-term stream – this is for employers to source highly skilled overseas workers to fill medium-term critical skills in occupations included on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) or the Regional Occupations List (ROL) for up to four years (each time) or up to 5 years for Hong Kong passport holder
Labour Agreement stream – this is for employers to source overseas skilled workers in accordance with a labour agreement with the Commonwealth, on the basis of a demonstrated need that cannot be met in the Australian labour market and standard visa programs are not available, with the capacity to negotiate a permanent residence option.
At the time of lodging a TSS nomination application, employers will need to select an employment period of up to:
Up to two years for the short-term stream.
Up to four years for the medium-term or labour agreements stream.
The TSS 482 visa involves a three-step process:
Step 1: a sponsorship application by the employer (the employer needs to be a lawful, active, operating business and meet local labour and employment practices).
Step 2: The second part of the application process is the nomination application. This is regarding the position to be filled, salary details, efforts to hire Australian workers and the ‘genuineness’ of the position. The business must also be viable to sponsor from overseas.
Step 3: a visa application by the nominated employee. The visa applicant must demonstrate that they meet the skills required for their occupation as well as health and character requirements.
Medium and Long Term TSS Visa (482)
Short-Term TSS Visa (482)
A designated area migration agreement (DAMA) is a formal agreement between the Australia Government and a regional, state or territory authority. It provides access to more overseas workers than the standard skilled migration program. DAMAs operate under an agreement-based framework, providing flexibility for regions to respond to their unique economic and labour market conditions.
A DAMA is a two-tier framework covering a defined regional area. The first tier is an overarching five-year deed of agreement (head agreement) with the region’s representative. The second tier comprises individual labour agreements with employers under the settings of the head agreement for that region.
DAMA head agreements are between the Australian Government and a Designated Area Representative (usually regional bodies such as Chambers of Commerce, Regional Development Australia offices, or Shire Councils). They contain a range of occupations as well as agreed terms and concessions to skilled visa eligibility criteria, as negotiated between parties. Once a DAMA head agreement is established, businesses in the region may seek individual DAMA labour agreements under the head agreement terms and concessions.
Individual DAMA labour agreements are between the Australian Government and endorsed employers operating within the relevant region. They:
Employers must seek and gain endorsement from the Designated Area Representative before lodging a labour agreement request.
Under the DAMA framework, employers in designated areas experiencing skills and labour shortages can sponsor skilled and semi-skilled overseas workers. Individuals cannot directly access a DAMA. Individuals need to be sponsored:
DAMAs ensure employers recruit Australian citizens and permanent residents as a first priority. Among other things, employers must demonstrate a genuine attempt to recruit Australians prior to getting access to a DAMA labour agreement.
Employers sponsoring workers for a TSS 482 visa must pay a training contribution charge (known as the Skilling Australians Fund levy):
Businesses with turnover of less than $10 million per year will be required to make:
Businesses with turnover of $10 million or more per year will be required to make:
Labour Market Testing (LMT) for TSS
Employers must advertise the role on THREE national reaching mediums (from October 2020, one job advertisement must be placed at Workforce Australia website) before offering the position to the overseas applicant (unless an international trade obligation applies). This is to ensure that employers try to find a suitably qualified Australians before they can seek to employ an overseas skilled worker on a TSS 482 visa.
Salary level for TSS
Sponsors seeking to employ an overseas worker will need to demonstrate that they are going to pay the market salary rate to ensure that overseas workers are protected and the local labour market is not undercut. In any case it must be above the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT). This threshold is set by the Department of Home Affairs each year and is currently $70,000 plus superannuation.
Caveats
The following instrument specifying the occupations, in force at the time the nomination application is made, provides the relevant inapplicability conditions that the nominated occupation may be subject to.
Contact Us For More Information
