3 things you didn鈥檛 know about the 457 visa changes
The federal government will abolish the 457 visa, which will be replaced with two new visas. University of Sydney experts explain what the changes will mean for businesses and universities.
1. Employer demand the basis for 457 visas
鈥淭he 457 visa scheme used employer demand as the basis for identifying skills shortages,鈥� explains , an employment relations expert from the .
鈥淢y research with Dr Andreea Constantin showed employers who use the 457 visa were more than twice as likely to address skilled job vacancies by recruiting workers from abroad as they are to train their existing employees.鈥�
鈥淭he main objective of the 457 visa scheme was to help employers address skilled labour shortages. But a recruitment difficulty is not the same thing as a skills shortage. In this respect, it is questionable whether the 457 visa was effective in meeting its stated objective of addressing skills shortages.
鈥淭he Turnbull Government should establish an independent mechanism to verify the existence of genuine skills shortages before employers can employ workers on temporary visas.
鈥淪killed migration needs to continue as a central policy solution for addressing Australia鈥檚 skills needs. The Turnbull Government鈥檚 decision to establish a training fund is welcome but there are significant inadequacies with the education and training system that also must be fixed. This requires extensive changes to labour market and skills policies.鈥�
2. The 457 visa reforms threaten research and innovation
鈥淎ustralia is home to some of the world鈥檚 leading universities and researchers,鈥� , Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), writes in .
It鈥檚 partly because we have welcomed researchers from all over the world to pursue their careers with us, whether in the life sciences, natural sciences, 卢social sciences, humanities or 卢creative arts.
In the opinion piece published on 20 April, Professor Ivison highlights the need for Australia to maintain its commitment to openness to attract the best and brightest researchers from all over the world.
Since the article was published, the federal government has acknowledged the issues raised by Universities Australia, confirming Australian universities will remain open to the world鈥檚 best minds.聽
3. The Keating Government implemented a similar scheme
鈥淭he abolition of the 457 visa as we know it signals a shift back to the original structure of the visa pathway,鈥� said , Co-Convenor of the at the .
鈥淭he Keating Government鈥檚 temporary 457 visa was introduced in the 1990s to expedite the entry of business professionals and highly skilled migrants. Over time the visa was opened up to include a broad suite of 鈥檚killed鈥� workers, with those on the Department of Immigration and Border Protection鈥檚 Skilled Occupation List (SOL) able to gain entry once nominated by an employer seeking to fill a position.
鈥淭he opening up of the visa transformed the original structure of a highly skilled entry pathway to a demand driven pathway for areas of shortage in all manner of employment.
"The abolition of the visa and its replacement with the government鈥檚 new visa pathway designed specifically for highly skilled workers is not only going back to the original visa structure but is also more similar in principle to the US H-1B visa pathway for the highly skilled, which has since been suspended by President Donald Trump.鈥澛�