Visa to work in Australia
What visa to work in Australia suits you best?
Getting a visa to work in Australia is one of the most common reasons for a person to travel to Australia and seek out a skilled work visa application. There are many Australia work visa options therefore it is extremely important to find the right one to suit your needs and ensure that you are eligible for the chosen visa subclass.
Below you will find a brief summary of the most common visa for working in Australia, some with restricted work rights and some with full work rights depending on the visa conditions.
Visa to work in Australia-Subclass 500 Student Visa
The subclass 500 student visa is a valid option to support your studies in Australia and supplement your savings. The main purpose of this visa is to study, not to work however it allows a reduced number of hours of work and most students take advantage of this.
Currently, the subclass 500 offers unlimited working hours for the holder of this visa should they choose to undertake any form of employment. However, this was a recent development and is going to be capped once again after June 30th of 2023 next year. This cap will put the working hours back down to no more than 40 hours a fortnight, as recently announced in a statement made by the Australian Department of Home Affairs.
In order to be eligible for this visa subclass, however, the first and most important step is that you are enrolled in an eligible course of study with an Australian institution and submit a Confirmation of Enrolment (COE) to the department with an outline of all of the courses that you are intending to study throughout your stay in Australia.
There are some exceptions, such as sponsorship by the Australian Department of Defence, but in almost all cases you will need to provide information on the courses you intend to enrol for even in the case of one leading to the other.
You are also required to ensure that you have adequate health insurance prepared for when you arrive. This is also extended to other additional applicants (if you come with family members) that have been attached to your visa application, as all additional applicants are required to have adequate health insurance throughout the duration of their stay in Australia.
This is called Overseas Student Health Cover, and the role of the cover is to ensure that if you require medical assistance, this will not put any undue strain on the Australian health system. Finally, you will need to be able to support yourself financially. While you do have the option of working while you are in Australia, you still need enough money to be able to support yourself; this includes payment for travel costs and course fees.
A student visa can be offered for up to a maximum of five years depending on the course being undertaken.
Visa to work in Australia-Subclass 407 Training Visa
Another option to undertake gainful employment on a valid visa is the subclass 407 Training Visa. In order to be eligible for a subclass 407 training visa, you must be sponsored by an Australian employer. The employer must be approved as temporary activities sponsor to enable them to sponsor you.
This is done to ensure that the sponsor can appropriately provide the necessary training and means to improve your skills under the nature of this visa subclass. As an additional addendum to this subclass, you have to have been nominated by the sponsor for one of three occupational training types.
The first is Occupational training for registration, which is Workplace-based training that is required to get occupational registration, membership, or licensing in a key field. The registration, membership or licensing is mandatory to work in that occupation within Australia. The second is Occupational training to improve skills in an eligible occupation.
This is a particular brand of training is in allowing for the individual applicant to be eligible for a nominated occupation found in a particular Instrument: LIN 19/050. What this allows for is the applicant to receive training in a key area in order to be eligible for a future visa type, in the event that they don’t have enough experience and must work for a longer amount of time in a key field.
The final method for getting nominated is in Occupational training for capacity building overseas, which is normally used only for those that are enrolled in foreign education or have government sponsorship.
Visa to work in Australia-Subclass 417 Working Holiday Visa
For those that are seeking to instead go for a more subdued and casual experience, or are hoping to support themselves financially during a holiday in Australia there is the Subclass 417 Working Holiday Visa. This subclass is available to applicants who come from specific passport regions, so it is very important to first see if you are eligible for this visa in regards to the passport you hold.
The eligible countries that you can apply to this visa from, can be found on the Australian Department of Home Affairs website here. You are unable to be accompanied by any dependants or additional applicants while you are on this subclass of Visa, as it is only allowed to take a single primary applicant.
The other important aspect about this visa is that it only allows for an individual to be working for the same employer for six months. This is an important quality to remember about this subclass as it has often created issues for those that were engaged in a particular workplace for longer than they should have. Finally, you must have enough available funds for the initial stay, the equivalent of minimum $5000 AUD including travel fares for both arriving and departing Australia.
Visa to work in Australia-Subclass 462 Work and Holiday Visa
This is a particular visa subclass that allows for those that are seeking to come for a holiday to Australia, but are not the holders of a passport that is eligible for a Subclass 417 Working Holiday Visa. There are some limits that are presented for those that are going for this visa subclass however.
The most important thing to remember is if the applicant has the appropriate passport needed to be able to lodge for this visa subclass. As with the previous subclass 417 Working Holiday Visa, the eligible passports for successful lodgement of a visa application can be found on the departments website in the following entry.
Aside from this difference, the subclass 462 is mostly identical in function to what the subclass 417 visa is and is subject to the same limits on workplace and on forbidding of additional applicants for this visa subclass.
Many working holiday visa holders get the oportunity to apply for the subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage Visa and extend their stay in Australia if the employer is happy with their job performance and they have already used up their 6 months of employment.
Visa to work in Australia-Subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage Visa
For a more permanent choice of working visa, there is the Subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage Visa. This visa subclass requires that the applicant have minimum 2 years of eligible work experience within the field that they are going to be working under, in addition to other requirements. There are three main lists of skilled occupations that the applicant can refer to, in order to determine their most suitable occupation: Short-term list or STSOL, Medium and long-term list or MLTSSL, and ROL.
All eligible professions are found on the skilled occupations list, although other options such as labour agreements have been developed by the Australian government for semi-skilled applicants.
Visa to work in Australia-Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa and the subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa
For more regional visa options to work in Australia, there are two possible visas. The first is the Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa and the second is the subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa.
Both subclasses require a skills assessment to prove your capabilities in your nominated occupation and the location of employment must be in regional area.
As a 491 applicant, you must meet the points test and be sponsored by either a family member or an Australian state or territory, whilst for a 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa, you must be nominated instead by an approved business sponsor.
Contact Visa Lounge migration specialists to assess your professional background and find out if you can apply for a visa to work in Australia.
