Global Enterprises Group attended a DIBP-presented 457 roadshow this morning, Monday 18th July. A range of topics were discussed that gave insight to priorities within the DIBP, including:
There has been a decrease in primary visa holders when compared with last year, as well as a decrease of 2% in 457 visa application numbers.
The DIBP has confirmed that there has been an increase in the number of 457 refusals when compared with the same period in the previous year.
This is in the context that less than 1% of 457s were refused prior to 1st July 2013.
There have been a number of changes to the Accredited Sponsor framework (a ‘recognised sponsor’ system that provides the DIBP the ability to prioritise the sponsor’s Nominations and Applications). Under the pre-1st July programme, accredited sponsors made up around 200 of 34,000 active sponsors, and it is envisaged that this will increase to approximately 900 accredited sponsors as a result of the change in legislation. Current processing times for un-accredited sponsors is 40+ days, whereas the DIBP seeks to shorten this to 5 days for accredited sponsors.
Sponsors interested in exploring the ability to become an ‘accredit sponsor’ are encouraged to contact us to understand further.
The DIBP spent significant time discussing the issue of the genuine nature of the position being core criteria to 457 case officer decision making. Effectively, 457 Nominations will be considered against the risk that they are not genuine with some examples of reasons that will trigger such concerns being:
We encourage any sponsors / individuals interested in understanding more about these issues to be in contact with us.
