To begin, your company that seeks to sponsor a foreign worker for a Subclass 457 Visa must apply for approval as a standard business sponsor. The approval is valid for up to 5 years and will allow you to nominate an overseas worker for an open position in your business.
In order to be approved as a standard business sponsor, if your business has been operating for at least 12 months, it must satisfy certain “Training Benchmarks”. You must prove one of the following:
- Training Benchmark A: you have paid the equivalent of at least 2% of payroll expenditure (including superannuation) to an industry training fund for the training of Australian citizens or permanent residents.
- Training Benchmark B: you have spent the equivalent of 1% of payroll (including superannuation) on training for your employees who are Australian citizens or permanent residents. This can include, amongst other things, salaries or wages of trainees or apprentices employed under registered training contracts.
The business must submit verifiable evidence that they meet one of the training benchmarks, such as tax invoices / receipts that show it has incurred expenditure on training their Australian staff. The expenditure must have been incurred in the 12 months immediately preceding the application for the business to become a Subclass 457 Sponsor.
If the business has been trading for less than 12 months, you must submit an “Auditable Training Plan” which clearly specifies how you are going to meet either of the training benchmarks in the next 12 months.
If your business has been operating for less than 12 months, your sponsorship will only be approved for 12 months. If your business has been operating for more than 12 months, your sponsorship will be approved for five years.
There is a wide range of documentation that must be supplied to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) in an application for standard business sponsorship. We can advise on all the required documentation.