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Since starting my new role in the mining industry, I’ve found myself working for an organisation which is much more reliant on skilled resources brought in from overseas.
I was chatting to one of the hiring managers the other day about this and being quite interested in the subject, I managed to steer the conversation onto the subject of Australian immigration and the challenges faced by companies following the many recent changes in immigration law.
One thing that I didn’t really appreciate until now is the hoops that the Australian Immigration Department are making companies jump through in order to justify bringing on board ‘foreign’ workers on 457 Visas.
In pretty much every case, my company now needs to present a “benefits to Australia†letter to justify why the employee would benefit the Australian economy before the potential employee even gets even a whiff of their new visa.
As an example. Here is one of the communications received from one of the Migration consultancies utilised by my company. Previously, many of these questions were never asked. The content may also prove useful as preparation for those looking to move to Australia under the 457 Visa class. For obvious reasons I’ve removed any personal data.
Dear x
Further to the information you have provided, we have prepared the relevant electronic nomination application for the position to be filled by [Mr X]. The application will be lodged over the internet as part of the Australian Department of Immigration’s electronic lodgement system for 457 visas. Could you please review the attached document and respond by return email with your agreement of the details contained in this application.
Benefit to Australia Request
In many cases, the Department of Immigration will likely to request a submission addressing the benefit to Australia of [Mr X's] assignment. Whilst we will be able to use most of the information provided for the submission, we will require specific details relating to [Mr X's] assignment. As such, can you please provide us with some commentary on whether has tried to recruit from the local labour market for [Mr X]. If so, how and for how long (i.e. through a recruitment agency, internet, internal or external) and some commentary if you believe that [Mr X] has a demonstrably higher level of skill or experience that what can be sourced within Australia.
The worrying thing is, I’m sure over the time the questions will get even harder to.
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