Employers seek migration result

With projected labour demand in Western Australia approaching all-time highs on the back of large resource construction projects, local employers are turning to different migration solutions to meet their workforce needs.

Businesses have had to keep abreast of multiple regulatory changes, including last year’s changes to temporary section 457 visa rules and the employer-nominated permanent residency scheme (ENS) and will have to keep up with the introduction of state migration plans set for later this year.

The WA Immigration Alliance (WAIMA) was founded by chartered accounting and business advisory firm Grant Thornton, global immigration firm Greenberg and law firm Talbot Olivier in order to help clients deal with these changes.

Greenberg partner Ben Willis said changes to the 457 visa sponsorship program made last year have dramatically altered the way 457s are used in Australia.

Up until now, 457 visas have been a common pathway for immigrants trying to obtain permanent residence in Australia.

Where companies used to have a limited number of two-year 457 visas to offer they now have unlimited four year-long 457 visas to offer employees.

But Mr Willis said the obligations of employers using the 457 visas – such as paying employees market rates, paying for the repatriation of employees should a project they are working on finish, and notifying the government if the company has a change to its board of directors – were more onerous.

“The days where people brought in tradesmen from the Philippines and paid them less than Australians, are gone. You have to bring people in and pay them market rates and the government monitors that heavily,” he said.

WAIMA advises companies to choose employment pathways depending on their circumstance when employing foreign nationals.

“The 457 has these obligations and a lot of companies don’t want them,” Mr Willis said.

Many organisations have started to buck the 457 trend, opting for the employer nominated scheme (ENS) option, where their employees are granted permanent residency based on their employment.

The federal government is supporting this move; with both political parties indicating their priority is to fill labour gaps with permanent visas and government agencies moving to make the ENS application process faster than 457s, according to Mr Willis.

“In the past those applications took up to twelve months to process. Perth set the example and a few months ago said ‘we will process in 48 hours’,” he said.

“We had people going through for a permanent residency four times faster than the 457s.”

That has since changed and eastern states agencies, where it was taking up to five months to process ENS applications, are now fast tracking their applications through Perth, but as a result are clogging up the WA system in the process.

While the ENS allows employers to avoid obligations such as those of the 457 visas, it doesn’t allow businesses employing permanent residents staff retention security, as employees are under no obligations to stay with their employer.

“People say, ‘Why would I put someone on permanent residency, because once they get here they can walk, I like the old golden handcuff concept’. You are never going to get away from the age old issue of staff retention,” Mr Willis said.

Meanwhile, the state migration plan is set for release in November and will allow states to outline which skills and industries they most need labour in.

It is expected the federal government will simplify the visa application process in those areas.