- What do I need to do if I want to change my employer?
Your new employer needs to be an approved business sponsor and lodge a TSS nomination for you for the new position you are undertaking.
You may not need to apply for a new visa as well, if your current visa is still valid for a sufficient period of time.
- What do I need to do if my 457 visa is expiring?
If you are NOT changing your employer or the position or the occupation, you can apply under a new TSS nomination for a new TSS visa, subject to you meeting the new legislative requirements.
- What do I need to do if I want to change my occupation?
If you are on an existing 457 visa holder, your sponsor needs to lodge a new nomination for the new occupation. Apart from meeting all other legislative criteria, the new occupation must be on one of the occupation lists.
If you are on a TSS visa, you need a new nomination and a new visa.
- What will happen if my occupation is not on a relevant list?
If the occupation is no longer on a relevant list, you cannot change to that occupation and will not be able to apply for a TSS visa, (Reg 2.72(8)). Depending on your circumstances, you may not have a pathway through TRT to permanent residence.
- Will I still be eligible for TRT under the transitional provisions if I change occupations?
Grandfathering applies to 457 visa holders who held or had applied for a 457 visa prior to 18 April 2017. A subsequent TSS visa application, irrespective of the occupation, generally does not affect eligibility for grandfathering provisions, see IMMI 18/052 (6), (7) & (8)
- Will being granted a new TSS visa affect my eligibility for TRT sponsorship in the future?
If you continue with the same employer in the same position on your new TSS visa, your eligibility for TRT may not be affected.
- If I change employer will this affect my eligibility for TRT sponsorship in the future?
Applicants are required to undertake a specified ‘continuous period of employment’ before they are eligible to be sponsored for TRT. If you change employer this may affect your eligibility to meet this requirement.
There are three scenarios in policy where an applicant’s employment may be considered continuous for the required period, even though the employer has changed. (NOTE: this relates to the ‘required period’ not the nominator).
- The standard business sponsor has been the sole nominator, but the nominee has worked in combination or solely for an associated entity/ies of the business sponsor.
- The business has undergone takeover/sale/restructure or closure, which required a change of ABN/ACN/name that required a new SBS, but the position remains essentially unchanged.
- The original sponsor was an Overseas Business Sponsor that has subsequently established an Australian entity and become an Australian business sponsor.
- Does the ANZSCO four digit number ‘rule’ still apply?
Yes, this is unchanged. You are eligible to apply for TRT using an occupation with the same first four digit ANSZCO code, as the occupation you were originally sponsored on for the temporary visa.
- Can I be sponsored for TRT by my current sponsor if I have been working in their associated entity/ies?
Yes, this is again possible following the reversal of the ‘direct control’ policy change of 18 March 2018.