Australia Labour Unions are asking that companies exhaust all attempts to prove that they tried to find local citizens to fill job openings before hiring foreign workers to fill those positions.  They claim that companies have exploited foreign workers and are not bringing in truly skilled workers.  Labour is asking for reforms in the current legislative and policy settings to ensure that the 457 program can only be used by appropriately skilled persons and to fill genuine skills shortages as was intended.

There is a debate that the government had failed to provide any evidence of systemic abuse while the new requirement for labour market testing would impose a huge burden on companies.  The combination of the skilled occupation list of positions eligible for 457 sponsorship and declarations by businesses that they put hiring locally and training locally before recruiting foreign workers should be enough according to labour industry experts. Overall this means that Australia employers will need to advertise positions locally before bringing in foreign workers for temporary work visas. The debate continues.

sarah@nwisouthafrica.co.za