2010-11 to 31 January 2011

Definition of Terms:

ANZSCO Major Group: Major Group is the highest level in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) 1st Edition produced by the Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

ANZSIC: Australian and New Zealand Standard Industry Classification 2006 Edition produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Prior to November 2008, ANZSIC 1993 was
used to record industry. Data recorded using ANZSIC 1993 has been converted to
ANZSIC 2006 using concordance tables provided by the ABS.

Applicant Type: Under the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Regulations), there are two types of applicants. These are primary applicants and secondary applicants. These terms are
defined below.

Independent Executive: Formerly, a group within subclass 457 who did not require a sponsor. They are now included in the Business Skills categories. A small number of visa applications for
Independent Executives were finalised in the current year.

Last Visa Held: This refers to the last substantive visa held by a visa holder (that is, the last visa other than a bridging visa) prior to a point in time. The last visa held may have expired or still be in effect.

Nominated Base Salary: Represents the gross annual salary based on a 38 hour week that the employer has indicated they will pay to the primary visa holder. These amounts do not include the value of salary packaged items, bonuses, commissions or other payments listed in the
schedule to the legislative instrument specifying Minimum Salary Levels for the Subclass 457 program.

Nominated Occupation: The occupation of the nominated position that the primary visa holder will be filling in Australia while holding the Subclass 457 visa based on the Australian Standard
Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) 1st Edition.

Nominated Position Location: The State or Territory where the visa holder will be working. This may be different from the business address of the sponsor and/or the visa processing office.

Nominated Total Remuneration:
The total value of the salary package including base salary, allowances, bonuses and
superannuation.

Pathway: A visa holder moving from one type of visa to another type of visa. Most commonly
used in relation to visa applicants moving from a temporary visa to a permanent/provisional visa. The original visa is determined by the last visa held prior to permanent/provisional visa grant and the visa applicant may be onshore or offshore.

Permanent/provisional visa: A visa subclass which is countable for the purposes of the migration program.

Primary Applicant: The primary applicant is the person who must satisfy the primary criteria for the grant of a visa under the Migration Regulations.

Primary Application: An application lodged by a primary applicant.
Secondary Applicant: Secondary applicants must satisfy the secondary criteria for the grant of a visa under the Regulations. In this case, a secondary applicant is generally a dependant of the primary applicant.

Secondary Application: A visa application lodged by a secondary applicant.

Sponsor Industry: The industry self-identified by the sponsoring client using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industry Classification (ANZSIC) 2006 edition.

Trends in the subclass 457 Business (Long Stay) visa program to January 2011

Visa grants increased by one per cent in January 2011 compared to the previous month. This increase was primarily in offshore grants, which increased 13 per cent in comparison with December 2010.

The number of primary visa holders in Australia at 31 January 2011 reached 72 010. This is the first time since June 2009 that the number of primary visa holders in Australia is higher than the same time in the previous year.

Visa application trends

The number of subclass 457 primary visa applications lodged to January 2011 was 43 per cent higher than the same period last program year.

Offshore applications decreased 15 per cent in January 2011 in comparison to December 2010 and were 64 per cent higher than the same period last program year.

Onshore applications for January 2011 were 19 per cent lower than December 2010, and 23 per cent higher than the same period last program year.

Visa grant trends

To the end of January 2011, subclass 457 primary visa grants were 41 per cent higher than the same time last program year. The number of visa grants in January 2011 was one per cent higher than December 2010.

In the period to the end of January 2011, 80 per cent of primary visa grants were to Managers and Professionals and 15 per cent were to Technicians and Trades Workers.

The top three industries for primary visa grants in the period to 31 January 2011 were Health Care and Social Assistance (15 per cent), Construction (12 per cent) and Other Services (12 per cent).

The top three occupations for primary visa grants to 31 January 2011 were Developer Programmer, Resident Medical Officer and Management Consultant.

The majority of primary subclass 457 visa grants to January 2011 were for positions in New South Wales (37 per cent), Victoria (24 per cent) and Western Australia (18 per cent).

The top three citizenship countries for primary visa grants to 31 January 2011 were the United Kingdom (25 per cent), India (18 per cent) and the Republic of Ireland (8 per cent).

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