Labour Agreements
Labour Agreements are formal arrangements to recruit a number of overseas skilled workers on a permanent or temporary basis.
Labour Agreements are formal arrangements to recruit a number of overseas skilled workers. Both temporary and permanent visas can be granted under the agreement. Agreements are generally effective for 2 to 3 years.
Who is this programme for?
Situations where it could be advantageous for an employer to consider accessing a Labour Agreement include:
- an industry association has negotiated a wide agreement for the supply of needed skills in the Temporary Business (Long Stay) Subclass 457 visa and permanent entry Labour Agreement visa (Subclass 120 and 855) programmes.
- occupations are not on the list of approved occupations for the Temporary Business (Long Stay) Subclass 457 visa, permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) or Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme yet a genuine skills shortage exists or occupations are not covered under the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO)
- a large number of workers are needed for relatively short term projects with tight timeframes where the local supply of professional and tradespersons are not sufficiently locally available
- entry of overseas workers for a specific industry is best addressed under the provisions of a Labour Agreement
- where a business recruits labour for the supply to an unrelated business and/or the hiring of labour to unrelated businesses.
Note: Migration Regulations were amended on 15 October 2007 to exclude this group from the Standard Business Sponsorship programme.
