Australian aged care providers can now apply to access the new Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement. The Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement streamlines the recruitment of qualified direct care workers from overseas to work in the aged care sector. Employers can use this where appropriately qualified Australians are not available.
To access this labour agreement, employers must first enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the relevant industry union(s).
The purpose of the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement
Applying for the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement
Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement terms and concessions
The purpose of the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement
You can use the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement to:
Sponsor overseas workers for the Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa in direct care occupations such as:
Nursing Support Worker
Personal Care Assistant
Aged or Disabled Carer
You need to have made recent and genuine attempts to recruit workers from the domestic workforce pool.
Sponsor overseas workers for permanent residence under the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa program. Workers must have at least two years of full time work experience in Australia in a relevant direct care occupation. The two years of work experience is not tied to a particular employer or visa subclass.
Applying for the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement
To access the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement, aged care providers must first enter into an MoU with the relevant unions(s):
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation
Health Services Union or
United Workers Union.
Once the MoU is established, aged care providers can submit the labour agreement request to the Department of Home Affairs. Online labour agreement request forms are available in ImmiAccount.
For more information about entering into an MoU, contact your relevant industry union.
To learn more about labour agreements, see Labour agreements. You can also email labour.agreement.section@homeaffairs.gov.au.
Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement terms and concessions
Access the following concessions to standard skilled visa requirements:
two year pathway to permanent residence through the Employer Nomination Scheme
streamlined visa nomination and priority visa application processing
no post qualification work experience requirement
English language concessions for workers with relevant community language skills
annual salary of at least $51,222 AUD or the Australian Market Salary Rate, whichever is higher.
Key visa application requirements:
hold a relevant AQF Certificate III or equivalent, or higher qualification. You can also have 12 months of relevant work experience or part time equivalence.
obtain a positive skills assessment from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council or the Australian Community Workers Association if you obtained your qualifications overseas. This also applies if you claim work experience in lieu of the formal qualifications.
have an English language proficiency level of at least IELTS 5.0 or equivalent. Workers with target community language skills employed by culturally and linguistically diverse aged care providers need at least IELTS 4.5 or equivalent.
We will consider labour market testing requirements satisfied once aged care providers have entered into an MoU with the relevant union(s).
^ Skill and qualification requirements will differ from those stipulated in ANZSCO. These will be specified under the terms of each Labour Agreement.

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