Following the Prime Minister’s highly publicised announcement today regarding the impending abolition of the 457 visa program, information has emerged of interim plans to replace the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) and Consolidated Skilled Occupation List (CSOL) effective 19 April, 2017.
According to the interdepartmental circular and the recently updated DIBP website, the Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List (CSOL) will be replaced by the Short Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL). This will involve the removal of 200 occupations from the CSOL (listed below).
As well as narrowing the 457 occupation list, the abridging of the CSOL also affects the following subclasses:
- Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186 Direct Entry)
- Skilled Nominated (subclass 190)
- State and Territory Nominated stream of the subclass 489 and some applicants for the Training visa (subclass 407)
In addition, 24 occupations listed on the STSOL will now only be eligible for positions located in regional Australia (for the subclass 457 and the subclass 186) and for the State and Territory Nominated stream of the subclass 489. These regional occupations are also listed below.
Nominations in the removed occupations will not be processed from Wednesday 19 April 2017.
For a list of all occupations removed, click here.
Importantly, many other commonly used occupations in the program (e.g. Recruitment Consultant and Sales and Marketing Manager) have also had ‘caveats’ applied to them, which have created additional requirements, and in effect raised the bar to a higher level than many of the standard criteria for approval. Further details of these will be provided in subsequent news releases.
In addition, the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) is being replaced by the Medium and Long term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL). Occupations currently listed on the SOL will remain available for visas that use the SOL at the sole occupation list (the Skilled Independent (subclass 189), the Graduate Work stream of the Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) and the Eligible Relative Nominated stream of the Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489). For all other visas that use occupation lists, there will be 16 occupations removed from the MLTSSL which is published here.
FCB Smart Visa will continue to provide updates on the 457 program as they become available. If you would like to discuss, please call one of our migration agents on 02 9922 5188.
