On 19 November 2016, the Australian Government will introduce new temporary work visas. They will allow applicants to enter Australia for temporary work or a specified activity.
Below are the four new visa subclasses:
- Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa
- Subclass 403 Temporary Work (International Relations) visa
- Subclass 407 Training visa
- Subclass 408 Temporary Activity visa
The new visas are much simpler and do not require sponsorship or nomination!
1. Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa
This visa is for people who want to come to Australia on a temporary basis to:
- undertake short-term, highly specialised, non-ongoing work
- in limited circumstances, participate in an activity or work relating to Australia’s interests.
No sponsorship will be required for this visa. It will be granted for a maximum of 3 months stay, with that stay calculated from the arrival date.
The specialist work stream will be strongly focused on economic activities and the benefit to Australia. A further stream of this visa will be available for competitors and teams entering Australia to compete in short term events.
2. Subclass 403 Temporary Work (International Relations) visa
This visa is for people who want to come to Australia on a temporary basis:
- in relation to a bilateral agreement
- to represent a foreign government or to teach a foreign language in an Australian school
- to undertake full-time domestic work for a diplomat
- as a person with statutory privileges and immunities
- to participate in the Seasonal Worker Programme.
The Seasonal Worker Program will be incorporated into this subclass and Special Program Agreements will be moved to the Temporary Activity Subclass 408. Applications made in Australia must be made while the applicant is the holder of a substantive visa or within 28 days of their previous visa expiring.
3. Subclass 407 Training visa
This visa is for people who want to come to Australia on a temporary basis to undertake occupational training or participate in classroom based professional development activities.
Applications remain a three stage process for this visa, requiring sponsorship and nomination. Commonwealth agency sponsors are not required to nominate applicants
- Subclass 407 visa applications lodged after 19 November 2016 will not be linked to nominations lodged before 19 November 2016
- The sponsor of occupational trainees must be the training provider.
- Applicants will require functional English
- Maximum stay is 24 month
- PhD students, university researchers and academics are moved to the Temporary Activity 408 visa.
- Applications made in Australia must be made while the applicant is the holder of a substantive visa or within 28 days of their previous visa expiring.
4. Subclass 408 Temporary Activity visa
This visa is for people who want to come to Australia on a temporary basis to:
- work in the entertainment industry
- participate in a non-ongoing cultural or social activities at the invitation of an Australian organisation
- observe or participate as an academic in a research project
- undertake full-time religious work
- participate in a special programme to enhance international relations and cultural exchange
- participate in high-level sports (including training)
- work in a skilled position under a staff exchange arrangement
- participate in an Australian government endorsed event
- work as a superyacht crew member
- undertake full-time domestic work in the household of certain senior foreign executives.
This visa will be ‘work-focussed’. Activities endorsed by the Minister as ‘Significant Events’ e.g. the Commonwealth Games, will be provided streamlined application processing. The usual genuine temporary entrant, adequate means of support and PIC requirements will apply to these applications.
- Sponsorship is required for ALL Subclass 408 visas lodged ONSHORE
- Sponsorship not required for stays of less than 3 months and if applying OFFSHORE
- Sponsorship will be required for stays longer than 3 months if applying from OFFSHORE
- Nominations are no longer required for this visa class. The information usually provided in the nomination will be requested in the visa application
- Coaches, sporting club professionals, adjudicators, judges and sports trainees would use this visa.
- Those currently accessing the entertainment visa subclass will also use this visa and there will be little change to the standard criteria
- Superyacht crew visas will be incorporated into this subclass and now attract the standard VAC.
ALL visas within this temporary work activity framework will be subject to $275 visa application charge.
Please leave your comments and questions below, or contact us!
The following diagram shows the proposed new temporary activity visa framework in more detail.
