186 Visa Everything You Need to Know

24 Jan 186 Visa Everything You Need to Know

186 Visa – Employer Nomination Scheme

If you have been researching about Australian Visa, then you would know that the 186 Visa is the permanent residency visa that requires the applicant to be sponsored by a nominating Australian employer/business. So, a successful 186 ENS application requires a nomination and a visa application.

Very broadly, 186 ENS requires the nominator to demonstrate that there is a genuine necessity for the nominee to work as a paid employee in the Australian business and nominate an occupation on a specified list.

Requirements for an ENS nomination?

The general requirements for a valid nomination application are as follows:

• The business must be actively and lawfully operating in Australia
• There must be a genuine need for the visa applicant in the nominated position under its direct control
• The business must have the capacity to employ the individual in that position for 2 years
• The position must be full time and available for at least 2 years from the time the visa is granted
• The position must be an occupation included on the current Medium to Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL)
• The position must have a salary that is at least (a) $53,900 per annum ($70,000 + super as of 1st July 2023) and (b) at least the annual market salary rate for the nominated occupation
• The position must be subject to conditions of employment that are no worse than those that apply (or would apply) to Australians performing equivalent work in the same location
• There is no adverse information known about the sponsoring business or any person associated with the sponsoring business, or it is reasonable to disregard this information.

How to Get 186 Visa

Once you have secured an agreement with an Australian employer/business, you can apply for a 186 Visa via the three streams, namely:

Direct Entry (DE) Stream – This visa lets skilled workers, who are nominated by an employer, live and work in Australia permanently.

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ you must be nominated by an Australian employer
• your occupation must be on the relevant list of eligible skilled occupations.
• you must have at least Competent English

Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) Stream – This visa lets skilled workers, who are nominated by their employer, live and work in Australia permanently.

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​You must hold a 457, TSS or related bridging visa A, B or C
• Usually, you must have worked for your employer full-time for at least three years
• You must be nominated by your employer

Labour Agreement (LA) Stream – This visa lets skilled workers who are nominated by their employer live and work in Australia permanently. The Labour Agreement stream might be for you if you currently work, or will work, for an employer who is party to a labour agreement.

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The employer must have a labour agreement

General Requirement for 186 Visa

There are various requirements, depending on the visa stream, but in general they are as follows:

• Age – The primary applicant must be under 45 years of age at the time of the visa application and may turn 45 years of age or older after the lodgement of the visa application
• Competent English – This requirement is applicable to both DE and TRT streams.  Primary applicants under the Labour Agreement stream must also demonstrate Competent English ability, unless your sponsoring employer/business has a Labour Agreement that provides a lower English requirement. You can use an English result from an examination conducted within the last 3 years immediately before the date of lodgement of your visa application. You may however be required to achieve higher English examination scores than the minimum English requirement of Competent English if this is required for your skill assessment (Direct entry stream), or if a higher level of English is required in order to obtain mandatory registration, licence or professional membership that is required to work in your nominated occupation.
• Mandatory Registration, license, or professional membership – If any mandatory registration, licence, or professional membership is required to work in your nominated occupation, then you hold or are eligible for this mandatory registration, license, or professional membership.
• Health and Character – Primary visa applicant and all members of his or her family unit must satisfy the health and character requirements for the grant of a permanent residency visa. If any member of the family unit fails to satisfy the health and/or character requirements, then the visa applications may be refused for the primary applicant and all family members. Members of the family unit who are not included in the visa application also need to satisfy the health and character requirements, even though he or she is not included in the permanent residency visa application.
• Commitment to work in nominated role – Visa applicant needs to make the commitment to work in the nominated position for a period of at least 2 years from the date that permanent residency is granted. The employer will also need to make the commitment to ensure that the nominated role is available to the visa applicant for a period of at least 2 years.
• Applying in Australia: You can apply for this visa if you are in Australia as a temporary visa holder, or a Bridging visa A, B or C (if you are a Bridging visa A, B or C, then you will not be able to lodge this visa application when you are in Australia if you have had a visa refusal and you are waiting for a Tribunal or Court hearing due to Section 48. You can apply for a Bridging visa B, which allows you to temporarily leave Australia to lodge your 186-visa application and then return to Australia. The Department can decide your 186-visa application when you are in Australia).