Requirements for Sponsorship Accreditation Approval

The requirements for sponsorship accreditation approval have been relaxed to accommodate low risk sponsors who only use the 457 program occasionally, and sponsorship accreditation is therefore no longer only suitable or attractive only for large volume sponsors.  

The benefits of accredited sponsorship are:

• The sponsorship approval will be valid for six years
• The sponsor will receive priority processing on all visa and nomination applications
• The sponsor will also receive streamlined processing for the vast majority of occupations if salary criteria are met and the occupation has an ANZSCO skill level of 1 or 2 on the basis that these are “low risk” nominations. This enables the sponsor to obtain approval of their nominations quickly

There are currently 4 categories of accredited sponsor, each with different eligibility criteria.

Category 1 is for Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies.

Category 2 is for Australian trusted traders.  The key requirements for this category are that the sponsor must:

• Have Australian workers comprising at least 75% of their workforce in Australia
• Engage all 457 holders under a compliant written contract of employment
• Have all Australian employees paid in accordance with an internal salary table that reflects current market salary rates or otherwise they must be paid in accordance with an Enterprise Agreemen

Category 3 is for low risk sponsors who sponsor infrequently but who have a higher percentage of Australian employees. The key requirements for this category are that the sponsor must:

• Be a listed or private company with a minimum of AUD $4m per annum turnover for the last two years
• Have been an active sponsor for a minimum of two years whist approved
• Not have any adverse monitoring outcomes
• Have sponsored a primary 457 visa in the previous 2 years
• Have a good nomination non-approval rate (less than 3%)
• Have Australian workers comprising at least 90% of their workforce in Australia
• Engage all 457 holders under a compliant written contract of employment
• Have all Australian employees paid in accordance with an internal salary table that reflects current market salary rates or otherwise they must be paid in accordance with an Enterprise Agreement
• Have provided all requested business details to the Department

Category 4 is for low risk sponsors who have sponsored at least 10 457 visa holders in the last two years and who have Australian workers comprising at least 75% of their workforce in Australia.  

Stay informed about:

Sponsoring Workers

457 Visa

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Migration Agent