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The Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) allows Australian employers to sponsor employees who are foreign nationals for a permanent visa to work in Australia.

Who is this visa for?

This visa is for Australian employers who want to sponsor highly skilled workers for a permanent visa to work in their business. The employees can be either:

• highly skilled workers from overseas
• highly skilled temporary residents currently in Australia.

Visa applicants who are currently living and/or working in Australia on a qualifying visa can apply for the onshore ENS (subclass 856) visa. If you do not hold a qualifying visa, you may still be eligible to apply onshore if you last held a qualifying visa no more than 28 days prior to lodging an application.

The offshore ENS  visa is for applicants who are outside Australia.

What does this visa let me do?

This visa allows you and any dependent family members included in your visa application to live as permanent residents in Australia.

Australian permanent residents can:

• live and work in Australia on a permanent basis
• study in Australia at school or university
• receive subsidised healthcare through Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
• access certain social security payments (subject to waiting periods)
• be eligible for Australian citizenship (subject to the residency eligibility criteria)
• sponsor people for permanent residence.

For this visa, you will need:

• an Australian employer
• a highly skilled employee
• an eligible occupation.

The process for obtaining a visa under the Employer Nomination Scheme is summarised below.

Note: The nomination must be approved before the visa can be granted. The nomination application should be lodged before or at the same time as the visa application. If the nomination application is lodged first, the visa application must be lodged within six months of the nomination approval date.

Employee

An employee is a foreign national who:

• meets the age, skill and language requirements
• has an employer that is willing to sponsor them for this visa.

Employer

An employer is an Australian business that is seeking to fill a vacancy for an eligible position.

Eligible position

An eligible position must meet the following requirements:

• be full-time, ongoing and available for at least 3 years
• provide working conditions that are no less favourable than provided for under the relevant Australian legislation and awards
• be a highly skilled occupation that is on the Employer Nomination Scheme Occupation List (ENSOL).
  meet the minimum salary level for ENS.
  
  
• Validity periods

The validity period of the nomination approval is 6 (six) months. This visa is permanent.

Eligibility

These pages outline the requirements that must be met by all parties.

• Employer
• Employee
• Family Member

Employer Eligibility

Employer requirements

To participate in the Employer Nomination Scheme, the employer must:

• be actively and lawfully operating a business in Australia
• have a genuine need for a paid employee to fill a position in their business
• follow all relevant Australian laws and have a satisfactory record of meeting immigration laws (if applicable)
• have a current training strategy for existing Australian employees, or if a newly established business, have a training plan for future training of Australian employees
• provide the employee with an offer of permanent employment.

Position requirements

The nominated position must meet the following requirements:

• be full-time, ongoing and available for at least 3 years
• provide working conditions that are no less favourable than provided for under the relevant Australian legislation and awards
• be a highly skilled occupation that is on the Employer Nomination Scheme Occupation List (ENSOL)
  Note: An employer cannot nominate a position which does not relate to an occupation on the ENSOL.
• meet the minimum salary level for ENS.

Minimum salary level

There are minimum salary levels, which must be met. The minimum salary is:

• $61,920 for the following occupations:
  • 2231-11 Systems Manager
  • 2231-13 Systems Designer
  • 2231-15 Software Designer
  • 2231-17 Applications and Analyst Programmer
  • 2231-19 Systems Programmer
  • 2231-21 Computer Systems Auditor
  • 2231-79 Computing Professionals (not elsewhere classified)
• $45,220 for all other gazetted occupations.

The minimum salary levels are for gross annual salary and must not include:

• accommodation or rental assistance, board, upkeep, meals or entertainment
• incentives, bonuses or commissions
• shares or bonus shares
• travel, holidays, health care/insurance
• vehicles or vehicle allowances
• communications packages
• Living-Away-from-Home-Allowance
• superannuation contributions (either voluntary employee or compulsory employer contributions)
• any other non-salary benefits not included in the above, with the exeption of Medicare rebates.

Employers can offer any of these benefits to employees provided they are above and beyond the minimum salary.

Note: The minimum salary level is subject to change. Updated figures are published annually in a Gazette Notice.

Employee Eligibility

• if you are applying from within Australia and you hold a qualifying visa
  
  
• if you are applying from outside Australia or you are in Australia but do not hold a qualifying visa
  if you are nominated by an employer and you have a valid application for a subclass 134, 136 or 138 visa, you may be deemed to have made an application
  
  
• if you have made a valid application for a permanent General Skilled Migration visa and are later nominated by an employer under the Employer Nomination Scheme, you may be eligible to lodge a fee-free visa application.

Family Member Eligibility

Eligible family members

The following people may apply to accompany and stay with the employee.

• the employee's partner
• dependent child of the employee or employee's partner
• other dependent relatives living with the employee.

Partner

A partner is your spouse (the person you are married to) or de facto partner (including same-sex partners).

Dependent child

A dependent child is the child or stepchild, of the employee or their partner who:

• is not married, engaged to be married or in a de facto relationship and
• has not turned 18
  or
• if they have turned 18, are wholly or substantially reliant on the employee or the employee's partner for their basic needs, or are incapacitated for work.

Other dependent relatives

Other relatives may be included in the application if they are wholly or substantially reliant on the employee for financial support for their basic needs of food, shelter and clothing and they have been reliant on the employee for that support for a substantial period.

They must also be more reliant on the employee for support than on any other person or source. A relative may also be considered dependent on the employee if they are reliant on them for financial support because they have a mental or physical disability which stops them from earning a living to support themselves.

Other relatives dependent on the employee or employee's partner may include, for example, an aged, unmarried relative.

Dependent family members who are 18 years of age or over, should obtain form 47A and attach it to the visa application.

Details of child or other dependent family member aged 18 years or over must be completed for each dependent 18 or over, whether migrating or not.

Health and character requirements

All dependent family members must meet the health and character requirements.

English language ability

Adult family members of the employee are expected to have functional English.

Higher visa application charges may apply to those who do not have a functional level of English.

Work and study

Family members who are granted a permanent visa are given full work and study rights.

Australian Values Statement

All visa applicants aged 18 years or over, are required to sign an Australian values statement. The statement is included in the visa application form and all applicants aged 18 years and over will need to sign it. Before signing the statement, applicants for this visa are required to have read, or had explained to them, material made available by the government on life in Australia which is contained in the Life in Australia book.

The Life in Australia book provides more information on the values that Australians share and their way of life.

Obligations

Under the Employer Nomination Scheme:

• the employer must comply with all relevant Australian standards and workplace legislation for wages and working conditions
• The employee must comply with all Australian laws as a permanent resident.

Applying for this Visa

If the employer and employee are eligible, willing and able to meet their obligations under the Employer Nomination Scheme, they can commence the 2-step application process.

Step 1 - Employer nominates a position

The employer must nominate the position to be filled.

Step 2 - Employee applies for a visa

The employee must apply for a visa to work in Australia.