5 ms·

Can someone give me some context here? So now it's impossible to hire foreign workers?

viraptor 10y ago
The only visa removed right now is the sponsored, temporary one. That means people coming to work for a specific company for at most 4 years. Other paths are still open. For example permanent visas without sponsorship. That one is likely harder to obtain however.
microcolonel 10y ago
As far as I'm aware, it's being phased out in favour of two replacement visa classes, I don't know what this software company is complaining about. The 457 had a fairly weak market assessment component unlike, for example, the (successful, but stringent) Canadian temporary work visas; so they're replacing the 457 programme with two separate programmes which include market assessments. I think the replacements also don't contribute to an application for permanent residence, so you would need to qualify for an unsponsored work visa to become a permanent resident. The article seems to frame the policy as anti-immigrant, though that is pretty thin. If you qualify to immigrate under the new visa programmes, then you are no less a legitimate immigrant.
clusmore 10y ago
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-18/government-abolishing-457-visas/8450310 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-18/government-abolishing-... No, there are two new visas coming in to replace the 457 visa. It's fairly unclear to me specifically what will change under the new visa structure. One supposed change is that "there won't be permanent residency outcomes at the end of [the new 2 year visa]", but otherwise it sounds like it is possibly just a shrink to the list of approved jobs. Honestly, it sounds like it's just a ploy to grab back some voters who have defected to the far-right One Nation party without making any significant change. This suspicion is strengthened by another "announcement" [1] about the citizenship test which just appears to be a cheap shot at criticising Islamic culture based on a recent incident. [2] [1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-20/migrants-to-face-tougher-tests-for-australian-citizenship/8456392 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-20/migrants-to-face-tough... [2] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-13/islamic-groups-video-teaches-domestic-violence-michaelia-cash/8442708 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-13/islamic-groups-video-t...
- cylinder 10y ago
  Not much will change at all, it's just a stunt for headlines. the most abused occupation titles are still there.
lysp 10y ago
Companies are only meant to use the visa to fill a need/gap where there are no local workers to fill a job. The minimum wage for the visa is $40,000 USD ($53k AUD). What companies are doing however, is hiring foreign workers (typically from India for IT based roles) and paying them $40k rather than the local average wage of $75-100k. They are using the visa as a method to decrease wage costs to almost half of what a local worker would cost. I believe companies are complaining as there is a possibility that there will be less access to cheap foreign labour and they'll have to start paying true costs for workers.
- sanswork 10y ago
  I'm guessing you haven't had to try and hire devs in Australia before if cost of developers is what you think the main problem is.
  - xiphias 10y ago
    Can you explain?
    - sanswork 10y ago
      It's really hard to find intermediate to senior devs in Australia and has been for nearly a decade. It's even harder now with a few big companies like Atlassian grabbing them up enmasse whenever they become available.
      - cynix 10y ago
        Sounds like they're simply expensive to hire, not necessarily hard to find.
        sanswork 10y ago
        Say you need a senior developer and there are none on the market so you offer mine a 10% increase and free chocolate bars to come work for you. You now have a senior developer and I'm now in need of one but there are none of the market. When you suggest someone pay developers more to hire them away from the competition you aren't solving the problem you are just moving it to another company.

The only visa removed right now is the sponsored, temporary one. That means people coming to work for a specific company for at most 4 years. Other paths are still open. For example permanent visas without sponsorship. That one is likely harder to obtain however.

microcolonel 10y ago

As far as I'm aware, it's being phased out in favour of two replacement visa classes, I don't know what this software company is complaining about. The 457 had a fairly weak market assessment component unlike, for example, the (successful, but stringent) Canadian temporary work visas; so they're replacing the 457 programme with two separate programmes which include market assessments. I think the replacements also don't contribute to an application for permanent residence, so you would need to qualify for an unsponsored work visa to become a permanent resident. The article seems to frame the policy as anti-immigrant, though that is pretty thin. If you qualify to immigrate under the new visa programmes, then you are no less a legitimate immigrant.

clusmore 10y ago

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-18/government-abolishing-457-visas/8450310 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-18/government-abolishing-... No, there are two new visas coming in to replace the 457 visa. It's fairly unclear to me specifically what will change under the new visa structure. One supposed change is that "there won't be permanent residency outcomes at the end of [the new 2 year visa]", but otherwise it sounds like it is possibly just a shrink to the list of approved jobs. Honestly, it sounds like it's just a ploy to grab back some voters who have defected to the far-right One Nation party without making any significant change. This suspicion is strengthened by another "announcement" [1] about the citizenship test which just appears to be a cheap shot at criticising Islamic culture based on a recent incident. [2] [1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-20/migrants-to-face-tougher-tests-for-australian-citizenship/8456392 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-20/migrants-to-face-tough... [2] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-13/islamic-groups-video-teaches-domestic-violence-michaelia-cash/8442708 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-13/islamic-groups-video-t...

cylinder 10y ago
Not much will change at all, it's just a stunt for headlines. the most abused occupation titles are still there.

lysp 10y ago

Companies are only meant to use the visa to fill a need/gap where there are no local workers to fill a job. The minimum wage for the visa is $40,000 USD ($53k AUD). What companies are doing however, is hiring foreign workers (typically from India for IT based roles) and paying them $40k rather than the local average wage of $75-100k. They are using the visa as a method to decrease wage costs to almost half of what a local worker would cost. I believe companies are complaining as there is a possibility that there will be less access to cheap foreign labour and they'll have to start paying true costs for workers.

sanswork 10y ago
I'm guessing you haven't had to try and hire devs in Australia before if cost of developers is what you think the main problem is.
- xiphias 10y ago
  Can you explain?
  - sanswork 10y ago
    It's really hard to find intermediate to senior devs in Australia and has been for nearly a decade. It's even harder now with a few big companies like Atlassian grabbing them up enmasse whenever they become available.
    - cynix 10y ago
      Sounds like they're simply expensive to hire, not necessarily hard to find.
      - sanswork 10y ago
        Say you need a senior developer and there are none on the market so you offer mine a 10% increase and free chocolate bars to come work for you. You now have a senior developer and I'm now in need of one but there are none of the market. When you suggest someone pay developers more to hire them away from the competition you aren't solving the problem you are just moving it to another company.