Department relaxes interpretation of 2-year work experience requirement for Subclass 482 visa
You may have heard that the Australian Government will be reducing the work experience requirement from 2 years to 1 year for the Temporary Skill Shortage (Subclass 482) Visa on 23 November 2024, but did you know that the Department of Home Affairs recently updated its policy to reflect a more relaxed interpretation of the 2-year work experience requirement?
What work experience did the Department previously accept for the Subclass 482 Visa?
By way of background, the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) presently require that a Visa Applicant have at least two (2) years of relevant work experience for the grant of a Subclass 482 Visa, amongst other requirements. Under Departmental policy, it was previously expected that the work experience should have been undertaken on a full-time basis in the last five (5) years, and that while part-time work experience which was equivalent to full-time work experience (i.e. on a pro rata basis) may be counted, casual employment should not be counted towards meeting the work experience requirement.
As a result, the Department’s restrictive interpretation of the work experience requirement often prevented many prospective migrants from satisfying the regulatory criteria for the grant of a Subclass 482 Visa, including Visa Applicants who had primarily worked in the nominated occupation or a related field on a casual basis, as well as others with gaps in between their work experience in the nominated occupation or a related field.
What work experience does the Department now accept for the Subclass 482 Visa?
On 2 August 2024, the Department updated its policy for the Subclass 482 Visa program, and Departmental policy in relation to the 2-year work experience requirement presently states that while work experience obtained on a full-time basis is preferred and would weigh strongly in a Visa Applicant’s favour, there is no requirement that the work be full-time or continuous to satisfy this requirement. Departmental policy otherwise explicitly excludes experience gained from voluntary or unpaid employment arrangements as being capable of counting towards the work experience requirement, but no longer expressly excludes casual work or work experience gained beyond the last 5 years from being counted.
This potentially means that:
Work experience gained on a part-time and casual basis may be counted towards the 2-year work experience requirement, in so far as it is equivalent to full-time work experience (i.e. on a pro rata basis); and
Work experience gained beyond the last 5 years may be counted towards the 2-year work experience requirement.*
*Following the implementation of the above updated policy, we contacted the Department to clarify if full-time, part-time and casual work experience outside of the 5-year period before the lodgement of a Subclass 482 Visa application can be counted for both the short-term and medium to long-term streams of the Subclass 482 Visa. The Department has since confirmed that experience gained from a range of employment arrangements can be considered, provided that the Visa Applicant can demonstrate they worked in the nominated occupation equivalent to two (2) years of full-time work experience, and that the work experience was undertaken at the skill level of the relevant occupation.
The Department otherwise also confirmed that when assessing the work experience requirement for the Subclass 482 Visa, there is an expectation that work experience will have been gained recently and from a full-time employment arrangement. This suggests that even though the Department may now consider full-time, part-time and casual work experience outside of the 5-year period as counting towards the work experience requirement, a Subclass 482 Visa Applicant wanting to rely on this should still provide evidence of recent and full-time work experience as a matter of prudence.
Should you wish to discuss your eligibility for a Subclass 482 Visa, please email info@inclusivemigration.com.au or submit an enquiry using the contact form on our website.
