Overview

Employer Nominated Scheme Visa (Subclass 186) allows people to live, study and work in Australia permanently if they are nominated by their employer.  This visa allows applicants to apply under three streams, namely – Direct Entry Stream, Labour Agreement Stream and Temporary Residence Transition Stream. This visa can be applied for from both inside and outside Australia.

Streams

• Direct Entry Stream – To be able to apply under this scheme, the applicant’s occupation must be on a relevant list of eligible skilled occupations.
• Labour Agreement Stream – To be able to apply under this scheme, the applicant must be currently working or willing to work for an employer who has a labour agreement in place.
• Temporary Residence Transition Stream – This stream is for applicants who have a subclass 457, TSS or related Bridging visa A, B or C and have worked for their employer for at least 3 years full-time.

Eligibility Criteria

Direct Entry Stream

Applicants must fulfill the following criteria:

• Have at least 3 years work experience in their occupation, unless exempted
• Be licensed, registered or be a member of a professional body (in case it is a mandatory requirement in the state or territory that the applicant intends to work in)
• Have skill assessment test done by the relevant authority, unless exempted
• Be nominated by an Australian employer and apply for visa within 6 months of being nominated by the employer
• Be below 45 years of age when applying for the visa
• knowledge of English language

• Meet the health and character criteria
• Not have any debt to the Australian government
• Accept Australian Values Statement

Labour Agreement Stream

Applicants must fulfill the following criteria:

• Be working or be willing to work for the employer under labour agreement
• Be licensed, registered or be a member of a professional body (in case it is a mandatory requirement in the state or territory that the applicant intends to work in)
• Be nominated by an Australian employer who is a party to a labour agreement
• Be below 45 years of age when applying for the visa
• If already in Australia, applicant must hold a substantive 457 or TSS visa that has been issued under a labour agreement.
• Meet the health and character criteria
• Not have any debt to the Australian government
• Accept Australian Values Statement

Temporary Residence Transition Scheme

Applicants must fulfill the following criteria:

• Have the required skills and experience required to perform the occupation for which he/she has been nominated (the applicant may be asked for a skill assessment to show the required skills)
• Be licensed, registered or be a member of a professional body (in case it is a mandatory requirement in the state or territory that the applicant intends to work in)
• The employer must have sponsored the applicant to work full-time on his/her subclass 457 or subclass 482 visa for at least 3 out of the 4 years prior to nominating the applicant for the subclass 186 visa
• Be nominated by an Australian employer and apply for visa within 6 months of being nominated by the employer
• Be below 45 years of age when applying for the visa
• Have at least competent knowledge of English language
• The applicant must be currently holding one of the following visas –
  • a subclass 457 visa which has not been granted under the Labour Agreement Streama subclass 482 (TSS) visa which has been granted for an occupation on the Medium to Long-term Strategic Skills list
  • a Bridging visa A, B or C
• Meet the health and character criteria
• Not have any debt to the Australian government
• Accept Australian Values Statement

Key Visa Entitlements

• You can stay in Australia as permanent residents
• You can work, study and enrol in the public healthcare system of Australia
• You can include family members in the visa application- partner, dependent children and dependent relatives (subject to meeting the applicable criteria)
• You can sponsor family members to travel to Australia
• You can apply for an Australian citizenship, if eligible

Visa Application Charges

Primary Applicant	AUD 4,045
Applicants over 18 years who don’t know functional English	AUD 4,890

Processing Timelines

Processing times for applications in this visa subclass can vary significantly depending on the risk assessment level of the applicants’ country of origin and how promptly the applicants can submit the requested documents, including translations, if required. The general processing times for the visa applications in this visa subclass are given below and it does not include the time needed to process the skills assessment and state-nomination applications.

Direct Entry Stream

• 75% of the applications are processed within 6 months
• 90% of the applications are processed within 7 months

Labour Agreement Stream

There is currently no data on the timelines for this stream due to low numbers of applications.

Temporary Residence Transition Stream

• 75% of the applications are processed within 6 months
• 90% of the applications are processed within 10 months