Temporary Activity Visa (Subclass 408)

This visa allows you to come to Australia to do specific types of work on a short-term, temporary basis.

There are several categories of visa.

• Australian Government Endorsed Events 

This temporary visa lets you come to Australia to participate in events which are endorsed by the Australian Government.

With this visa you can:

• travel to or stay in Australia to take part in the Supporting Innovation in South Australia event
• travel to and from Australia as many times as you want while the visa is valid and travel restrictions are not in place

Note: If you are applying for this visa to stay in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, see Australian Government Endorsed Events (COVID-19 Pandemic event).

You must:

• apply online
• have a letter of endorsement from the event organiser

Special Program 

This visa lets you stay in Australia to take part in an approved special program. Special programs can include youth exchange, cultural enrichment or community programs, school language assistants or “gap year school volunteering”.

• Take part in a special program in Australia to exchange culture, knowledge and social experiences
• Stay in Australia for usually up to 12 months with members of your family unit
• Apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance

Religious Work 

This visa lets you do full-time religious work for a religious institution in Australia. You and your family who apply for the visa with you can stay here for up to 2 years.

• ​​​​Do full-time religious work to serve a religious institution in Australia
• Stay in Australia for up to 2 years with members of your family unit
• Apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance

Research activities 

This visa lets you observe or take part in a research project at a research or tertiary institution in Australia. You and your family who apply for the visa with you can stay here for up to 2 years.

• ​​​Observe or take part in an Australian research project
• Stay in Australia for up to 2 years with members of your family unit
• Apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance

Invited for other social and cultural activity (Invited Participant) 

This visa lets you come to Australia if you are invited to participate in a community-based event, including sporting events. You and your family who travel on the visa with you can stay here for up to 3 months.

• ​​​You must have been invited to take part in a community-based event in Australia
• You can stay in Australia for up to 3 months with members of your family unit
• You can apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance

Sporting Activities 

This visa allows you to play, coach, instruct or adjudicate for an Australian team, or do high level sports training with a sporting organisation. You and your family can stay in Australia for up to 2 years.

• ​​​Play, coach, instruct or adjudicate for an Australian team, or do high-level sports training with a sporting organisation
• Stay for up to 2 years with members of your family unit
• Apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance

Entertainment Activities 

This temporary visa lets you come to Australia to work in the entertainment industry on film, television or live productions as a performer, production or support staff. You can include family members in your visa application.

• ​​Work on film, television or live productions in the entertainment industry
• Stay in Australia for up to 2 years with members of your family unit
• Apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance

Superyacht Crew 

This visa lets you work in Australia as a crew member of a superyacht. You can stay here for up to 12 months.

• Be a crew member on a superyacht in Australia
• Stay in Australia for up to 12 months
• Apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance
•  

Exchange Arrangements 

This visa lets you come to Australia as part of a staff exchange with an Australian organisation. You and your family members who travel here on the visa with you can stay for up to 2 years.

• ​​Take part in a staff exchange and work in an Australian organisation
• Stay in Australia for up to 2 years with members of your family unit
• Apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance

Domestic work for executives 

This visa lets you come to Australia to do full-time domestic work in the household of certain senior foreign executives. You and members of your family unit can stay here for up to 2 years

• ​​Do full-time domestic work in an Australian household of certain senior foreign executives
• Stay in Australia for up 2 years with members of your family unit
• Apply for the visa in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance

What are the next steps and how do I apply? 

Getting the right advice upfront is essential. Therefore, feel free to contact Australian Migration House; we are ready and waiting to assist you to apply for your visa.

Direct call on 

(+61) 43 1773 923

Send us an email on 

admin@ausmigrationhouse.com.au

We will assess your situation on an individual basis and provide you with the best advice to make your stay in Australia comfortable and seamless.

Skilled Work regional (Provisional) visa – Main Applicant (Subclass 491)

This is a provisional visa. It is for skilled workers who want to live and work in regional Australia.

Let Australian Migration House guide you through this process.

With this visa, you can:

• stay in Australia for 5 years
• live, work and study in a designated regional area of Australia
• travel to and from Australia as many times as you want, while the visa is valid
• apply for permanent residence after 3 years from the time your visa is granted

You must:

• be nominated to apply by a state or territory government agency, or an eligible relative must sponsor you
• have an occupation on a relevant skilled occupation list
• have a suitable skills assessment for the occupation
• be invited to apply
• satisfy the points test

Be invited to apply:

You can only apply for this visa if DHA invites you to. You are required to:

1. Submit an expression of interest (EOI) in SkillSelect to apply for the visa.
2. Indicate if an eligible relative is going to sponsor you for this visa or if you want a state or territory government agency to nominate you.

Be nominated or sponsored:

You must be either nominated by an Australian state or territory government agency or indicate that you will be sponsored by an eligible relative.

Submit an expression of interest (EOI) for the visa to get an estimate of your points score. 

If you score enough points, state and territory government agencies can see your EOI and might nominate you for the visa.

If you indicate in your EOI that you will be sponsored by an eligible relative the Department may invite you to apply for a visa in an invitation round.

Nomination by an Australian state or territory government agency 

If you are nominated for the visa, we will invite you to apply. All state and territory government agencies have their own criteria for deciding who they will nominate.

Contact the state or territory agency directly to find out more about their nomination process and what they want from you.

• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Tasmania
• Victoria
• Western Australia

Sponsorship by an eligible relative 

Your sponsor must be:

• 18 years old or older
• usually resident in a designated area of Australia
• be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen
• be your eligible relative or your partner’s eligible relative if your partner is also applying for this visa

An eligible relative can be:

• a parent
• a child or step-child
• a brother, sister, adoptive brother, adoptive sister, step-brother or step-sister
• an aunt, uncle, adoptive aunt, adoptive uncle, step-aunt or step-uncle
• a nephew, niece, adoptive nephew, adoptive niece, step-nephew or step-niece
• a grandparent, or
• a first cousin

Your sponsorship must be approved before you can be granted a visa.

Be this age 

You must be aged under 45 to be invited to apply for the visa.

You can still apply for the visa if you turn 45 after you are invited you to apply.

If you turn 45 after you submit your EOI but before you are invited to apply, you will not receive an invite.

Have a suitable skill assessment 

For your application to be valid, you must declare that you have a suitable skills assessment at time of invitation.

You will need to provide a copy of this skills assessment with your application.

For medical and legal practitioners, DHA also accepts the following as proof of a skills assessment:

• full or unconditional or general medical registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
• conditional specialist registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. This only allows you to practise in your speciality. You need no further training or supervision
• admission to practice law in the relevant state or territory

Your skills assessment must have been obtained in the 3 years before the date of your invitation. If the assessment was for a shorter period, that period must not have passed.

If your skills were assessed on the basis of a qualification you got in Australia when you held a student visa, the qualification must be from studying a course registered on CRICOS. 

Be able to score 65 points or more 

The subclass 491 is a points-tested visa.

When you submit your EOI in SkillSelect you will be given an indicative points score based on the claims you have made. If you do not obtain a score of 65 points you will not be invited to apply for this visa.

If DHA invites you to apply for the visa, your invitation will state the number of points that you must score when your application is assessed for grant of the visa (this score may be higher than 65 points, depending on your claims in the EOI).  

When you lodge your application you must provide evidence supporting your claims. 

To check how points can be awarded refer to the points table.

Have this level of English language 

At the time of invitation, you must have at least Competent English.

Information about family members 18 years old or older 

If a family member 18 years or older is applying for the visa with you, either:

• they must have functional English or
• they must pay a second instalment visa application charge

Meet the skills requirement 

Your occupation must be on the combined list of eligible skilled occupations for a Skilled Regional (subclass 491) visa.

Meet health requirement: 

You and any family members who apply for the visa with you must meet our health requirement. If requested, family members not accompanying you to Australia might also need to meet our health requirement.

Not have had a visa cancelled or a previous application refused 

You might not be eligible for this visa if you have had a visa cancelled or refused while you were in Australia.

What are the next steps and how do I apply? 

Getting the right advice upfront is essential. Therefore, feel free to contact Australian Migration House; we are ready and waiting to assist you to apply for your visa.
Direct call on (+61) 43 1773 923
Send us an email on admin@ausmigrationhouse.com.au

We will assess your situation on an individual basis and provide you with the best advice to make your stay in Australia comfortable and seamless.

Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 494)

There are two main streams:

• Employer Sponsored Stream 
• Labour Agreement Stream

Employer Sponsored Stream:

This visa enables regional employers to address identified labour shortages within their region by sponsoring skilled workers where employers can’t source an appropriately skilled Australian worker

With this visa, you can:

• live, work and study only in designated regional areas of Australia for 5 years
• travel to and from Australia for 5 years
• if eligible, apply for permanent residence after 3 years from the time your visa is granted

Specified region:

You can live, work and study only in a designated regional area. Designated regional areas include all of Australia except for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Pathways to permanent residence

• If eligible, you can apply for permanent residence after you have held your 494 visa for 3 years.
• Unless you have held your subclass 494 visa for 3 years, holders of the subclass 494 visa are unable to:
  •  Make a valid application for a subclass 820 (Partner) visa 
  •  Be granted any of the following visas:
    • Subclass 132 (Business Talent) 
    • Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme)
    • Subclass 188 (Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional))
    • Subclass 189 (Skilled (Nominated))
    • Subclass 858 (Distinguished talent)

You must:

• be nominated to work in an occupation on the relevant skilled occupation list
• have at least 3 years relevant work experience in your nominated occupation
• have a relevant skills assessment, unless an exemption applies
• work only for your sponsor or associated entity, unless an exemption applies
• be under 45 years of age, unless an exemption applies
• meet minimum standards of English language proficiency

How long you can stay?

This is a provisional visa. You can stay in Australia for a period of 5 years from when your visa is granted.

Stay longer

You can’t stay in Australia longer by extending this visa. 

If eligible, you can apply for permanent residence after 3 years from the time your visa is granted.

Include family:

You can include members of the family unit in your application. You can:

• include them when you submit your visa application
• add a dependent child after you submit but before we decide on your visa application

Family members who apply for the visa with you must meet health and character requirements.

Family members who do not apply for the visa with you might also have to meet health and character requirements.

If your partner or dependent children are not included in this application, you must tell us the reason why. For example, they already hold Australian citizenship or are a permanent resident.

Apply from:

You can be in or outside Australia when you apply for the visa and when we make a decision on your application, but not in immigration clearance.

If you are applying in Australia, you must hold either of the following visa otherwise your application will not be valid:

• a substantive visa, or
• a Bridging visa A, Bridging visa B or Bridging visa C

You must be under 45 years of age when you apply for the visa.

 You are exempt from this criteria if any of the following applies to you:

• you are nominated as an academic (University Lecturer or Faculty Head at Academic Level A , B, C, D or E) by a university in Australia
• you are nominated as a medical practitioner and have been employed in that occupation for 3 years immediately before you apply as the holder of a Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) or Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482) visa, with at least 2 years of this time employed in regional Australia
• you are nominated as a scientist, researcher or technical (scientific) specialist at ANZSCO skill level 1 or 2 by an Australian scientific government agency or Australian university
• you have held a Special Category visa (subclass 444) or New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship visa (subclass 461) visa for the last 3 years immediately before you apply and have worked for the employer who nominated you, in the nominated occupation, for at least 2 years during that time
• you
  • have held a subclass 457 visa or TSS visa for the last 3 years immediately before you apply
  • have worked in your nominated occupation for the employer who nominated you at all time during those 3 years
  • had annual earnings for each of those 3 years, that were equal to or greater than the Fair Work High Income Threshold that applied at the end of the relevant year

Be nominated by an approved sponsor

You must be nominated by an employer whose business is lawfully operating in Australia.

You must be employed to work in the nominated occupation and in a position within the sponsoring business or an associated entity of that business, located in a designated regional area of Australia.

Before you can apply for the visa, your employer will need to lodge a nomination application for you. They will only be able to do this if they are an approved work sponsor or have at least lodged an application to become a standard business sponsor.

 

Have relevant skills, qualifications and work experience

If you are the primary visa applicant, you must demonstrate that you have the skills, qualifications and work experience necessary to perform the nominated occupation. 

You must undertake a skills assessment to demonstrate this – see Have a positive skills assessment below.

If it is not mandatory for you to undertake a skills assessment, you are still required to provide other evidence to demonstrate that you meet this requirement.

You must have been employed in the nominated occupation for at least 3 years on a full-time basis and at the skill level required for the nominated occupation.

Generally, you should have gained your experience within the last 5 years. The period does not need to be continuous. We might consider equivalent part-time work. We do not consider casual work.

 

Have a positive skills assessment

You must have your skills assessed as suitable for the nominated occupation by the relevant assessing authority. The assessment will show you have the skills to work in the nominated occupation.

The skills assessment must be undertaken before your application is lodged. A skills assessment obtained for a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) is not a valid assessment for this visa.

You do not need to complete a skills assessment if at the time of application you held a Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) or Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482) for the nominated occupation and in order to be granted that visa, you were required to demonstrate your skills by providing a suitable skills assessment.

You are exempt from this criteria if any of the following applies to you:

• you are nominated as an academic (University Lecturer or Faculty Head at academic Level A, B, C, D or E) by an Australian university
• you have held a Special Category visa (subclass 444) or New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship visa (subclass 461) visa for the last 3 years immediately before you apply and have worked for the employer who nominated you, in the nominated occupation, for at least 2 years during that time

 

Have this level of English language

You must have at least Competent English to be granted this visa.

Eligibility for Sponsor:

• Be a Standard Business Sponsor
• Nominate the skilled worker for an eligible occupation
• Be unable to find an Australian worker
• Pay the annual market salary rate
• Have a genuine position available
• Engage the nominee under written contract pf emplpymet
• Not engage in discretionary paracties
• Employment conditions must be equivalent to Australian workers

Labour Agreement Stream:

With this visa, you can

• live, work and study only in designated regional areas of Australia for 5 years
• travel to and from Australia for 5 years
• if eligible, apply for permanent residence after 3 years from the time your visa is granted

You must:

• be nominated to work in a specified occupation under the terms of a labour agreement
• have at least 3 years relevant work experience in your nominated occupation
• have a relevant skills assessment, if this is specified in the labour agreement
• work only for your sponsor
• be under 45 years of age, unless the labour agreement states otherwise
• meet minimum standards of English language proficiency

Be working under a labour agreement:

The nominated occupation must be the subject of a labour agreement between the Commonwealth and the nominator.
 

 

Be this age

Unless the labour agreement states otherwise, you must be under 45 years of age when you apply for the visa.

 

Have relevant skills, qualifications and work experience

You must demonstrate that you have the skills, qualifications and work experience necessary to perform the nominated occupation.

You must undertake a skills assessment to demonstrate this if having a skills assessment is specified in the labour agreement – see Have a positive skills assessment section below.

If it is not mandatory for you to undertake a skills assessment, you are still required to provide other evidence to demonstrate that you meet this requirement – see ‘Skills and qualifications documents’ under the Step by step tab.

You must have been employed in the nominated occupation for at least 3 years on a full-time basis and at the skill level required for the nominated occupation.

Generally, you should have gained your experience within the last 5 years. The period does not need to be continuous. We might consider equivalent part-time work. We do not consider casual work.

 

Have a positive skill assessment

If having s skills assessment is specified in the labour agreement, you must have your skills assessed as suitable for the nominated occupation by the relevant assessing authority. The assessment will show us you have the skills to work in the nominated occupation.

You must have the level of English as specified in the labour agreement to be granted this visa. 

Eligibility for Sponsor:

Be an eligible business

Your business must:

• have no adverse information known about it or any person associated with it, or it is reasonable to disregard this information
• pay the Skilling Australians Fund levy when you submit your nomination application
• have complied with Australian immigration and workplace relations laws

Have a current labour agreement

You must:

• currently have a labour agreement in place with the Australian Government
• have met any nomination requirements specified in the agreement

The occupation you are nominating must be listed in the labour agreement as an occupation you can nominate.

What are the next steps and how do I apply? 

Getting the right advice upfront is essential. Therefore, feel free to contact Australian Migration House; we are ready and waiting to assist you to apply for your visa.
Direct call on (+61) 43 1773 923
Send us an email on admin@ausmigrationhouse.com.au

We will assess your situation on an individual basis and provide you with the best advice to make your stay in Australia comfortable and seamless.