Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) Existing Subclass 457 visa processing officers in the five processing centres will assess and decide applications for accreditation. The existing Subclass 457 visa policy section in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's national office will manage the policy settings for the accreditation scheme.

No additional staff have been engaged to assess applications for the accreditation scheme or manage the accreditation process.

(2) In order to qualify for accredited status, a business must first meet all the requirements for standard business sponsorship.

A business which meets the requirements for standard business sponsorship may, at the same time, seek to be approved for 'accredited status'.

To be approved for accredited status, the processing officer must be satisfied that the business:

(3) Subclass 457 visa processing officers will assess and decide all applications for sponsorship accreditation as delegates of the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.

(4) There is no avenue to appeal a decision to refuse a request for accredited status.

Businesses whose request for accredited status is refused, however, may still be approved as a standard business sponsor if they meet the requirements for approval as a standard business sponsor.

If a business makes an application for approval as a standard business sponsor and is refused, they may seek merits review of this decision with the Migration Review Tribunal.

(5) Together with meeting all of the requirements for standard business sponsorship, a business must demonstrate that they meet all of the additional characteristics for sponsorship accreditation detailed in the response at question two. The business may demonstrate it meets the additional characteristics by completing the relevant questions on form 1196S 'Sponsoring overseas employees to work temporarily in Australia' (or its electronic equivalent) and providing supporting documentary evidence.

(6) Yes, the refusal of a request for accredited status does not prevent any future applications.

(7) If a sponsor is approved for accredited status but does not maintain the characteristics outlined in the response to question two, accredited status can be revoked. This means the sponsor will revert to standard business sponsorship status and no longer receive priority processing. The validity length of the sponsorship cannot be changed, and will remain at six years.

Sponsors with accredited status are subject to the monitoring regime which applies to standard business sponsors. All sponsors are required to comply with a series of 'sponsorship obligations'.

The Department has monitoring officers and inspectors based in sponsor monitoring units around Australia who are responsible for monitoring compliance with the sponsorship obligations. Sponsors who are found to have not complied with the sponsorship obligations may be barred from using the program or have their approval as a sponsor cancelled. In addition, sponsors may be subject to civil penalties for egregious non-compliance.

(8) The department has committed to process all Subclass 457 visa applications for positions in the resources sector in five days, provided the application is complete on submission. This commitment will also apply to complete visa applications submitted in association with EMAs.

The current median processing time for a Subclass 457 visa is 19 days, which is 39 per cent faster than in 2006-07.

Further to this, different classes and subclasses of visas have processing arrangements in place which provide for certain applications to be processed as a higher priority than others. For example:

Apart from these formalised arrangements, particular cases may be given a higher priority where there is a demonstrated compelling or compassionate circumstance.

(9) The Subclass 457 visa program is entirely demand driven, and as such the department cannot predict how many businesses may, in the future, apply for accredited status and how many visa applications will be made in association with sponsors who are approved for accredited status.

(10) Standard business sponsors are approved for a period of three years. Sponsors who are approved for accredited status will be approved for a period of six years.

The length of the sponsorship agreement has no bearing on the length of the Subclass 457 visa granted to persons sponsored by the business. A Subclass 457 can be granted for a maximum of four years.

(11) Subclass 457 visa holders are not required to lodge a new visa application if their sponsor seeks, or is approved, for accredited status.

(12) With a median processing time for all applications of 19 days, processing times for 457 visa applications are already at historically low levels. The benefit of the scheme is that sponsors with a demonstrated record of compliance with migration and workplace relations laws will receive the best possible processing times for nominations and visa applications lodged in association with their sponsorship.

As those sponsors who are likely to be approved for accredited status are sponsors who use the program frequently and have a good record of compliance, most will already be receiving expeditious processing. The implementation of the accreditation scheme means that these sponsors can seek formal recognition of their excellent track record, entitling them to priority processing.