Australia: Changes to Labour Market Testing Requirements Implemented

The Department of Home Affairs has published legislation that implements several changes to the Labour Market Testing requirements under the Temporary Skill Shortage subclass 482 (TSS) and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) subclass 494 visa (SESR) programs, effective immediately. The published legislation reduces the number of advertisements employers must post from three to two and eliminates the requirement for the advertisement to be posted on the Australian government’s Workforce Australia website. These eased requirements apply to all applications filed on or after December 11, 2023, and those filed before December 11 but not yet decided. Additionally, further to our previous news brief, the legislation confirms that “back-to-back” advertisements, where, for example, an advertisement is run for 21 days and then a duplicate advertisement is run for 12 days, are not acceptable. While advertisements can run in parallel and at the same time, employers must ensure that each advertisement runs for at least four consecutive weeks to meet the requirement.