Australia: Government Applying Stricter Policy Interpretation to Labor Market Test

The Department of Home Affairs is now applying a stricter policy interpretation to the duration of advertised positions for labor market testing (LMT) purposes under the Temporary Skill Shortage subclass 482 (TSS) and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) subclass 494 visa (SESR) programs. As always, unless certain exemptions apply, employers are required to advertise nominated positions for at least four weeks on three recruitment platforms with national reach in the four months prior to lodging a TSS or SESR nomination application. However, the DHA has advised that they will no longer accept evidence of non-consecutive advertising for LMT purposes. For example, “back-to-back” advertisements, where, for example, an advertisement is run from May 2-24, 2023 (21 days) and then a duplicate advertisement is run from May 25 to June 5, 2023 (12 days), will no longer comply with LMT requirements as they are not being carried out over a continuous period of time. As a result, Fragomen encourages all employers to ensure that the nominated positions are being advertised for at least four consecutive weeks to meet the DHA’s new position.