Australia: New Labour Market Testing Exemption for UK Citizens and Permanent Residents

Labour market testing is a mandatory step for Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) Visa (Subclass 482) applications in Australia. It involves the employer demonstrating that it made efforts to recruit a suitably qualified and experienced Australian for the nominated position, which includes providing information about all recruitment efforts in the preceding four months, ensuring these efforts post-date any redundancies of Australians in the same occupation and meeting prescribed advertising criteria.

Eligible applicants benefit from a streamlined process, saving approximately one to two months in the overall visa process due to the omission of the labour market testing requirement.

The change aligns with the new Australia/United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect on May 31, 2023. This agreement introduced several immigration benefits for travelers of each nationality visiting the other country, including expanded eligibility criteria for certain visa types and extended stay durations.

The Australian government will likely soon introduce further rule changes that implement the immigration policies intended for UK citizens, such as expanded visa eligibilities and longer visa and stay durations. Fragomen will monitor the situation and report on relevant developments.