457 visa program - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Government targets tech skills with new visa scheme

  The government has launched a pilot of a new visa scheme intended to help businesses recruit people with in-demand technology skills.

• Australia’s business visa system ‘uncompetitive’, Google says

  Google has called on the federal government to “fix skilled migration policy,” revealing that the 2017 changes to the skilled migration visa system compelled the tech company to “revise its Australian recruitment plans.”

• CIOs affected by visa regime tweaks

  Chief information officers on temporary visas are among those set to benefit from tweaks to Australia’s skilled migration regime. Under changes announced by the government on Friday, CIOs will now be eligible for four-year visas.

• Labor pledges ‘SMART’ tech visa

  Labor leader Bill Shorten has pledged that if his party forms government it will establish a new ‘SMART’ — Science, Medicine, Academia, Research and Technology — visa category.

• Mixed response to 457 visa abolition

  The government’s plan to overhaul Australia’s skilled migration program has alarmed an organisation representing the local ICT industry.

• Government to scrap 457 visas

  The government will abolish the 457 temporary​ visa class, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced today.

• ITPA threatens to ‘out’ abusers of 457 visa scheme

  The IT Professionals Association (ITPA), which represents some 7000 IT workers in systems administration and IT support roles, has called for greater transparency in the 457 visa scheme. The organisation says it has evidence that the scheme is being abused to hire people on lower salaries and into roles that could easily be filled locally.

• Atlassian CEO gets why startups want to leave Australia

  Atlassian founder Scott Farquhar said he would not stay in Australia if he was starting a tech company today.

• 457 visas vital for cyber security talent pool: experts

  Two Australian cyber security experts have called for the cultivation of cyber security talent as the government considers a reform of the 457 visa system.

• Lack of local ICT skills will drive wages up in 2010: SMS Management & Technology

  Businesses will continue to import skilled staff for some time to come in order to meet the needs of the Australian ICT sector, according to the chief financial officer of of SMS Management & Technology, Steve Kelly.

• Peoplebank signs 457 visa deal with Federal Government

  ICT recruitment firm, Peoplebank, has signed an On-Hire Labour Agreement with the Federal Government, giving it a streamlined process for hiring international contractors under the 457 visa program.

• ICT industry split on 457 visa recommendations

  The ICT industry is split on the recommendations made in a review of the troubled 457 visa program by industrial relations commissioner, Barbara Deegan.