[April 2017]: DIBP publishes online list of processing times for visa and citizenship applications
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull just announced earlier today that the Australian government has decided to abolish the 457 visa route. This specific visa type will be replaced with a temporary visa with stricter requirements, including longer work experience, higher English proficiency score and mandatory penal clearance certificates to be provided.
“We are putting jobs first, we are putting Australians first. We are an immigration nation but the fact remains that Australian workers must have priority for Australian jobs,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a video clip posted on Facebook. “We will no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians.”
The new visa replacing the once-popular skilled worker route will be specifically designed to recruit the best and the brightest in the national interest. It will prioritise local job seekers and eliminate the growing number of 457 visa-related abuses that result in oversupply in the labour segment.
Latest details just released indicate that the 457 category will be abolished and replaced with the new Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa in March 2018. Based on information currently available, the TSS visa program will allow for a short term two-year visa and a medium term four-year visa.
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