This category includes visas which are for:

• people who have an offer of employment in Australia and their employer is willing to 'sponsor' them, and
• people who are visiting Australia for a short period of time as part of their overseas employment.

Key visas in this category include:

Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visas – subclass 482 visas

These are for employers who wish to fill an Australian position with an overseas employee – it can be for a short term assignment or for assignments of up to 4 years (with extensions beyond the end of this time a possibility).  The employer needs to apply for sponsorship status; this involves providing various pieces of information about the business and undertaking to do and be responsible for a range of things during the course of employing 482 visa holders.  The employer also needs to nominate the role to be filled (and the individual it wishes to fill it with) and that individual then needs to separately apply for a 482 visa.  The requirements vary according to the occupation group that the role falls within.

Temporary work (short stay activity) visas – subclass 400 visas

This visa is for people who want to travel to Australia for up to six months to either:

• do short-term, highly specialised, non-ongoing work
• participate in non-ongoing cultural or social activities at the invitation of an Australian organisation
• in limited circumstances, participate in an activity or work relating to Australia’s interests. â€?

Permanent residency - Employer Nominated and Regional Sponsored Scheme visas

These are for employees whose Australian employer is willing to sponsor them for permanent residency.  Both the employer and employee need to be able to satisfy a range of criteria to be eligible to proceed with one of these visas and there are several possible ‘streams’ available.  There is a separate regional scheme available but this of course is only available for positions located in regional Australia. 

Other business / work visas

There are some other options available, including:

• Business visitor visas – where the worker is not undertaking work in Australia but undertaking a ‘business visitor activity’ instead.  
• Working Holiday visas
• Exchange programme visas
• Visas for sportspersons, entertainers, religious workers, research & training etc