What is the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF)?

On the 12th August 2018 Immigration will be introducing the requirement for sponsoring employers to pay into a Skilling Australians Fund. This payment will make it yet more expensive for employers to sponsor overseas workers.

The levy will be payable by Australian employers who wish to sponsor overseas workers. The money raised will be used to fund vocational education and training for Australian workers. SAF replaces the ‘training benchmark requirements’ that employers had to meet previously.

There will be no exemptions for the SAF levy, except for religious workers nominated under the Labour Agreement (LA) streams of the TSS or ENS visas. All other sponsors, including those who are party to a labour agreement, must also pay the SAF levy.

What visas will it affect?

The charges will apply to the following visa nominations:

• ·         nomination of an occupation in relation to a holder of the repealed Subclass 457 (Temporary Work (Skilled)) visa;
• ·         nomination of an occupation in relation to a holder of, or applicant or proposed applicant for the Subclass 482 (Temporary Skill Shortage) visa; and
• ·         nomination of a position in relation to an applicant or proposed applicant for a permanent employer sponsored work visa – the Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme) visa or the Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme) visa.  

How much will employers have to pay to the Skilling Australians Fund?

Employer Nomination Scheme 186 (all streams) and Regional Sponsored Migration Stream 187 (all streams)

1. For businesses with an annual turnover of less than AUD 10 million, the one-off charge is AUD $3,000. Payable in full at time of Nomination.
2. For businesses with an annual turnover of AUD 10 million or more the one-off charge is AUD $5,000.  

Temporary Skill Shortage Visa TSS (482)

1. Turnover less than $10 million: $1,200 for each year of the TSS visa, payable at the time the nomination is lodged. Eg for a 2 year visa, $1200 x 2 = $2400 will be payable up front at time of Nomination.
2. Turnover greater than $10 million: $1,800 for each year of the TSS visa, payable at the time the nomination is lodged

All payments will be payable in full at time of Nomination.

Immigration has also announced a detailed refund policy for employers. For example,  if the overseas workers leaves the position within 1 year and the approved period of the nomination was 2, 3 or 4 years, a partial refund may be provided as the employer did not obtain the benefit of the overseas worker for the nominated period.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch. Until next time!

Andrew McAuley
Visa Makers
0416 468 333
[email protected]