Department to increase scrutiny processing for permanent residency applications

Further to the changes to Labour Market Testing rules released last week, the Australian Government has released new guidelines for case officers assessing applications for permanent residence (PR). This will affect all applications lodged after 30 September 2020:

1. Employers are expected to have advertised the position on Jobactive before lodging PR applications under the 186 or 187 program in order to prove that there is a genuine need for the position.  This ad will need run for 28 days, and differs from the labour market testing requirements for TSS visas in that only one ad is stipulated.
2. Where the below applies for any Australian workers in similar occupations within the business,  additional evidence and submissions  is needed to show the ongoing need for the overseas worker:

• retrenchments in the previous 12 months
• reduction of hours worked during the previous 12 months
• reduction in pay and conditions within the previous 12 months
• employment of a temporary visa holder on conditions less favourable than Australians
• recruitment of temporary visa holders beyond the ordinary scope of the business.

Further information will be provided as it becomes available. We will also review cases individually as we process them to see how this announcement affects them.

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