Australian Work Visa
With or without an employer to sponsor his stay in the country, a foreign worker may be allowed to work in Australia, as long as he possesses all the requirements provided under the law for work visa.
A potential foreign worker intending to work in Australia has three options to choose from: the applicant may file for either a temporary visa, or a permanent visa, which are both employer-sponsored, or he may opt to file a visa for a Professional and other Skilled Migrants, which is not employer-sponsored dependent.
Temporary Visa
Under the employer-dependent Temporary Visa, the foreign worker is allowed to work in the country for a minimum period of one (1) day, to a maximum of four (4) years.
Aside from the privilege to work, the temporary visa holder, who is granted a multiple-entry visa, is also entitled to be accompanied by secondary applicants, who are likewise allowed to work and study in the country.
Under the law, it is the prospective employer who is legally bound to file the application for the temporary visa in behalf of the potential foreign employee. Said employer can file for as many employees he may require.
Permanent Visa
On the other hand, the employer-sponsored Permanent Visa allows the foreign employee to live in Australia to render his services to the foreign employer on a permanent basis.
Under the law, the permanent visa holder can study in the country at any of its schools or universities, receive subsidized health care through Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), access certain social security payments, live and work in the country on a permanent basis, and most importantly, the permanent visa holder can be eligible for Australian citizenship.
Professional and General Skilled Migration Program
For the foreigner intending to work in Australia but do not have the necessary employer to sponsor him, he may obtain the visa under the Professional and General Skilled Migration Program.
This program is specifically designed for foreigners who want to live and work in Australia but lack the necessary employer to sponsor them as required under the law.
Under the law, applicants must be between eighteen (18) to forty-five (45) years of age, with a good command of the English language, and possess a recent skilled work experience or a recently completed eligible Australian qualification.
The applicants must also possess qualifications for any of the occupations listed in the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) which can be viewed at Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship site.
One way of increasing job offers for a Professional or a Skilled Migrants Visa is to include the holder’s employment history and qualifications in the Skill Matching Database of the Australian government.
Foreign applicants whose travel papers have not yet been issued by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship are allowed to post their qualifications in this database which is accessed daily by Australian employers. This allows the applicants’ name to be viewed by prospective Australian and other foreign employers, who may nominate the applicant for migration.
Thus, there is a considerable chance that the applicant may obtain a job before even arriving in Australia.
If the applicant, however, enters the country under the sponsorship of an eligible relative, certain obligations and conditions must be fulfilled by the sponsor.
Thus, the sponsor must guarantee that the applicant will comply with all the conditions of their visa while he is in the country, and take responsibility of any financial obligations which he may incur while in the country.