AHWC Immigration Law liaises with the Department of Home Affairs and other government bodies on behalf of our clients to advocate for beneficial changes to the employer sponsored visa program. Our team has experience assisting a wide variety of companies with their immigration programs and have been involved with successfully lobbying for beneficial changes for ICT, management consultancy, manufacturing and accountancy firms.

 

How It Works

We work with our clients to collate their feedback on the current program including any issues that they are experiencing and any changes that would allow them to attract global talent, increase revenue and satisfy client and project commitments. We then work with other companies in the same industry to obtain their feedback and prepare a submission. This document outlines the companies experiences and proposes recommended changes that would benefit the industry.

Our most recent submission on behalf of the Construction Industry (‘Economic Recovery Through Construction, January 2021’) collated the feedback from over 30 companies. The submission advocated for changes to the current employer sponsored migration program, to allow these companies to complete projects that are vital for their business and will generate growth and employment opportunities for Australian workers. The proposed recommendations from this submission included:

• Changes to the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List, Medium to Long Term Strategic Skills List and Short Term Skilled Occupation List;
• Changes to the Labour Market Testing criteria including exemptions for occupations with proven skill shortages and greater flexibility with Jobactive advertisements; and
• Wider consultation with companies, industry representative and other stakeholders to maximise the long term economic and cultural benefits of the employer sponsored visa program.

 

Please find a copy of the final submission provided to the Department of Home Affairs’ policy section and the National Skills Commission below:

AHWC Immigration Law Submission_Economic Recovery Through Construction_January 2021