As the hospitality industry has increasingly struggled to source local talent, many employers have relied on overseas skilled migration and temporary workers. Following the abolishment of the 457 visa (to be replaced by the Temporary Skill Shortage visa) the proposed sponsorship required businesses to donate 1-2% of total wage expenditure to a training fund. However, since this announcement the proposed fee structure has changed to a fixed-fee program involving a once-off application fee per permanent employee (Subclass 186 – Employer Nomination Scheme and Subclass 187 – Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme) and an annual fee per Temporary Skill Shortage visa.
For companies with an annual turnover of less than $10 million this fee will be a $3,000 up front payment for permanent employees and a $1,200 annual fee for temporary employees.
For companies with an annual turnover greater than $10 million the fees will be $5,000 and $1,800 respectively.
Given that the previous requirement was to a training fund, and many companies already have systems in place for ongoing training of staff, criticism has been raised that the new proposed fee structure will essentially cause organisations to pay ‘twice’ for their labour.
The levy is expected to be implemented in March 2018.