Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme

The Employer Nomination Scheme (186) (ENS) enables businesses operating in Australia to recruit skilled workers on permanent visas to fill specified highly skilled positions that cannot be filled from the Australian labour force. There are three streams under the Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme program:

• The temporary residence transition stream
• The direct entry stream
• The agreement stream.

The Subclass 186 process has two steps.

Step 1

The first step – nomination of an ‘approved appointment’ – requires the employer to show that:

• There is no adverse information known about it or any person associated with it, or it is reasonable to disregard this information
• It is actively and lawfully operating a business in Australia
• It has a genuine need for a paid employee to fill a skilled position
• It has complied with Australian immigration and workplace relations laws
• It is able to offer a skilled position that is full-time and ongoing for at least two years
• If the worker will earn less than $250,000 per year, pay them at least the annual market salary rates
• The position is on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) (unless exempted under the transitional arrangements that came into effect on 18 March 2018).

Step 2

Temporary residence transition stream

An applicant for a Subclass 186 under the temporary residence transition stream must meet the following requirements:

• Have the relevant skills; and
• If the applicant held (or had applied for and were later granted) a subclass 457 visa on 18 April 2017, worked full-time for at least two of the three years prior to being nominated by the employer for the visa; or
• Have worked full-time for at least three of the four years prior to the nominating employer nominating the person for the visa; and
• Unless the applicant or nominated position, or both, falls within a specified exemption, the person:
  • is under 45 years of age (unless otherwise exempted); and
  • has competent English (at least 6.0 on each component of reading, writing, listening and speaking) under the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or at least a score of ‘B’ on each component of reading, writing, listening and speaking under the Occupational English Test (OET) (or as otherwise prescribed).

Direct entry stream

An applicant for a Subclass 186 visa under the direct entry stream must meet the following requirements:

• Have the relevant skills and a positive skills assessment from the relevant authority unless otherwise exempted; and
• Unless the applicant or the nominated position falls within a specified exemption, the person:
  • is under 45 years of age (unless otherwise exempted);
  • has three years of relevant work experience; and
  • has competent English (at least 6.0 on each component of reading, writing, listening and speaking) under the IELTS or at least a score of ‘B’ on each component of reading, writing, listening and speaking under the OET (or as otherwise prescribed).