Labour Agreement Lawyers

An industry Labour Agreement is a pre-negotiated template between the Government and a peak industry body. Employers in that sector apply to access the agreement rather than negotiating from scratch. The terms, occupations and concessions are fixed by the template with limited variation.

A company-specific agreement is negotiated directly between a single employer and the Department. It takes longer and requires more evidence, but it offers greater flexibility in the occupations covered, the concessions applied, and the annual nomination allocations granted.

A Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) is a Labour Agreement negotiated by a state, territory or regional authority rather than an individual employer or industry body. It is designed to address labour shortages in specific geographic areas that struggle to attract workers through standard migration channels.

DAMAs typically offer the broadest occupation lists, the most generous concessions on age, salary and English, and a clear pathway to permanent residency. The trade-off is that the employer must be located in the designated area and the worker must live and work there. Workers cannot use a DAMA position as a stepping stone to move to a major city.

Accessing an existing industry or DAMA agreement is significantly faster than negotiating a company-specific agreement. For industry agreements, the employer access application typically takes 1 to 3 months. For DAMA access, it depends on the individual DAMA administrator's process, but is usually in the same range.

Company-specific agreement negotiations are more involved. Depending on the complexity of the workforce need, the quality of the evidence package and the Department's current processing workload, they can take anywhere from 3 to 12 months or more. We set accurate expectations from the outset.

The Department needs to be satisfied that the employer has a genuine and demonstrable need that cannot be met through standard visa streams. This typically requires evidence of labour market testing showing the role cannot be filled locally, documentation of the business operations and workforce, financial information demonstrating the business is viable, and a detailed case for why the specific concessions requested are justified.

We work with employers to structure this evidence in the way most likely to satisfy the Department's requirements, including identifying and addressing weaknesses in the case before lodgement.

Yes. Age concessions are one of the most commonly negotiated elements of Labour Agreements. Depending on the agreement type, age concessions can allow workers up to 50 or even 55 to be nominated when the standard limit is 45.

The concession must be built into the specific agreement being used. Not all Labour Agreements include age concessions, so it is important to confirm whether the agreement your employer operates under, or is seeking to establish, includes the concession you need. We assess this as part of the eligibility consultation.

Potentially yes. This is one of the primary reasons Labour Agreements exist. The Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) replaced the old MLTSSL and STSOL for Skills in Demand and equivalent visa cases. If your occupation does not appear on the CSOL, a company-specific agreement or a DAMA can include it, provided the Department is satisfied there is a genuine workforce need and the occupation is appropriate for sponsorship.

The Department will not simply add any occupation requested. The employer must make a compelling case for why that specific occupation cannot be sourced locally and why it is appropriate for overseas workers to fill. Some occupations are considered unsuitable regardless of the circumstances.

The standard English requirement for the 482 and 186 is Vocational English, typically equivalent to IELTS 5 in each band. Labour Agreements can include concessions that reduce this requirement. Some agreements accept Functional English (IELTS 4.5 overall), and a small number waive the English requirement entirely for roles where it is not operationally necessary.

Whether an English concession applies depends entirely on what is written into the specific agreement. We confirm this during the eligibility assessment and advise accordingly.

Yes. Secondary applicants including your spouse or de facto partner and dependent children can be included in both the 482 and 186 applications made under a Labour Agreement. Secondary applicants must meet the same health and character requirements as the primary applicant.

If there are concessions on English language in your agreement, those concessions apply to the primary applicant only. Secondary applicants are not subject to English requirements for the 482 or 186, regardless of the agreement.

Labour Agreements open both the Subclass 482 (Temporary Skill Shortage) via the Labour Agreement stream, and the Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme) via the Labour Agreement stream. Workers who come in on a 482 via a Labour Agreement can, subject to meeting the conditions of the agreement, transition to permanent residency through the 186.

Workers in regional areas may also have a pathway to permanent residency through the Subclass 191 (Permanent Residence Regional) visa after spending 3 years in a regional area on a Subclass 494 or DAMA-sponsored 482.

Employers operating under a Labour Agreement have all the standard sponsorship obligations of any approved business sponsor, plus any additional obligations written into the specific agreement. Standard obligations include paying market salary rates, not allowing workers to work for other employers, cooperating with Department inspections, and maintaining records.

Many Labour Agreements also include training benchmarks requiring the employer to invest in the development of Australian workers, specific requirements around working conditions in their industry, and obligations to notify the Department of any changes to the employment relationship. Non-compliance can result in cancellation of the agreement.

Yes, Labour Agreements are typically granted for 3 to 5 years and can be renewed. The renewal process requires the employer to demonstrate continued compliance with the agreement conditions and continued genuine workforce need.

A compliant employer with a genuine and documented need for ongoing overseas labour will generally find renewal straightforward. Problems arise when the employer has not maintained adequate records, has not met training benchmarks, or has had compliance issues during the life of the agreement. We advise employers on record-keeping and compliance throughout so that renewal is not a stressful event.

Yes. Labour Agreements are granted with annual nomination allocations specifying the maximum number of overseas workers that can be nominated in each occupation per year. Employers can nominate workers up to their allocation limit without needing separate Department approval for each individual nomination.

If the employer's workforce needs exceed the original allocation, they can request an increase. This requires evidence of the additional need and is subject to Departmental approval. Planning the agreement with sufficient headroom from the outset is something we advise on during the agreement design stage.

Yes. Standard business sponsorship requires the sponsor to be the direct employer of the visa holder. If your model involves hiring workers out to client businesses, you cannot use standard sponsorship because the visa holder would not be working for you as their employer in the conventional sense.

An On-Hire Labour Agreement is specifically designed for this model. Under it, the labour hire company becomes the sponsor and the worker can be placed with client businesses subject to the conditions in the agreement. The obligations around genuine employment, salary payment and working conditions remain with the labour hire company, not the end client.

Yes. There is a pre-negotiated industry Labour Agreement available for the restaurant sector, covering positions such as restaurant manager and cook in specific circumstances. The Restaurant Industry Labour Agreement was developed to address the genuine difficulty the sector has in filling certain skilled roles through standard visa streams. Labour Agreement is limited to premium dining only.

To access the restaurant industry agreement, the employer must meet specific criteria including minimum revenue thresholds, evidence of inability to fill the role locally, and compliance with relevant industrial awards. We assist hospitality employers in assessing whether they qualify and preparing the access application.

Labour Market Testing (LMT) is a requirement for most 482 nominations, including those made under a Labour Agreement. Employers must demonstrate they have genuinely tried to fill the position with an Australian worker before sponsoring overseas.

Some Labour Agreements and some circumstances provide exemptions from LMT, such as where an international trade obligation applies or where the nomination is under a specific type of agreement that has LMT waived. We advise on whether LMT applies and how to document it correctly for each nomination.

The SAF levy applies to Labour Agreement nominations in the same way it applies to standard 482 nominations. For each nomination, the employer pays the SAF levy at the applicable rate: $1,200 per year for small businesses (annual turnover below $10 million) and $1,800 per year for other businesses, for the 482 visa.

For 186 nominations under the Labour Agreement stream, the SAF levy is a one-off payment of $3,000 for small businesses and $5,000 for other businesses. These are Government charges separate from professional fees and are non-refundable regardless of the outcome of the application.

If the Labour Agreement is cancelled or lapses and the employer's business sponsorship is also cancelled as a result, your 482 visa may be cancelled or you may be required to find a new sponsor. The situation depends on whether the visa was granted under the Labour Agreement stream specifically, and what the reason for the cancellation was.

Workers have a period of 180 days following the cessation of their employment with a sponsor to either find a new sponsor, transition to another visa, or depart Australia. If you are in this situation or concerned it may arise, contact us immediately so we can assess your options.

Access to Medicare for 482 visa holders, including those under a Labour Agreement, depends on whether Australia has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement with the worker's country of citizenship. Countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Slovenia, Malta and Italy have such agreements.

Workers from countries without a reciprocal agreement are not eligible for Medicare on a 482 visa. They should maintain their own private health insurance for the duration of their stay. This changes upon grant of the 186 permanent visa, after which full Medicare access applies regardless of country of origin.

Labour Agreement work varies in complexity depending on whether we are helping a worker apply through an existing agreement, assisting an employer to access an industry or DAMA agreement, or managing a full company-specific agreement negotiation. Each situation is scoped and priced differently.

We provide a written fee agreement before any work begins. The best starting point is a free initial consultation where we assess your situation, advise which pathway applies and what is involved, and give you an accurate fee estimate. There is no obligation to proceed and no fee for the initial assessment.