What is the Global Talent Scheme?
High skilled workers from across the globe will have a new pathway to enter the Australian market through the new Global Talent Scheme pilot program that has started July 1, 2018 for a one-year trial period.
It is a visa that is designed to help businesses in sponsoring highly skilled professionals and workers to help grow their businesses and help create more jobs where there are no suitable Australians available to fill the vacancies.
“We want to ensure that Australian businesses can access the best talent in the world, because this will underpin business growth, skills transfer and job creation.”
“At all stages, Australians are prioritised for the jobs, but where the skills and experience are not available here, we want to be able to attract talent from overseas,” said Alan Tudge, Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs
The scheme which was announced in March, came as a response to the concerns being raised after the changes and tightening of requirements in regarding the 457 visa for skilled workers, which reduced the number of eligible occupations for visas and introduced stricter English language tests.
What is the timeline?
The visa scheme commenced on 1st July 2018. The scheme was originally announced in March 2018. Refining of initial settings and consultation with industry and other stakeholders took place in the period from April-June 2018. The trial will last for 12 months until June 2019.
Visa Streams
The Global Talent Scheme will consist of two streams:
1. Established businesses Stream
The annual turnover of the sponsoring business must be over $4 million for each of the past 2 years.
The requirements of the applicant include:
- Meeting health, character and security requirements
- Should have no familial relationship with directors/ shareholders
- Qualifications must be commensurate with highly skilled role (minimum annual earnings of $180,000).
- Minimum 3 years prior work experience relevant to the position
2. Start-up stream
The requirements for a company include operation in a STEM related field (digital, biomedical, agtech) including but not limited to agricultural tech, medical tech etc.
The requirements of the applicant include:
- Meeting health, character and security requirements
- Should have no familial relationship with directors/ shareholders
- Qualifications must be commensurate with highly skilled role
- Minimum 3 years prior work experience relevant to the position
- Minimum annual earning of the nominated position can’t be less than the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold which currently stands at $53,900. This can include equity (which is a common offering in start-up payment package) but it has to incorporate cash components as well.
According to the Fact Sheet all successful applicants will have access to a 4-years stream (midterm) Temporary Skilled Shortage (TSS) visas and age gap concessions. There is also the chance of a gateway to permanent residency after 3 years which makes this scheme even more exciting and useful.
Both streams require the sponsoring businesses to conduct Labour Market Testing on available positions.
Who can apply for the Global Talent Scheme?
The Global Talent Scheme will be an attractive scheme for both individuals and businesses in need of middle to high level positions (possibly C-level execs) related to the tech industry.
It will also be relevant to people whose job titles didn’t exist 5-10 years ago. According to co-initiator, Minister for Jobs and Innovation Michaelia Cash, “Those individuals–skilled and experienced as they are–are likely to become job multipliers, who, by transferring their skills, knowledge, and expertise, will benefit Australians in the long run.”
