In April 2017, the Government introduced extensive changes to the Subclass 457 Visa Program and announced that the visa would be replaced by a new system in March 2018.
In July 2017, further changes were implemented with ongoing changes to be introduced in December 2017.
One of the major changes was the massive reduction of eligible occupations and the introduction of the two tiered Occupations Lists and visa validity period of either 2 or 4 years depending on which list the nominated occupation appears on.
Other changes included, the scrapping of High Income English Language exemption, mandatory Police Clearances and caveats imposing additional criteria on numerous occupations.
The Government has proposed the introduction of a new system called the ” Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS)” visa with more stringent criteria for both sponsors and visa applicants.
