Question: Am I eligible to sponsor (as a business)? What are training benchmarks?

Rather than regurgitating what is explained on the official immigration website, I am going to answer this question as simply as possible.

Ok...

If you are a NEWLY ESTABLISHED business (operating for less than 12 months or just starting up), then in order to meet the training requirement (for the 457 Sponsorship Stage), you are required to demonstrate that your business will make a genuine commitment to training. This is usually evidenced with an Auditable Training Plan. You can obtain these from training organizations or education institutions that offer training (such as TAFE's for example). Alternatively you could create one yourself.

Now...

If you are an established business (operating for 12 months or more), then you are required to demonstrate that you have an established training record. You are required to show that you have training expenditure in the last financial year, or within the current financial year.

For ESTABLISHED businesses, there are two ways to show that you have sufficient training expenditure that will satisfy the 457 Sponsorship Stage requirements.

You have to either show:

Option 1) That you are spending at least 1% equivalent of your total gross payroll (total wages to both internal staff and external contractors, if you have any) towards training Australian (citizens or permanent residents) staff within your business;

OR 

Option 2) That you have paid (as a donation expenditure) at least 2% equivalent of your total gross payroll towards an industry training fund, in the same industry as your business to train future Australians. This option is especially suitable for businesses that do not have any Australian staff within the business.

So there you have it. That is the "training requirement" explained in layman's terms.

If you need help determining if you meet the training requirement, or need help with meeting it, and finding suitable industry training funds or training options, please email us at solutions@visaone.com.au or call us on 1300 619 977.

From the desk of Yuri Marshall | Changing Lives Everyday