Question: How do I know if my business is eligible to sponsor?

This is one of the most common questions that employers ask when they enquire about sponsorship, and there seems to be a perception that turnover, profit and the size of the business (number of employees) is important.

While these are important measures in determining business health and growth, they are actually not important when it comes to meeting the 457 Sponsorship requirements to be eligible as an approved sponsor.

The 457 program was designed to enable genuine and actively operating businesses of any size and stage of their business maturity (i.e. new/start-up or established businesses) to sponsor foreign staff if they are having difficulties in hiring locally for some reason.

The most common problems that businesses are experiencing include:

• Short supply of skilled locals in their area
• Short supply of people (or no people) with specific/unique skills, qualifications or experience in a particular occupation (needed for their business)
• Short supply of good employee characteristics such as a person’s ability to be a hardworking, loyal employee

Given these reasons and any other situations that employers face, in trying to hire great staff, businesses have the ability to hire from the global pool of talent available both in Australia and overseas. Businesses that have sought our help to sponsor foreign talent include sole proprietors, small businesses and medium to large enterprises, both private and government.

To determine if your business is eligible to sponsor, here are a few things to consider:

• Do you meet the training benchmarks set out by Immigration? Meaning, are you spending enough on up-skilling and training your Australian staff? Or are you making training donations that contribute to your industry as a whole?
• Do you have the financial capability to afford new staff hires? It’s all about cash flow (it’s not about profits, turnover and the size of your business)
• Do you have a genuine need in your business to hire? In other words, are you a genuine business that is actively operating and in need of skilled workers to meet your business objectives?

When businesses come to us for help, we often find that one or more of the things mentioned have not been properly demonstrated in their documents and evidence. So we help them to meet these requirements by giving them very direct and precise instructions and advice, in order for them to meet the requirements and secure a successful sponsorship approval.

If you think you need help and assistance to get a better understanding of the requirements and process involved, it is best to seek a professional opinion so you don’t have to waste the most valuable commodity in business. Time.