There are four categories for employer-sponsored migration to Australia, the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS), the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS), Labour Agreements (LA) and Invest Australia Support Skills (IASS).

The Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)


Has been developed for Australian employers to recruit permanent, highly skilled staff from overseas or people who are temporarily in Australia, when the employers have been unable to fill a vacancy from within the Australian labour market or through their own training programs.


The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)


Is designed to help employers in regional or low population growth areas of Australia, who are unable to fill skilled vacancies from the Australian labour market.


Labour Agreements (LA)


Enable Australian employers to recruit (either permanently or temporarily) a specified number of workers from overseas in response to identified or emerging labour market (or skill) shortages in the Australian labour market.


Invest Australia Support Skills (IASS)


Is designed to encourage international firms to choose Australia as a location for foreign direct investment. It allows companies that make a significant investment in Australia to bring out essential key expatriate managerial and specialist employees from within the company group (this program replaced Regional Headquarters agreements from 1 July 2002).


Skills Shortage in Australia


The current skills shortage in Australia has seen the Australian Government begin to identify areas of need in Australia, where new, highly skilled migrants can make an immediate contribution to the economy. Employers are also benefiting from the changes with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) making available more places for migrants under the Skilled Migration Stream. These changes will see Australian employers a direct competitive advantage when recruiting employees from overseas. Some 97,500 places have been made available in the Skilled Stream and the Migration Occupations in Demand (MODL) List has also been expanded to allow appropriately skilled migrants to enter Australia more efficiently.

If you are considering employing an overseas employee contact Migration Matters today to try out our Skill Matching Service. Visit the Employer Assistance page and record your vacancy today. We will then contact you when we find a suitable candidate. Alternatively contact Migration Matters Skill Matching on jobs@migrationmatters.com .