The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) have provided a bit more clarity around how current 457 visa holders will be treated when (and if) they apply for their Permanent Residence.

ENS 186 Direct Entry Still Open

It’s still not 100% clear but what they have advised is that if your occupation is on the new Short-term Skilled Occupation List (which covers basically everyone in the world of advertising, marketing and recruitment) then you can still apply for an ENS 186 Direct Entry visa.

The confirmation is buried away on this page under the section regarding the STSOL.

What this means is that if you can secure a successful Skills Assessment from the relevant assessing authority and your employer is willing to sponsor you, then you can make a valid ENS 186 Direct Entry application.

The list of Assessing Authorities is provided with the STSOL but obviously these authorities are going to have an inundation of applications so you should move quickly.

Less clear is what will happen to people who need to get to 2 years for their Transitional ENS 186. It would be great to get some written confirmation of that.

Removed Occupations

For people who’s occupation was removed altogether, they explicitly state that current (prior to April 18) 457 holders will not be impacted unless they switch occupations or change jobs.

Unfortunately, if you lodged but had not yet been decided against an occupation on the removed list, then your nomination will fall over. You can look at doing another nomination from the STSOL however.

Next Steps

One of the key takeouts that is becoming clearer is that people should not change roles and they should hang tight with where they are because if they do move, they may impact their chances of a future PR application.

The other main point from this update from DIBP is that in terms of ENS 186 applications, they are still taking them and you can still be assessed from the much larger Short-term Skilled Occupation List for the Direct Entry option.

Our advice is that if this is an option for you, move quickly.

(Immigration advice provided by Justin Browne MARN: 1169631)