Visa Holders Working Rights-Which Visas Allow You to Work in Australia

December 13, 2022    Migration Lawyer Perth
Visa Holders Working Rights-Which Visas Allow You to Work in Australia

Which Visas Have Work Rights in Australia?

There are around 2.2 million temporary visa holders in Australia, or even more, and most of them have work rights. They are considered a valuable pool of workers for Australia’s top businesses. They are also known to form a great proportion of Australia’s working-age population, around 10.5 million.

There are quite a few HR experts familiar with the subclass 457 visas, and to be precise there are more than 138,000 employer-sponsored visa holders in Australia. If you want to know, which visas have work rights in Australia? This subclass 457 visa is one of them. Before you apply for any specific Australian visa, you must know more about the visas that can provide you with work rights in Australia.

Subclass 457 Employer-Sponsored Visa

This is an Australian visa known by the name of employer-sponsored, and as it is employer-sponsored, the employers have a good understanding of what this visa allows the employees to do and also the expiry date. But it should be known that holders of the subclass 457 visa represent less than 10% of the total number of temporary visa holders in Australia.

Besides that, the 457 visa holders only represent a small amount of the issue. Since June 2018, there have been more than 120 types of work visas in Australia. This is why you should know more about which visas are safe in terms of staff or employment.

Types of Visa Holders in Australia

Some of the different types of visa holders in Australia that you can choose to know about are as follows:

1. Overstayers

They are considered among the riskiest categories of people as they are people who stay in Australia without any kind of visa. There are more than 62,000 people of this type living in Australia. The ANAO report also suggests that there are more than 17,000 people who have overstayed in Australia for more than 15 years.

Even if you have staff members who are fully a part of the Australian society, there is a risk that they might be long-term overstayers.

2. Visitors

There are more than 600,000 visitors in Australia at any point in time. Some of these visitors have permission to conduct business visitor activities like exploring business opportunities in Australia. But there is no visitor visa that can allow the holder to remain employed in Australia.

3. Bridging visas

There are more than 160,000 bridging visa holders in Australia, and this form of visa allows the holder to stay in Australia while the Australian Department of Home Affairs processes their application for a longer-stay visa.

Many bridging visa holders have work rights in the country, but if the main application is refused, the bridging visa holders will have more than 30 days to leave Australia. This will be unless the employers will regularly check their visa status, they will not be aware of this visa rule.

4. Student visas

There are more than 400,000 student visa holders in Australia, and most of them have a work condition that allows them to work for close to 40 hours every fortnight at the time of the semester and for full-time during the specific semester break. But some may possess full work rights and the parents taking care of their children on any Australian student guardian visa cannot enjoy any work rights.

Australian Student visas are usually valid for the duration of the study, and it is quite common for students to change their status (either onto a new student visa or another type of temporary visa). Before knowing more about which visas have work rights in Australia? You must know that students may have their specific visas cancelled if they are unable to visit classes. Until employers are able to look at their immigration status regularly, they are not going to have any idea that there are issues of such nature.

5. Temporary Graduate visas

After Australian students finish their respective courses in Australia, they can be considered eligible to apply for a 485 Australian visa (also known as the graduate temporary visa). This is a specific Australian visa that is capable of providing students with around two years of study along with full work rights.

This Australian visa is valid for around four years and it will depend on the type of course that has been completed. Students in Australia can also choose to apply for permanent residence in the country considering they are eligible to do so. Many students also apply for further study and this often leads to lesser work rights.

6. Working holidaymakers

There are around 140,000 working holidaymakers in Australia, and though working holidaymakers can work full-time, they can only choose to work for every employer for six months. It is also possible to further extend a Working Holiday visa for another year by doing some work in regional Australia. In such cases, they can choose to work for another six months with the employer.

7. Temporary partner visas

There are many temporary partner visa holders in Australia, probably close to 200,000. Temporary partner visas in Australia seem to be safe as they have acquired full work rights and can become permanent residents in Australia in the future. But if there are problems in the relationship, this can lead to refusal of the permanent stage, and the visa will cease within 28 days.

This is because it might not be in the interests of the employee to disclose this to their employer. As a result, an employer may unknowingly employ someone unlawfully in Australia. You can read more about temporary partner visas unlawfully.

8. New Zealand citizens

New Zealand citizens are known to receive a special category Subclass 444 visa during their entry to Australia. This allows them to remain with them for a long time with full and proper work rights. More than 700,000 NZ citizens live in Australia, and many employers feel safe hiring NZ employees. But, New Zealand citizens getting their specific visas cancelled and also getting deported from Australia have happened multiple times, and this only means that proper care must be taken even in the case of NZ citizens.

9. 457 dependents

Subclass 457 visa holders can also include family members in their applications. This would usually include children, spouses and sometimes, parents. These dependent subclass 457 visa holders also have full work rights in Australia, but if the main visa holder loses their job or their relationship breaks down, the dependent visa might have to be cancelled. Employers cannot know about this unless they are regularly checking the visa status.

10. The Other Temporary Australian Visas

Other than the visa types mentioned above, temporary visas provide different kinds of work rights. While some of them are employer-sponsored, some of them are not. Some of these visas are as follows:

Skilled Regional Provisional visa –

This four-year visa allows the holder to be in specific regional areas of Australia.

Business provisional –

This is a visa that is granted to people who expect to establish a business or invest in Australia.

Training/Research visas –

These visas are for people who are doing an occupational traineeship in Australia or taking part in academic research.

Contact Migration Lawyer Perth WA

Read the guide above to know which visas have work rights in Australia. If you want to apply for temporary work in Australia, you must hire a top visa lawyer to help you choose a relevant visa for your purpose. Contact Migration Lawyer Perth WA for the best visa lawyers to help you apply for visas that offer work rights in Australia.

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