Company specific labour agreements
The company-specific labour agreement is for an employer where:
- a genuine skills need is not already covered by an industry labour agreement
- a Designated Area Migration Agreement or project agreement is not in place
- the occupation(s) in shortage are not already available under the standard skilled visa programs (on the
combined list of eligible skilled occupations) - unless a strong and compelling business case has been provided.
Show your skill needs
You must show us that you have an exceptional need that cannot be met by Australian workers. Provide evidence:
- of the niche skills you seek from overseas
- of your many and diverse recruitment efforts
- showing a detailed job description including tasks
The positions must be at the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO)
occupation skill level 1 to 4. For businesses located in
Category 3 regional areas of Australia, consideration may be given to positions equivalent to ANZSCO
skill level 5 in exceptional situations.
Skilled overseas workers generally must:
- meet the ANZSCO skill requirements for that occupation
- meet any industry registration or licensing requirements
Concessions to standard visa eligibility requirements for the
Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and
Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494) may be requested in a company-specific labour agreement business case. These concessions may extend to:
- English language
- salary, and
- work experience.
You can request a permanent residency pathway through the
Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186), with an associated age concession. The Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494) also has a permanent residency pathway. This visa is only available to overseas workers employed in regionally located businesses.
You must give strong reasons as to why any requested concessions to standard visa criteria should be applied. We will not apply concessions if they create inconsistent employment conditions and salary requirements between overseas workers and Australians in equivalent roles.
Show your workforce needs
The company-specific labour agreement is a temporary solution only. You must show that:
- the workers from overseas will not be more than one-third of your total workforce
- you have a plan in place to train and employ Australians so you do not need a future labour agreement
Workers from overseas must meet the English language requirements of the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482).
Be an Australian business with good standing
You must:
- be an Australian registered business with good standing
- show that your business has been lawfully and actively operating in Australia for at least 12 months
- show evidence of financial viability provided by a chartered or certified practicing accountant. You must show that you can support the proposed number of workers from overseas you seek
- show that there is no adverse information about your business. You must not have broken a law in any jurisdiction of Australia, nor be under investigation for breaking the law by any appropriate authority
- not be insolvent
- not have provided false or misleading information in any form to any appropriate authority at any time
Show you have consulted with industry stakeholders
You must also consult with all relevant stakeholders. These may include:
- the industry body
- the relevant union
- any community group the agreement impacts, such as schools or health services
Provide the following information to stakeholders:
- number of workers from overseas in each year of the agreement, and their occupations
- location of their workplace
- the proposed salary, relevant awards and how you came to this amount
- any concessions you seek to the Skills in Demand program
- details of training for your Australian workforce to reduce your reliance on workers from overseas
Give stakeholders 10 working days to respond. Follow up if there is no response and provide a further 5 working days for a response. Provide detailed information on your stakeholder consultation when you lodge your labour agreement request.
When responding to your request, it is also open to any stakeholder to provide relevant comments/feedback regarding a request to the Department directly. This can be sent to
labour.agreement.section@homeaffairs.gov.au.
Temporary arrangements for hotel and accommodation industry
A set of company-specific labour agreement arrangements are now available to support businesses to fill critical skill shortages in the hotel and accommodation industry, including in-house food services. These arrangements are temporary to support recovery from COVID-19 and will be reviewed after 12 months.
For more information see
Temporary company specific labour agreement arrangements for the hotel and accommodation industry.
