About this Visa

The subclass 457 visa is for skilled workers from outside Australia who have been sponsored and nominated by a business to work in Australia on a temporary basis.

A business can sponsor a skilled worker if they cannot find an appropriately skilled Australian citizen or permanent resident to fill a skilled position listed in the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List ( 76KB PDF file).

See Definitions to help you understand the information on these pages.

The stages of a subclass 457 visa

There are three stages to employing a skilled worker under the subclass 457 visa program:

• employer applies to be a sponsor
• employer nominates a position
• employee applies for a visa.

Applications for each of these three stages can be submitted at the same time.

Processing arrangements

The time taken for an application to progress and for the department to make a decision varies.
See: Temporary work visa processing times.

If you have applied for a visa, do not make arrangements to move to Australia. Do not leave your employment, sell your home or book travel arrangements until you are advised in writing that you have been granted a visa.

Lodging decision-ready applications

Lodging decision-ready applications can help reduce processing times because they take less time than those that need following up.

It is important that you lodge your application with all relevant information and required supporting documentation.

When you lodge your application, you can help ensure it is decision-ready by:

• providing submissions that clearly explain the relevance of information and documentation included in the application
• completing the application form correctly
• using the appropriate document checklists to ensure that all required information and documentation is included.

Subclass 457 visa Legislative Instruments

The legislative instruments page provides direct links to ComLaw.