How this Visa Works

This visa is for skilled people who want to come to Australia under an exchange arrangement for a temporary stay to broaden their work experience and skills. For this visa you will need to be sponsored and nominated by an Australian organisation.

Before you lodge your application, the organisation will be required to be approved as an exchange sponsor or have lodged a sponsorship application. The sponsor will need to nominate you to fill a position by lodging a nomination.

The process for obtaining an Exchange visa is summarised in the table below.

Who	Responsibility
Organisation	apply to be an exchange sponsor to employ overseas skilled people nominate the position you want to fill nominate the skilled person to fill the position act as a sponsor for the nominated persons listed in the nomination cooperate with department's monitoring requirements meet costs and other obligations as part of the program
Nominated primary applicant	accept the offer of employment from the organisation apply for a visa meet all conditions on their visa.

Validity periods

The validity period of:

• sponsorship is three years
• nomination is 12 months
• visa is for the period of the exchange or two years, whichever is the earlier date.

Changing employer

If you decide to work for another organisation while in Australia you will need to be sponsored by the new organisation and have them lodge a nomination. When the new nomination is approved you will be able to work for that organisation for the period remaining on your visa without having to reapply for a new visa.

Bringing family

The following people may be included in your visa application:

• your partner
• your or your partner's dependent children
• other dependent relatives.

Secondary applicants who have not been listed in the visa application and who want to join you in Australia at a later time will need to lodge a separate visa application. A letter from your sponsor is required to be provided with the application confirming that the sponsor will accept responsibility for the secondary applicants for the period of their stay in Australia.

Definitions

These definitions will help you understand the information on these pages.
See: Definitions