457 Visa Blog

View Australia’s leading blog for all 457 visa information, news and updates.

All blog’s are written by the 457 visa compared team who have years of Australian Private Health Insurance experience and online marketing know-how. Adir Shiffman was the creator of Australia’s second leading health insurance website (www.helpmechoose.com.au which was later sold to Mortgage Choice).

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to contribute or have suggestions of different sections that you would like us to explore and discuss. You can also check out twitter, Google+ and Facebook page which are also updated frequently.

From time to time there will be information on other visa types such as the subclass 485 visa and general overseas visitor health insurance. This is due to a small proportion of users on this site having these other professional visa’s and their changes can also impact future 457 visa policy and 457 visa health insurance.

Latest 457 Visa Applications Over 2016 Figures

We are well into the 2016 year and the first quarter statistics for the 457 visa program have been released. Not surprisingly, the number of applications has virtually stayed the same. There is only a slight decrease of 1.9% in applications, which translates into a few hundred less applications which have been submitted. However, the real difference is in the number of applications that were both submitted and approved. There were nearly 5,000 less applications accepted during this ... read more »

Bribes Taken To Approve Australian Visas

An official from the Department Of Immigration and Boarder Patrol (DIBP) was found guilty for taking bribes that totaled over $500,000AUD. A Brisbane court found that DIBP official Alex Escala Allan from May 2013 to April 2014 took $563,290 AUD in bribes allowing 59+ foreigners into Australia. This included the man's girlfriend and son who like him originally resided in the Philippines. This immigration bribery case is the biggest of its kind in Australia and led to an 8 ... read more »

Minimum Threshold To Be Lowered For Cooks, Chefs & Restaurant Managers

The peak body of the hospitality industry (known as the Restaurant and Catering Australia[R&CA]) has made an agreement with the government to reduce the temporary skilled migration income threshold by 10%. This assume that the restaurant meets the specific criteria specified within the new agreement. The reason behind this reduction in the temporary skilled migration income threshold relates to the fact the industry has over 56,000 shortfall when it comes to cooks, chefs & restaurant managers. To compound ... read more »

457 Visa Statistics Q1 2015 Update

The latest quarterly government statistics were released by the Department of Immigration and Boarder Protection (DIBP). These were the first statistics that did not include trending graphs, which may indicate that these organisations did not want individuals to easily see trends in relation to the subclass 457 visa. In order to clearly show the working visa trends, past data was tabulated and graphed to view below. 457 Visa Application Lodged Trend There was an 15% increase in applications lodged last quarter when compared to ... read more »

2015 Government Changes To The Subclass 457 Visa

The Australian government has provided an information sheet on changes to the subclass 457 visa program. These changes were in response to an integrity review of the program made in mark. The key changes to the program include: 1) Extending standard business sponsorships to 5 years from approval. Start-up business sponsorship has also been extended to 18 months. 2) The expansion of the list of English language providers to: TOEFL IBT - Commonly known as the English as Foreign language internet ... read more »

Can 457 Visa Holders Work A Second Job?

A common question from 457 visa holders is can they get a second job to complement their current income? The answer is NO due to condition 8107 which all holders receive when they are granted the visa. What Is Condition 8107? This is the condition that says you must work within the occupation and for the sponsor you nominated in your application. This same issue arises if you want to work for yourself as a sole traders on top of your current ... read more »

457 Abuse At An All Time Low

Over the past two years the 457 visa program has become the focus of many political and union discussions with a concern that employers are exploiting the system to get cheap labour from overseas. An investigation by the Department Of Immigration And Boarder Control (DIBP) found this was not the case with less then 5% of referrals from the fair work ombudsman leading to some course of action. Below shows a breakout of these statistics for last year with ... read more »

Sluggish 457 Visa Application In July - Sept 2014

The latest statistics released by the Australian government has shown that 457 visa applications remain flat since the government 2013 changes in July last year. Over the last quarter (1st July 2014 to 30th September 2014) just under 14,000 applications were lodged whereas the average prior to 2013 visa changes changes made last year was 18,000 (down 28%). The largest change that occurred in July 2013 that caused the large number of applications of occur in June 2013 and ... read more »

‘Top 10’ Important 457 Visa Elements When Making An Application

The subclass 457 visa program is the most popular temporary working visa in Australia. This is due to benefits such as the duration (up to four years), the fact you can bring your partners or family and that they can also work or study for the visa duration. 1) What are the stages to apply for a 457 visa? Stage 1 - Sponsorship: An Australian business needs to receive approval to become a 'standard business sponsor' from the Department of ... read more »

Overseas Visitor Health Insurance Complaints Spike By 50%

Each year the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman receives complaints from health insurance policy holders in Australia. In 2013/14 the ombudsman reported that complaints from overseas visitor health cover (OVHC) and overseas student health cover (OSHC) holders was up 50% from 138 to 207. The Worst-Performing Health Funds The table below shows that BUPA received by far the most complaints (42% overall). Last financial year BUPA had relatively few complaints, but this number increased by 280% in 2013/14. Another spike was seen ... read more »