Australia Employer sponsors must now adhere to new training benchmarks

Australia Employer sponsors must now adhere to new training benchmarks if they intend to be accredited as 457 visa program’s Standard Business Sponsor. The latest training benchmarks for Australia Employer sponsors also hold good for applicants of Australia PR through the Employer Nomination Scheme, as quoted by the ACACIA AU. Crucial changes have been made effective to the training benchmarks from July 2017. Below is the brief of these changes. ‘Training Benchmark A’ – Training Fund Payments: It involves payment of 2% of the salary to an industry training fund. From July 2017, this can be made to any one of the following:

• Industry training account
• Accredited Industry body managed funds
• University or Australian TAFE operated scholarship funds

The below-mentioned categories of expenses are ineligible now:

• Private individual or RTO operated funds
• Commission or refund payment funds in case of application failure

The crucial effect of this change is that the earlier provision of Benchmark A payments being accepted by private education providers is now discontinued. Many of them would pay commissions to immigration agents bringing clients. ‘Training Benchmark B’ – Expenses incurred on the business training of Australians: It involves spending 1% of salary for the business training of Australians. From July 2017, this can be made to any one of the following:

• Courses of formal education and costs associated with them
• In person training given by RTOs that leads to formal education, training software, or eLearning
• Fresh graduates, trainees, or apprentices
• Singular role training officers
• Participating in CPD conferences

The below-mentioned categories of expenses are ineligible now:

• Training on-the-job
• Training irrelevant to business sector
• Training of family or principals
• Training for induction
• Trainee staff salaries
• Fees for membership
• Magazines, journals or book subscriptions
• Non-CPD Conferences
• Expo or conference or trade booth hiring

If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest or Migrate to Australia, contact Y-Axis, the world’s most trusted Immigration & Visa Consultant.