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- 18 Apr 2017
Abolition of 457 Visa
The Australian Government has announced on 18 April 2017 that it will abolish the current Skilled Visa stream (457 visa). This visa will be replaced with two temporary work visas as part of an effort to adopt a new "Australians First" approach to use of foreign workers in the Australian jobs. These visas will be for two-year and four-year visa streams.
The requirements of the new scheme will include the following:
- at least two years of work experience;
- stricter labour market testing;
- tougher English language tests;
- mandatory police check; and
- the application fee will be $1,150 for the two-year visa and $2,400 for the four-year visa.
The numbers of occupations will be reduced from 651 on the current 457 list to 216 occupations.