An employer will offer to sponsor you for a 457 visa if they want to get someone in to to Australia, and working for them, quickly. It’s been a very popular visa for people moving from the UK to Australia. But what is the 457 visa processing time?
Processing times vary enormously but as a rough guide you can expect the employer part to take three weeks and the employee part three. That means once you have all documents submitted, and assuming all submissions are correct and nothing has to be returned, you can expect it to take around six weeks.
I’ve personally been involved in the 457 visa process twice and have spent some time on the phone with the immigration authorities. I could never get them to openly say that three weeks for each part was normal but that was what it worked out to for me and most people I know.
The first time I applied for a 457 visa was from the UK. I gathered all the required information together and sent it off. There was no communication until bang on six weeks later when an email popped in to my inbox with an e-visa telling me I had the right to work in Australia for my nominated employer for four years.I printed it out and was expected to be grilled at immigration when I arrived. They just waved me through. When I stopped and told them they might want to have a chat with me as I emigrating they just smiled and told me it was all monitered eclectonically and “Welcome to Australia.”
The second time I applied for a 457 was in Australia itself. I had resigned from my initial employer, and sponsor of the visa, and I had to find a new employer or leave Australia in 28 days.This is one of the big downsides of the 457. It can seem to tie you to a specific employer.
In practice though it wasn’t the case for me. On reading around and chatting with a few people the general belief is that the 28 days is a minimum and the immigration authorities have to write to you and tell you when the 28 days start. They can also be reasonable if you have pressing reasons to stay – for instance, kids in school – and will give you more time.
I quit my job without having a new one to go to but, with the low unemployment in Australia, it wasn’t hard to find a new one. About 50% of the employers I spoke to weren’t interested in taking over sponsorship of my visa but the rest were fine with it.Once I had the new employment offer the new employer had to re-submit the visa to transfer the sponsorship. So this is quicker than getting an initial 457 visa as the employee part does not need to be resubmitted. So I didn’t have to send off any of my forms again.
In the end it took three and a half weeks for the employer transfer of the 457 to be approved. Which is quite nice because it shows that the 457 doesn’t have to restrict you to one employer. You can have it transferred while you work out your notice. Obviously the risk is that processing times may be slower, or the application rejected, and you miss out on a salary in this time.