‘Aged Care Labour Agreement’ explained

Industry Focus

Health & Aged Care

Observers in the Aged Care space would have welcomed Immigration Minister Coleman’s announcement promising to give aged care providers access to Company Specific Labour Agreements (CSLA) in order to sponsor skilled carers from overseas.

However, some keener observers might recall that Fronditha Care has already had successive Company Specific Labour Agreements allowing bilingual carers (with Greek backgrounds) to work in Australia, and with an option for permanent residence under the Employer Nomination Scheme (‘ENS’). So, if this mechanism has always been in place, what does the announcement actually mean for aged care providers? Further enquiries were made to the Minister’s media office, and we have since received confirmation from the Department that the following concessions should now be more readily available to aged care operators who are seeking a CSLA:

• a permanent residence pathway to an ENS visa, conditional on nominees having been employed for at least three years on a Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa,
• an age concession allowing ENS visa nominees to be up to 55 years old, and/or
• a lower English language proficiency requirement equivalent to the short-term stream of the TSS visa with International English Language Testing System (IELTS) component scores of at least 4.5 and an overall IELTS score of at least 5.0.

FCB Group are experts in providing industry specific workplace and immigration legal services. Please contact Alex Kaufman, Head of Migration at FCB Smart Visa on 02 9922 5188 to see how an aged care Labour Agreement might benefit your organisation, and what the process entails.