
Australia to abolish 457 work visas - Clownshoesms
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-to-abolish-457-immigration-work-visas-20170418-gvmw34.html
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flukus
Didn't see this one coming, it's the first good thing this government has
done, it may even be enough to save the government at the next election.

For international readers, the 457 is quite similar to the h1b visa and
suffers many of the same abuses. More abuses actually, there are "customer
service managers" waiting tables and other entry level workers that are on
this "skilled" visa.

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Clownshoesms
I think it's probably a bit late in some ways, and my understanding is is that
there are a fair few other visas that work for this purpose.

Personally, I think this is pandering, after the damage has been done.

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jpmoral
This is a bit worrying as I just got my visa but am not in Australia yet.
Other news sites mention grandfathering but (understandably) are devoid of
details.

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Clownshoesms
I would say (not a lawyer and all that) but if you've been granted the visa
now you're home and hosed. The wheels will probably take a while to turn.

Anecdotally, one job in Melbourne about three years ago comprised about 20-30
457 visa developers, and 3-4 local developers. Either there is a huge shortage
and we missed the boat on education, or companies are abusing it (imo).

Edit: Where I was going with that last thought: companies weren't happy paying
the IT rates they were (which to my mind were less than most trades and most
professions, in any case), so they've imported workers that will work for
less. Companies still want this, and Turnbull as a result still wants this, so
I wouldn't worry about finding a way around it if it becomes an issue.

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jpmoral
Thanks, I hope so.

Re: shortage vs. abuse, perhaps it's a bit of both. I'm joining a small dev
team of 4 locals. The hiring and visa process wasn't simple and probably quite
costly. The pay's not bad either so I can't imagine that they didn't look for
locals to hire.

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scorpioxy
Not a lawyer here either but I'd say you're safe if your visa has already been
granted. By grandfathering of the existing visas, they probably mean that
there will be a path for existing 457s to move on to another visa when their
term expires so usually either a residency or citizenship. They did this with
other visas before(family visas) where existing(and in progress) ones remained
until expiry but newer ones were not granted.

The 457 system, similar to the student visa before it, was being abused by
companies. So the government has been working on fixing the loopholes in the
system for quite a while now.

