Good afternoon Mr Yogesh,
Please find the extract from the DIBP policy advice manual.
Employment with the same employer
Overview
In order to satisfy the 2 year requirement for the purposes of regulation 5.19(3)(c)(i)(A), nominators must demonstrate that the UC-457 visa holder has worked with the same employer for the whole period being considered. The term ‘employer’ refers to the entity/s that participates in the employer-employee relationship. An entity that changes structure, becoming a new discreet entity, may still be considered the same employer for theUC-457 visa holder provided they fall under the parameters outlined in Scenario 3 – more than one standard business sponsor.
There are three scenarios that would ordinarily satisfy this criterion:
The nominator has been the sole standard business sponsor for the nominee, and the nominee has only worked directly for the nominator for the whole 2 year period being considered.
The nominator has been the sole standard business sponsor for the nominee, and the nominee has worked for either a combination of the standard business sponsor and an associated entity/ies of the standard business sponsor or solely for an associated entity of the standard business sponsor (as allowed through the UC-4578107 condition).
The nominator has not been the sole standard business sponsor for the nominee in the period considered for the 2 year requirement, however the nominee can still be considered to have remained with the same employer.
Although there may be other scenarios that satisfy this criterion, policy advice for each of the above scenarios is as follows.
Scenario 1 – one standard business sponsor, no other employers
In the instance where the nominator has been the sole standard business sponsor for the nominee, and the nominee has not worked for any other entity at any stage of the 2 year period considered for the 2 year requirement, then this satisfies the ‘employment with the same employer’ criterion.
Scenario 2 – sole standard business sponsor, but work undertaken with associated entities
This includes instances where the nominator has been the sole standard business sponsor for the nominee, but the nominee has undertaken work with other entities. A person holding a UC-457 visa granted under 457.223(4) (standard business sponsorship) is permitted to work within the business activities of the entity that sponsored them or within the business activities of an entity related to the nominating entity under the provisions of s50AAA of the Corporations Act. This is based on condition 8107 condition, which would have been applied to the UC-457 visa - 8107(3)(a) refers..
For more information on where two entities are associated, refer to Related and associated entities under the Corporations Act.
Scenario 3 – more than one standard business sponsor
There may be applications for the Temporary Residence Transition stream where the nominator has not been the nominee’s sole standard business sponsor during the whole required 2 year period. In these cases, work undertaken with an entity other than the most recent standard business sponsor may still be considered towards the 2 year requirement if the nominator can demonstrate that the nominee has actively performed the duties of the position for the required 2 years despite a change of their employer. This may occur in situations where the current standard business sponsor has undergone business restructure/takeover/sale/closure and may have changed their ABN/ACN/name, which required a new standard business sponsorship approval. That is, there must be some connection between the most recent standard business sponsor and any previous standard business sponsor/s of the nominee to be counted towards the 2 year requirement.
When assessing this criterion for cases where there has been more than one standard business sponsor, delegates should consider the following three questions and, if they consider the answers to the three questions to be generally ‘yes’, may consider this criterion to be met:
Is the nominee still working in the same position, performs the same duties and has the same working conditions in the required 2 year period, regardless of the change of sponsor?
Does the nominee report to the same management structures?
Has the nominator retained the same business name and/or operations, but is considered to be a new legal entity?
The policy intent is to accommodate for UC-457 visa holders that apply for Temporary Residence Transition stream that have been affected by circumstances outside of their control, such as their employer undergoing a business restructure, takeover, sale or closure.
Example 1
Jasmine was sponsored for her UC-457 visa in September 2012. In January 2013 her employer, Maximum Accounting Pty Ltd, was bought out by Smith’s Professionals Pty Ltd. Smith’s Professionals and Maximum Accounting are not associated entities. Smith’s Professionals applied for and gained a standard business sponsorship for Jasmine and all other UC-457 visa holders who were sponsored by Maximum Accounting. Jasmine continued to work for Smith’s Professionals in the same role, with the same duties and in the same workplace. Her reporting lines did not change, however her company’s ABN and name changed. In September 2014 Smith’s Professionals lodged a Temporary Residence Transition stream application for Jasmine. The period Jasmine worked for Maximum Accounting would be counted. This is on the basis that Jasmine continued in the same position, performed the same duties and reported to the same management structure with the new entity and that the new entity came about as a direct result of the takeover/sale of the former entity.
Example 2
Mr X is nominated under an SBS by Mr AB as a cook in a restaurant that is operated by him as a sole trader, under the trading name of ‘Curry paradise’. 6 months into the sponsorship, Mr AB decides to incorporate a company to operate the business, registers a company by the name of AB Pty Ltd and commences operating the business under that entity. The trading name is registered to the company and a sponsorship and nomination are approved. If AB Pty Ltd were to nominate Mr X under the Temporary Residence Transition stream, 15 months after the change in structure, the period Mr X worked for the sole proprietorship would be counted. This is on the basis that the sole proprietorship and the company may be considered to be the same employer of Mr X.
Example 3
Mr Z is nominated under an SBS by LNM Pty Ltd for the position of accountant. Mr L is the sole shareholder in LNM Pty Ltd. 1 year later, Mr L decides to sell the business to C Corp Pty Ltd.- under the deal, Mr L is assigned 80% of the shares in C Corp. C Corp is approved as a business sponsor and nominates the position in which Mr Z is employed. 14 months later, C Corp nominates Mr Z under the Temporary Residence Transition stream. The period Mr Z worked for LNM Pty Ltd would be counted on the basis that the 2 entities qualify as the same employer of Mr Z.
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