Labour Market Testing (LMT)

Labour Market Testing must be completed if an employer wishes to nominate an employee for a visa.

This means that the business must have tested the local labour market, in the form of advertising the nominated position, prior to nominating the overseas migrant worker. This requirement aims to satisfy DHA that a suitable Australian worker could not be found to fill the role in question. DHA have set out very particular, rigid requirements as to the types of evidence that they will accept in order to approve a nomination.

Evidence which meets the following criteria will generally be considered sufficient:

1. THE NOMINATED POSITION HAS BEEN ADVERTISED IN AUSTRALIA

2. THE ADVERTISEMENT WAS IN ENGLISH AND INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:

• The title, or a description, of the position
• The name of the Company offering employment or the name of the recruitment agency being used by the sponsor
• The annual earnings for the position (unless the annual earnings will be greater than the Fair Work High Income Threshold, (From 1 July 2019, it is $148,700).

3. A LEAST TWO ADVERTISEMENTS WERE PUBLISHED IN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING WITHIN THE 4 MONTHS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE LODGING A NOMINATION APPLICATION:

• One advertisement must be on the Australian Governments Jobactive website.
• The other on a prominent or professional recruitment website with national reach (for example, Seek, Indeed, Jora) that publishes advertisements for positions throughout Australia.
  • industry specific recruitment websites relevant to the occupation that are in significant use by the industry are an acceptable method of LMT advertising.
  • a general classifieds website or an advertisement solely through social media notification (such as Twitter or Instagram) are not acceptable methods. LinkedIn’s online recruitment platform is acceptable for LMT purposes. Job vacancies restricted to LinkedIn profile members only are not acceptable for LMT purposes.
• in national print media (that is, newspapers or magazines with national reach that are published at least monthly and marketed throughout Australia);
• on national radio with national reach; or
• on the business’ website if the sponsor is an accredited sponsor.

There are limited exceptions to this requirement. LMT is not a nomination requirement if:

• The nominee is a Citizen/national of China, Japan or Thailand; or citizen/national/permanent resident of Chile, Korea, New Zealand or Singapore.
• The nominee is a current employee of a company that is an associated entity of the sponsor; and located in Chile, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand or any ASEAN nation (Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam);
• The nominee is a current employee of an associated entity of the sponsor’s business that operates in a WTO member country; nominated as an Executive or Senior Manager; and will be responsible for the entire or a substantial part of the company’s operations in Australia.
• The nominee: is nominated as an Executive or Senior Manager; is nominated by an overseas business sponsor operating in a WTO member country; and will be responsible for the establishment of a new operation of that business in Australia.
• The nominee is a citizen of a WTO member country and is being nominated by an employer for whom the nominee has worked in Australia on a continuous, full-time basis for two years immediately before the nomination is lodged.