Guidelines for Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) pathway

The ENS visa (Employer Nomination Scheme) pathway is an employer sponsored permanent residence pathway for skilled professionals. The ENS visa scheme was introduced to allow employers to be able to sponsor overseas skilled workers for permanent residence to Australia.
Employers who cannot source Australian Permanent residents/Citizens to work in skilled occupations can sponsor overseas workers under this scheme to work in such occupations. Employers would choose to sponsor overseas workers under this scheme rather than the 457 visa scheme (Employer sponsored temporary scheme) for two reasons – either the sponsored employees have been working for the sponsoring employer for a long period and the employer wants to provide the benefits of staying in Australia permanently in return or the prospective employees do not want to come to Australia and work on a temporary 457 visa (work visa) which does not provide the benefits of being an Australia permanent resident. 

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has provided a list of occupations from which sponsoring employers can choose an occupation to nominate. The list of occupations is the same as the one available under the 457 visa scheme (Employer sponsored temporary visas) and includes a range of highly skilled and semi-skilled occupations including but not limited to Managers, Medical professionals, Engineers, IT professionals, Farmers and Trade persons.
The salary and other terms and conditions offered to the sponsored overseas worker must be similar to the salaries provided to Australian citizens/permanent residents working in a similar profession. This requirement ensures sponsored overseas workers are not underpaid or exploited in any way by the sponsoring employers. The sponsoring employer’s financial strength to be able to provide long term employment to sponsored overseas workers is assessed as part of application processing.
To ensure highly skilled and experienced professionals are employed and sponsored under the ENS visa scheme, the Department of Immigration requires the sponsored overseas worker to have at least three years of full time employment experience in the nominated position along with the required qualifications for the position. High level of English Language abilities are also required for the visa to be approved.
Employers are also allowed to sponsor 457 visa holders who have been working for the sponsoring employers in the nominated position for at least two years on a 457 visa. This pathway provides some crucial concessions including the requirement for the sponsored person to have the three year full time employment experience in the nominated position and lower English language abilities. This pathway was introduced to allow Employers to sponsor overseas workers who do not have long term employment experience and cannot meet the high standards of English language requirement set in the previously mentioned direct entry pathway.
The ENS visa allows overseas persons to settle in Australia permanently. They are allowed to live and work in Australia with their families including spouse and children and without any restrictions. Travel rights are unlimited and provided for at least five years. Permanent residents of Australia can access a number of benefits offered by the Australian government to all Australians including Medicare (free health care), free education in all government schools for children, unemployment benefits and subsidized child care benefits and financial support for families with low income under the social security scheme.