457 training brenchmark

Lots of people asked me about the subclass 457 training benchmark. Guess that it's a good chance of writing the blog about this. Particularly, after the 1 July rush.

Training benchmark is the commitment from employers to show that they are good employers, from Australian government's perspective. When we say "good employers from Australian government's perspective", it means that employers need to create job for Australian people, to boost economy and not just give away jobs to foreigners workforce. Training benchmark is just one of the measurements to see how committed the employers are.

Training benchmark is the expenses that the employers had spent for the last 12 months immediate before the visa application lodge, to train or improve the employees skills. So that employees have enough skill to perform their task and hope that with that skills in hand, they would be able to go up the corporate ladder or move up to higher and better position and so forth. Ultimately, the Australian government "want" all these employees to be able to take up whatever position that will be advertised by employers so that employers won't need to employ the foreigners anymore.

One important thing to take note is that only the expenses spent on the training for Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident can be counted toward the training benchmark and it need to be at least 1% of the payroll (for the last 12 months immediate before the lodgement).

The payroll is staff's salary or wages for the last 12 months. For those business that trade under 12 months, I will write in separate blog.

The expenses for the training can be:
- the course fee, seminar fee that employees attend.
- subscription fee to magazine or professional association.
....and the list go on.

Employers or migration agents need to be creative about this. Please consult your registered migration agent about that fees or expenses can be used as part of the training benchmark.

Note:
Training benchmark is the mandatory, not a commitment. Australian government is really strict on this. Particularly, after 1 July 2013!!! Do things right, and that will make your life easy....in the long run.