Skilled Migrant Employment Policy Statement
Critical skills shortages have led to a number of public sector agencies sponsoring skilled migrants to work in Queensland. While the Queensland Government understands this need, its first preference is for the employment of Australian skilled workers wherever possible.
Agencies should identify medium to long term strategies to address potential skills shortages through means other than reliance on overseas workers. These may include the introduction or refinement of graduate programs, cadetships, enhanced training programs and targeted workforce planning strategies.
Queensland government agencies may employ skilled workers from overseas on a temporary basis for a period up to four years to assist in addressing critical skills shortages, subject to the requirements of this statement. Permanent residency visas may also be utilised under this statement.
Agencies must not consider employing overseas workers without having first identified a critical skills shortage for a position that they have been unable to fill by recruitment from the Australian labour market or through training efforts.
A critical skills shortage exists where agencies are unable to fill or have considerable difficulty filling vacancies for an occupation at current levels of remuneration and conditions of employment and the skills are critical to achieving key government priorities for service delivery and project completion.
When engaging skilled migrant workers under this policy, agencies must ensure the principles of fairness and equity are consistently applied. Skilled migrant workers must be employed on terms no less favourable than the applicable industrial instrument for comparable Queensland public sector employees or, the contractual or other arrangements for salary levels equivalent to or above Senior Officer.
Skilled migrant workers employed under these arrangements must not fill positions from which Australian employees have been made redundant or surplus in the previous 12 months.
Public sector agencies cannot pass on to the skilled migrant worker the following costs:
- travel to and from Australia;
- recruitment and migration agent fees;
- visa application, nomination and sponsorship charges;
- skills and licensing assessment;
- public health (or health insurance); and
- any other costs relevant to a specific visa.
Agencies intending to make applications for sponsorship of skilled migrant workers to fill nominated positions must in the first instance contact Migration and Skills Recruitment Queensland (within the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry) on 340 56512 or migration@qld.gov.au to discuss visa options.
Further information
- Migration and Skills Recruitment Queensland
- The Division of Public Sector Industrial and Employee Relations, Department of Employment and Industrial Relations (for employees remunerated below the Senior Officer level)
- The Office of the Public Service Commissioner (for employees remunerated at the Senior Officer level and above)
- The Department of Immigration and Citizenship