Australian Aged Care Providers Can Now Apply For Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement

Australia is experiencing a substantial demographic change as its population is rapidly ageing, which is predicted to put more strain on the elderly care system. The Australian Government has committed to expanding the aged care workforce to guarantee that older Australians receive the care and assistance they require.

To uphold this commitment, the government has announced the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement, which will free employers from having to negotiate employer-specific labour agreements with each aged care provider and allow them to sponsor direct care workers on skilled visas through the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement.

The Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement makes it simple to hire certified direct care employees from abroad to work in the aged care industry. Employers can use this when Australians with the necessary qualifications aren’t available.

Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement’s objective

Using the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement will allow you to:

• Sponsor individuals from abroad to get a Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa for employment in one of the following direct care occupations:

• Support staff for nurses
• Carer Assistant
• Elderly or disabled carer

• You must have recently and sincerely tried to hire someone from the domestic labour pool.

By the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) immigration programme, you can sponsor foreign workers for permanent residence. Employees must have at least two years of relevant direct care job experience working full-time in Australia. The two years of employment are not connected to a specific employer or visa category.

According to the agreement, foreign workers who have been sponsored may apply for permanent residency through the Employer Nominated Scheme subclass 186 visa programme if they have at least two years of appropriate direct care work experience.

It’s interesting to note that the two years of experience are not contingent on a specific job or visa category.

Terms and provisions of the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement

Concessions to the requirements for skilled visas are as follows:

• Through the Employer Nomination Scheme, there is a two-year path to permanent residency.
• Simplified visa nomination and expedited visa application processing; 
• No necessity for work experience after graduation
• English language exemptions for employees who speak a relevant community language
• The Australian Market Wage Rate, or A minimum annual wage of $51,222, whichever is higher.

Salient prerequisites for obtaining a visa:

• Possess an appropriate AQF Certificate III or higher qualification. Additionally, you can have the equivalent of 12 months of part-time work experience.
• If you earned your credentials abroad, secure a favourable skills evaluation from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council or the Australian Community Workers Association. It holds even if you list work experience in place of formal education.
• Possess an English language proficiency score of at least 5.0 on the IELTS or other comparable. A minimum IELTS score of 4.5 or an equivalent is required for employees with target community language skills hired by culturally and linguistically diverse aged care providers.

Once aged care providers have signed an MoU with the pertinent union(s), the Labour Market Testing (LMT) requirements will be deemed satisfactory.

There will be different skill and qualification requirements than what is specified in the ANZSCO. Each labour agreement that has received approval from the Department of Home Affairs includes a detailed description of the specific requirements.

Requesting the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement

One must follow the two essential processes listed below to apply for the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement:

• Step 1

An aged care provider must first sign A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with one of the following unions: 

• United Workers Union (UWU), 
• Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), or 
• Health Services Union (HSU).

• Step 2

Aged care providers can go on with preparing and submitting an application for the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement (ACILA) with the Department of Home Affairs once an MoU has been established with one of the aforementioned approved unions.