Didn't see this one coming, it's the first good thing this government has done, it may even be enough to save the government at the next election.

For international readers, the 457 is quite similar to the h1b visa and suffers many of the same abuses. More abuses actually, there are "customer service managers" waiting tables and other entry level workers that are on this "skilled" visa.

I think it's probably a bit late in some ways, and my understanding is is that there are a fair few other visas that work for this purpose.

Personally, I think this is pandering, after the damage has been done.

This is a bit worrying as I just got my visa but am not in Australia yet. Other news sites mention grandfathering but (understandably) are devoid of details.

I would say (not a lawyer and all that) but if you've been granted the visa now you're home and hosed. The wheels will probably take a while to turn.

Anecdotally, one job in Melbourne about three years ago comprised about 20-30 457 visa developers, and 3-4 local developers. Either there is a huge shortage and we missed the boat on education, or companies are abusing it (imo).

Edit: Where I was going with that last thought: companies weren't happy paying the IT rates they were (which to my mind were less than most trades and most professions, in any case), so they've imported workers that will work for less. Companies still want this, and Turnbull as a result still wants this, so I wouldn't worry about finding a way around it if it becomes an issue.

> I would say (not a lawyer and all that) but if you've been granted the visa now you're home and hosed. The wheels will probably take a while to turn.

The bigger question would be if it's renewable and still valid as an immigration pathway (if that's what OP was after).

That's one of the concerns, yes.

Thanks, I hope so.

Re: shortage vs. abuse, perhaps it's a bit of both. I'm joining a small dev team of 4 locals. The hiring and visa process wasn't simple and probably quite costly. The pay's not bad either so I can't imagine that they didn't look for locals to hire.

Not a lawyer here either but I'd say you're safe if your visa has already been granted. By grandfathering of the existing visas, they probably mean that there will be a path for existing 457s to move on to another visa when their term expires so usually either a residency or citizenship. They did this with other visas before(family visas) where existing(and in progress) ones remained until expiry but newer ones were not granted.

The 457 system, similar to the student visa before it, was being abused by companies. So the government has been working on fixing the loopholes in the system for quite a while now.

All Australian's are immigrants in one sense or another is my opinion, 200 years isn't long. I was punted around the US and NZ before being deposited in Australia. Country only benefits from skilled people coming in, I just worry the abuses that went on meant we got a pool of crud in there too.