Revision of Labour Market Testing (LMT) Advertising Duration Requirements

For some visa types, an employer must show the DHA they can’t find a suitable Australian worker. For these visas, if you nominate an overseas worker, you will need to test the local labour market.

Labour market testing (LMT) generally involves advertising the position in Australia.

When sponsors nominate an applicant, they must provide a copy of the advertising material used to advertise the position (that is, copies of all advertisements that meet the advertising requirements).

For most nominations, the position must have been advertised for at least four weeks within the four month period immediately prior to lodging the nomination application.

When advertising the nominated position, it must meet the following requirements:

• the advertisement was in Australia, in English
• at least 2 advertisements were published
• advertisements, including on websites, are expected to have run for at least 4 weeks
• applications or expressions of interest for the advertised position must have been accepted for at least 4 weeks.

The Department of Home Affairs confirms that the advertising and acceptance of applications or expressions of interest over two or more non-consecutive periods does not satisfy the labour market testing condition, even if the total period in which applications or expressions of interest were accepted is greater than four weeks in duration.

Some practical examples of what does and does not satisfy the requirement under subsection 8(5) of LIN 18/036 are as follows:

Two overlapping advertisements

For example: two advertisements are run on the same platform: one ad runs from 2 May 2023 to 24 May 2023 (21 days); and the second ad runs from 23 May 2023 to 14 June 2023 (21 days).

This would comply with the LMT requirement because it is possible to ensure, through the use of overlapping advertisements, that applications or expressions of interest can be accepted (and, therefore, labour market testing occurs) for a continuing period of at least four weeks from when an advertisement for the position is first published in accordance with subsection 8(5) of LIN 18/036.

Two back-to-back advertisements

For example: two advertisements are run, the first from 2 May 2023 to 24 May 2023 (21 days) and the second from 25 May 2023 to 5 June 2023 (12 days). This will not comply with subsection 8(5) as the LMT is not being carried out over a continuing period of time.

Amitava Deb

• Amitava is a gold medallist from India’s premier technical institute, IIT Kharagpur.
• He has worked with some of the world’s top companies such as Sony Australia Pty. Ltd., Siemens AG Germany, Clarity International Ltd., Reliance Communications and Optus Sydney.
• Amitava is a Chartered Professional Engineer accredited by Engineers Australia. He is a full member of this esteemed association.
• He is a member of the Australian Computer Society, Tele Management Forum and Worldwide Institute of Software Architects.
• Amitava is a well-recognised name in the ICT Professional Community in Australia.