An employer-sponsored visa to Australia is one great option for businesses to fill the skills or labour shortage in Australia. For the skilled visa holder, it is a great opportunity to come to Australia either temporarily or permanently. With someone who were in Australia during the pandemic, an employer-sponsored visa 482 can give you pathway to PR 186 visa 

However if you meet the eligibility criteria for it, the Global Talent Visa can be an even more attractive option than an employer-sponsored visa.

This is because of several factors including career flexibility, skills assessments, and age and language requirements.

Nevertheless, each visa stream has its own advantages and disadvantages for both employers and applicants. 

This article will discuss about the positive points of both the global talent visa and the employer sponsorship program.

Read more about the new visa 482 Employer Sponsored short-term to PR in 2022>

Career flexibility - No specific Occupation List for Global Talent Visa 858

Global Talent Visa is not an employer-sponsored visa. As a Global Talent Visa holder, you have the freedom to change jobs or roles, set up your own company or be self-employed. Even if you have to leave your job and be unemployed for some reason (like starting a family) you won't lose your visa.

For some employer-sponsored visas such as the Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (subclass 482) you have to work for the employer who sponsored you unless your occupation is one of the exempt occupations (such as a high-level, specialist medical professionals).

There are also employer-sponsored visas like the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) (subclass 187) visa which require you to work in regional areas. There is no such requirement for the Global Talent Visa.

You can also work in a variety of occupations within your specialisation in designated Target sectors. For employer-sponsored visas, your occupation must be listed in the relevant skilled occupation lists.

No skills assessment for Global Talent Visa 

To be eligible for the Global Talent Visa, you have to :

• Be internationally recognised with evidence of outstanding achievements;
• Be currently prominent in your field of expertise and must provide evidence that you would be an asset to Australia.  You can provide evidence such as industry awards, media articles, research, publications and the like. 

A lot of PHD students have found that Global Talent Visa is their main Permanent Residency pathway without complicating process like General Skilled Migration. Because they can satisfy the part of internationally recognised evidence.

Moreover, you do not have to provide a skills assessment issued by the relevant skills assessing authority for your occupation.

Low English language's requirement for Global Talent Visa

The English language skill required for the Global Talent visa is only “functional English”, that is if you are taking the IELTS test for example, you only need an average band score of at least 4.5 based on the 4 test components. If you or any secondary applicant can not meet the required English language skill, you need to pay the second visa application charge before the visa can be granted.

For the employer-sponsored visa, RSMS (subclass 187) the English language skill required is “competent English” which is, for an IELTS test, getting a score of at least 6 for each of the 4 components.

NO age limit for Global Talent Visa applicants 

Unless an exemption applies, the age limit for the RSMS and the Employer Nominated (subclass 186) visas is 45 years old.

For the Global Talent Visa, there is no age limit but if you are over 55 years old you have to prove that you can bring exceptional economic benefit to Australia.

Faster processing times for Global Talent Visa 

The Global Talent Visa is a fast-tracked pathway to permanent residency, with visas being granted anywhere from 2 months to 4 months. Note though that it may take weeks or even months to get the invitation to apply for the visa.

Generally, however, the processing times for the Global Talent visa are still shorter than the RSMS and the ENS visas.

The current processing time for permanent residence employer-sponsored visas such the RSMS (Direct Entry Stream) is between 35-45 months, and for the ENS (Direct Entry Stream) it is between 6-11 months.

No Cost for Global Talent Visa in terms of sponsorship

While the Global Talent Visa applicant may get a job offer from an Australian organisation, the prospective Australian employer will not incur costs to become an approved sponsor, apply and pay for the nomination and pay the Skilling Australians Fund levy.

In short, if you are an exceptional talent, the Global Talent might be for you.

To check your eligibility, you can take our quick and free Global Talent assessment here.

Employer Sponsorship program and its benefits to employers and applicants

Even though Employer sponsorship program has a specific skilled occupation lists, the list has wide veriety of occupations which Global Talent Visa program does not have such as: Trades occupations (Motor mechanic, Chef, Cook, welder, electrician...), Professional occupations ( marketing specialist, financial broker...) or General practitioner, Hospitality (cafe or restaurant manager)

The big difference that distinguish applicants for global talent visa program from employer sponsorship program applicants is the High Income Threshold currently set at 158,500 AUD. This is a very high salary requirement which most applicants do not meet.

There are also a lot of applicants who have put it the expression of interest in the Global Talent Visa and they are not being considered in a timely manner. 

The processing time of Global Talent Visa program could meet some delay because of its popularity in 2022, it sometimes takes 6 to 12 months to process.

On the other side, Employer Sponsored Visa could be quicker to get someone into Australia and start working for the company. 

 For someone who were in Australia during the pandemic, a new visa 482 short-term pathway to PR 186 visa could be a good option for skilled workers who are finding a way to get 491 nomination.

Read more about new visa 482 changes in 2022 here>

Author:

Rosa Torrefranca, Immigration Lawyer at Work Visa Lawyers

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Based in Adelaide South Australia, we provide Australian Immigration advice to people and businesses from all over the world.

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Disclaimer

This information is correct at the time of publication but is subject to change without notice.  All information provided on this page is provided for purely educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.  For advice on your situation, please speak with an Immigration Lawyer or a Registered Migration Agent.

The general key criteria that an EOI must satisfy are well known:

• An applicant must be internationally recognised with evidence of outstanding achievements;
• They must be currently prominent in their field of expertise;
• They must provide evidence that they would be an asset to Australia in their area of expertise;
• They must show that they would have no difficulty obtaining employment in Australia or becoming established in their field;
• They must have a recognised organisation or individual with a national reputation in the same field in Australia nominate them as global talent; and,
• They must earn a salary over the Fair Work High Income Threshold (currently AUD158,600).

However, there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to satisfying those criteria. So, I’ll use the space below to paint a bit of a picture of what, in our experience, a successful applicant typically looks like.

如果您正在考虑全球人才签证（GTI 签证），您必须获得与您相同领域的专业人士的担保。该担保人可以代表您并且向移民局表达您在指定领域中的突出才能。这是全球人才签证GTI流程的关键部分，但经常被忽视。以下干货是关于如何寻找全球人才担保人：

Click here to read this in English

Click here to learn the criteria for the Global Talent Visa

 We have assisted many clients with their Global Talent Visa Expression of Interest (EOI). We understand that some people have already lodged their expressions of interest, but are wondering “How can I make my Global Talent EOI better?” We are passing on some of the tips we have learned along the way.

After lodging your Global Talent Visa Expression of Interest, more information can be provided to support your EOI by emailing it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you are sending more information to the Department, be sure to include your name, date of birth and passport number, so that the information can be linked properly.

The ways to improve your expression of interest are linked (necessarily) to the requirements for the Global Talent visa EOI.

This article is regularly updated. Last updated: Friday, 12th January 2024

As a permanent residency visa with relatively short processing times, the Global Talent Visa is as close to the gold standard of Australian visas as you can get. So why is your Expression of Interest (EOI) taking so long?

Click here to learn the criteria for the Global Talent Visa

Applying for the Global Talent Visa is a two-part process. Eligible applicants are required to submit an EOI setting out how they fulfil the eligibility criteria and, if they receive an invitation to apply for a visa, they can then submit an application. The processing of the EOIs used to be from a few days to 3 months if prioritised.While The processing times have lengthened in the last few months and, the visa applications themselves are still being processed in a matter of weeks anywhere between 6-11 months (as of January 2024).

Consideration of EOIs, on the other hand, has slowed substantially in the last year. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Global Talent visa, the Department is receiving far more EOIs than they can process quickly. As of the start of September 2021 the Department advised that they are still considering EOIs received in October 2020 – a backlog of around 11 months. However, the processing times of the EOI has improved and as of the start of January 2024, the EOIs being considered are those submitted in September 2023. 

Those who did not provide sufficient information and documentation may have their applications delayed.

Historically, EOIs for certain sectors have been processed faster than others – financial services and FinTech being the fastest at around 2 months and AgriTech the slowest at about 5-6 months. However, we are currently seeing a slowdown across all sectors. Based on what we are seeing, EOIs for applicants with a strong salary (>AUD250,000) are being decided much faster than those with a salary only marginally higher than the Fair Work High Income Threshold (currently, AUD167,500).

The Global Talent visa is still the best visa option available for eligible applicants and the sooner you get your EOI submitted the sooner it will be decided upon.

You can fill in your details in our online form here for a free assessment of your prospects of receiving an EOI for the Global Talent visa.

Read more about the Global Talent Visa Program here.

Do you need help?

Our team of experienced Immigration Lawyers and Migration Agents look forward to assisting you with your Australian visa or appeal.

Based in Adelaide South Australia, we provide Australian Immigration advice to people and businesses from all over the world.

If you require further information regarding your Australia visa options you can contact us through:

(08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can also subscribe to our TikTok.  

Disclaimer

This information is correct at the time of publication but is subject to change without notice. All information provided on this page is provided for purely educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. For advice on your situation, please speak with an Immigration Lawyer or a Registered Migration Agent.