Australia’s startup industry is growing, but its size relative to established innovation centres around the world, means at times it is necessary to hire talented employees from overseas.

As Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar noted late last year, there are too few trained engineers in Australia for the country’s technology companies to rely entirely on home-grown employees.

So if you’re a startup founder based here in Australia, and you’ve found a non-Australian that you’d like to bring here to work with your company, what do you need to do?

Rigby Cooke Lawyers migration law expert Stephanie Burn says businesses wishing to employ a suitably skilled, qualified and experienced worker may employ them on a temporary subclass 457 visa.

Before doing so these businesses must  first be approved as a standard business sponsor.

“Sponsors are approved for 5 years, or for 18 months (if the company has been trading for less than 12 months,” Burns says.

“One of the requirements for an Australian business to be approved as a standard business sponsor, is that in the 12 months prior to applying for sponsorship, it must have either:

“A. spent 1% of its gross payroll expenditure on training costs in relation to its Australian employees; or

“B. made a contribution to a relevant training fund of 2% of its gross payroll expenditure

“New businesses which have been trading for less than 12 months are only required to show how they will meet benchmark A or B set out above in the next 12 months.”

Once a business is approved as a standard business sponsor, the next step is ensuring that the worker they want to bring to Australia also meets certain requirements.

“Subclass 457 visa applications can only be made for occupations listed on the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List,” Burns says.

“In addition, the visa applicant must have the requisite skills, qualifications, and experience required for the position.

“Process times vary, but it commonly takes between one to three months to receive a decision. The subclass 457 visas last for a maximum of four years.”

For more information, or to apply, head over to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s website.