2.3 Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme: TRT and Direct Entry

2.3 Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme: TRT and Direct Entry

The Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) grants permanent residence through an employer nomination and a linked visa application. The common pathways are Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) and Direct Entry (DE); a Labour Agreement stream may apply where the agreement authorises permanent residence. Each stream has its own criteria, so an agent must not combine the most favourable parts of different streams.

The common nomination foundation

The nominator must generally be actively and lawfully operating and must demonstrate a genuine need for the applicant to work in the position under its direct control. The employment is expected to be full-time and available for at least two years after visa grant. The occupation, tasks, organisational setting, business finances, and proposed remuneration should be mutually consistent. Adverse information, workplace-law compliance, market salary, and the Skilling Australians Fund charge must also be considered.

An approval of the employer’s nomination does not compel grant of the visa. The applicant must independently satisfy the relevant stream, age, English, health, character, and integrity criteria.

Temporary Residence Transition

TRT is designed for eligible sponsored temporary workers who have established a qualifying employment history. Under the current framework, the relevant period is generally two years of qualifying full-time sponsored employment in the three years immediately before application. Current settings allow qualifying periods across eligible sponsored employers and visas subject to the detailed rules; the file should reconstruct visa status, employer, occupation, dates, unpaid leave, and working pattern rather than rely on a single reference letter.

TRT is not restricted to an occupation appearing on a current skilled occupation list. That does not make every case eligible: the occupation and nomination must still meet the stream’s criteria, and the applicant must satisfy the qualifying visa and employment requirements. Time spent working while holding an eligible bridging visa may count only where the legislation says so.

Direct Entry

Direct Entry is not based on a prior period with the nominating employer. The nominated occupation generally must be on the current Core Skills Occupation List, not the superseded MLTSSL formulation found in older precedents. The applicant ordinarily needs:

• a suitable skills assessment for the nominated occupation that meets timing and validity requirements;
• at least three years of relevant work experience at the required skill level; and
• competent English, unless a specific exemption applies.

A skills assessment and employment history answer different questions. The assessment addresses the relevant authority’s occupational standard; the applicant must still prove the separate visa criterion for work experience.

Age and exemptions

The usual age rule is that the applicant is under 45 at application, but legislation specifies targeted exemptions. The agent should identify the exact exemption class and prove every limb. Academic, scientific, medical, legacy-worker, and high-income sponsored-worker provisions have changed over time. A client’s high salary, regional location, or long service is not enough unless the facts fit the current instrument.

Comparative workflow

Scenario

Mina has held a SID visa for 22 months, changed sponsors after ten months, and now seeks TRT nomination. The agent should not simply reject the case because she has not spent two years with the current employer, nor promise success because her total work exceeds two years. The correct response is to obtain visa and nomination records, map each employment period to the current qualifying rules, check full-time equivalence and excluded leave, and confirm the current employer’s nomination evidence. If Mina instead pursues Direct Entry, the agent must separately verify CSOL eligibility, the assessing authority’s result, and three years of relevant experience.

Independent verification drill

Before recommending TRT or Direct Entry, create two separate criterion sheets dated to the proposed lodgement. On the TRT sheet, reconstruct every eligible visa, nomination, employer, paid work period, absence, and leave day from primary records; do not treat a rounded “two years” in a reference as the legal calculation. On the Direct Entry sheet, attach the current occupation instrument, assessing-authority result and validity rule, and an experience schedule showing duties and skill level. For both, verify the applicant’s age on the actual application date, English evidence, proposed employment duration, market salary, adverse information, and employer capacity. Record any exemption by its exact instrument provision and evidence each limb. A useful final question is: if the decision-maker rejected the employer’s assertion, which independent records would still prove genuine need and the applicant’s role? This drill exposes cases that appear eligible only because the nomination and visa requirements have been blended together.