Information below has been sourced from the Department of Home Affairs website www.homeaffairs.gov.au in September 2023.

Skilled Occupation List

The Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) was temporary and existed while Australia recovered from the COVID pandemic.

It has now been replaced by the Skilled Occupation List. This combined list comprises occupations on

• the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL),
• the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL),
• the Regional Occupation List (ROL)
• or the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) ROL List

The following visas, which may be of interest to vets and vet nurses, are available to individuals qualified to work in the eligible skilled occupations. Please see www.homeaffairs.gov.au for details of additional visas.

• Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482)​
  • See extra information below
• Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494)
  • Regional areas – all areas of Australia except for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane
  • Length of stay – up to 5 years
  • Under 45 years of age (some exemptions exist)
  • 3 years’ experience
• Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) visa (subclass 186)​
  • This is a permanent visa
• Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) visa (subclass 187)
  • This is a permanent visa, for workers transitioning from a 457 or 482 visa & continuing to work for their sponsoring employer

Employers – Standard Business Sponsor

Before an employer is able to nominate a vet to sponsor in the TSS 482 or Regional 494 visa categories, they must be, or have applied to become a standard business sponsor. Once approved, this status lasts for 5 years.  ( Further eligibility requirements exist in order to be an Accredited sponsor, including NOT being a sole trader or partnership ). As of 6th September 2023 this is the direct link for information on the procedure:

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/employing-and-sponsoring-someone/sponsoring-workers/becoming-a-sponsor/standard-business-sponsor#Overview

Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482)

The Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482) replaced the old 457 visa in March 2018.

TSS visa holders can work in Australia in their nominated occupation for their approved sponsor under one of three streams:

Short-term stream

• Length of stay – up to 2 years
• Vet Nurses are currently on the Short term Skilled Occupation list (STSOL)
• Requirements for eligibility include English language requirements, skills assessments (by VETASSESS for VNs), nomination by an employer, health and character requirements.
• Must have worked in the nominated occupation, or a related field, for at least two years
• There is no age requirement
• The current link for skills assessment for migration for Vet Nurses is https://www.vetassess.com.au/skills-assessment-for-migration/professional-occupations/application-process

Medium-term stream

• Length of stay – up to 4 years
• Vets are currently on the Medium term Skilled Occupation list (MLTSSL)
• Requirements for eligibility include English language requirements, skills assessments (by AVBC for Vets), nomination by an employer, health and character requirements.
• Must have worked in the nominated occupation, or a related field, for at least two years
• There is no age requirement
• The current link for skills assessment for migration is https://avbc.asn.au/for-veterinarians/skills-assessment-for-migration/ You can only apply for a skills assessment once you hold full registration with an Australian Veterinary Registration Board.

Labour Agreement stream

• This stream is available if your employer wishes to sponsor you (as an overseas worker) and has entered into a labour agreement with the Department

Application for the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482) involves a three-step process:

Step 1: a sponsorship application by the employer

Step 2: a nomination application for a skilled position by the employer

Step 3: a visa application by the proposed employee

Labour Market Testing requirement –  Subclass 482 (TSS) and Subclass 494 (Regional)

For a nomination to be approved, the Department must be satisfied that a suitable qualified and experienced Australian worker is not available to fill the nominated position.

For most nominations, advertising must be done within the 4 months immediately before lodging a nomination application. Advertising must meet all of the below (further requirements may apply – please see www.homeaffairs.gov.au for up to date information – the direct link is currently https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/employing-and-sponsoring-someone/sponsoring-workers/nominating-a-position/labour-market-testing  as of September 2023):

• the nominated position has been advertised in Australia
• the advertisement was in English and included the following information:
  • the title, or a description, of the position
  • the name of the approved sponsor or the name of the recruitment agency being used by the sponsor and
  • the annual earnings for the position ( unless the annual earnings will be greater than $96,400 ) It is acceptable to publish a salary range.
• at least two advertisements were published:
  • on a national recruitment website. Note: a general classifieds website is not an acceptable method
  • in national print media
  • on national radio or
  • if the sponsor is accredited – on the business’ website.
  • advertisements, including on websites, are expected to have run for at least 4 weeks

Kookaburra Veterinary Employment can supply a statement on request with information regarding your job advert, the period that it was listed, and the total cost of advertising.

Additional Requirements for nominations lodged on or after 1 October 2020

In September 2020, the Australian Government introduced new labour market testing measures for employer sponsored applications. 

In addition to the 2 advertisements mentioned above:

• the nominated position must be advertised on the Government’s jobactive website ( https://jobactive.gov.au/ )
• the jobactive advertisement must have included all of the information required to be included in the other 2 advertisements mentioned above
• jobactive advertisements 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

Note: advertising may have been undertaken by a third party if authorised to do so by the sponsor (for example, an associated entity or a contracted party, such as a recruitment agency) – there is no requirement that the sponsor placed the advertisement themselves

Evidence of a total of 3 advertisements, including an advertisement published on the Government’s jobactive website, must be provided at the time the nomination is lodged.

Meeting TSMIT requirements

Both the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR) for the nominated occupation and the guaranteed annual earnings that will be paid to the nominated overseas worker, excluding any non-monetary benefits (for example, accommodation or car provided to them as part of their salary package), must not be less than the TSMIT (Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold).

TSMIT is currently set as AUD$70,000 for applications lodged on and after 1 July 2023, as specified in the relevant legislative instrument. For applications lodged before 1 July 2023, it was AUD$53,900.

The requirements and process for visa application can be very complicated and there are more conditions than are listed in this article – you can find more information at www.homeaffairs.gov.au

Migration Agents

If you are considering engaging a migration agent, you should ensure they are registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA). This registration demonstrates they have sufficient expertise and are a fit and proper person to provide immigration assistance. The OMARA registrar can be found at portal.mara.gov.au/search-the-register-of-migration-agents/. It is recommended that you look up a migration agent to ensure they are on the registrar before engaging their services.

Author:

Wendy Nathan
Kookaburra Veterinary Employment

This information includes the views and opinions of Kookaburra Veterinary Employment and is of a general nature only. Factual information is believed to be correct at the time of writing, however, should not be relied upon and any person should confirm details with the relevant authorities and through their own research prior to acting on any of the suggestions in this article.

With the AVA Annual Conference coming up, it’s a good time to release some current figures to update the trends that Kookaburra Veterinary Employment is seeing in Australia, for the “State of the Market” panel discussion.

Vets

Of the current 735 open vet vacancies, 131 have been continuously advertised for more than 8 months.

In the last 3 months (February, March, April 2023), 1125 jobs have been advertised.

• 27% of these have been filled by Kookaburra,
• 2% have been filled by other advertising, or through personal contact
• 9% have been removed because the clinic either gave up looking or restructured their clinic staff to cope – although some clinics are now reporting having a reduced workload, following the post-covid boom
• 62% are still available.

As of 30th April 2023, 52 clinics had been advertising continuously for longer than 2 years without filling their vacancy

Vet Nurses

In March 2020 we had 236 vet nurse jobs listed.
In April 2021 we had 337 vet nurse jobs listed.
As of May 9^th 2023, we have 316 vet nurse jobs listed.

Discussion

Kookaburra has noted the following factors

• An increase in the numbers of vets required to cover the workload in individual practices
• An increase in the numbers of new clinics opening – both corporate, and privately owned. 10 years ago Kookaburra had roughly 2100 clinics listed in Australia – we now have over 2600.
• Many of the practice owners and managers that we talk to on a daily basis are highly stressed by the workforce shortage, and many are also resigned to having great difficulty hiring suitable new staff

Kookaburra circulated a Salary survey in the winter of 2022 and one of the questions we asked was about future plans (see chart below).
26% of vets (63 vets ) who responded to the Kookaburra Vets Salary Survey 2022 said they were planning on leaving general practice by 5 years’ time, either retiring, leaving the profession entirely, taking a break, or moving into another area of the veterinary industry.
In the 2019 survey, 24% of responding vets (142 vets) were planning on leaving general practice by 5 years’ time. That’s a lot of vets leaving general practice – and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all.

(copy of the full Salary Survey 2022 report available here: https://www.vetsuppliersdirectory.com.au/salary-survey-2022/ )

Author:
Wendy Nathan
Kookaburra Veterinary Employment

This information includes the views and opinions of Kookaburra Veterinary Employment and is of a general nature only. Factual information is believed to be correct at the time of writing, however, should not be relied upon and any person should confirm details with the relevant authorities and through their own research prior to acting on any of the suggestions in this article.

Kookaburra Vets has listened to all the feedback from employers and job seekers – the new app for iPhone and iPad provides a simple, fast, map based veterinary job search experience.

Shortlist your top veterinary job choices easily using the map based search and filter features, save for later or send vacancy information to yourself or to friends. The most widely used Veterinary Employment Service in Australia & New Zealand now makes it simple for you to search worldwide for veterinary jobs, from support staff and veterinary nurses & technicians to all categories of veterinarian vacancy – and even practices for sale.

• Map or list based
• Choose and save your search area
• Sort by distance or by newest jobs
• Search for individual clinics
• Filter using a wide range of job categories, including suitability for graduates or trainees, or visa sponsorship opportunities
• Personalise your searches – save your filter
• Save your favourite jobs
• Share jobs, or email details to yourself
• Up-to-date job details
• No requirement for registration or to have an account

Visit the App Store to download Kookaburra Jobs.

Thank you to all the vets who participated in this year’s Salary Survey. There was a total of 285 respondents, which was disappointing compared to 595 respondents in 2019. We’ve been unable to use some of the information, in particular, location related, as there was insufficient data for a representative sample.

Minimum pay rates and conditions are set in the Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award 2020, which you can find using Google, or at https://awardviewer.fwo.gov.au/award/show/ma000118

You can download a printable pdf version of this report here Kookaburra Salary Survey 2022

Methodology

The pool of vets was contacted by direct emailing the main clinic email for all the clinics in Australia in the Kookaburra database & the vets currently registered as job seekers with Kookaburra (2.000 total), and by including advertising banners with a direct link to the survey on the Australian pages of the websites www.kookaburravets.com and www.vetsuppliersdirectory.com.au , and on all the correspondence sent out from Kookaburra during the survey period. We also asked the HR departments of the major Australian corporates to assist by distributing the link to the survey to their veterinary associates, however, in contrast to previous years where they have been happy to help, none agreed to participate this year. In addition, it was posted on Facebook on one of the Australian Veterinarian network closed group pages, on the Kookaburra Facebook pages, and on Linkedin. We’d like to thank The Lincoln Institute, who distributed the link to the survey to their members.

The survey was open from June 12^th to November 7^th 2022. It was hosted on Survey Monkey and analysis of results was carried out in Survey Monkey and using Microsoft Excel Office 365. The survey was anonymous, and no IP data was collected. There was a total of 34 questions.

For a Key to the box and whisker plots used, and a summary list of charts, please see the Key

Summary

Summary and links to Charts and Diagrams

1. Key to Box and Whiskers Plot
2. Hourly Pay Rates vs Years’ Experience
3. Hourly Pay Rates vs self-assessed experience level
4. Hourly Pay Rates for different General Practice Types (Small Animal vs Mixed vs Equine) for numbers of years since graduation
5. Hourly Pay Rates – comparing all Practice Types
6. Annualised pay rate for all full time, part time, and casual respondents
7. Actual annual pay rate for all full time, part time, and casual respondents using their actual hours worked per week
8. Paid Hours worked per week – comparing full time, part time, and casual
9. Paid Hours worked compared to Unpaid hours
10. Owners/Partners compared to Associates pay rate
11. Further Qualifications – effect on pay rate
12. Further Qualifications – proportions of respondents with additional qualifications
13. Locums – hourly pay vs experience
14. Locums – casuals vs. locums/short term
15. Locums – comparison of corporate & non-corporate pay rates
16. Happiness
17. 5 year Plans
18. Happiness and owner/partner vs. associate status
19. Happiness and corporate vs. non-corporate jobs
20. Satisfaction with pay rates
21. Preferred pay rate increase
22. Discussion
23. 2019 / 2022 comparison of job classifcations
24. 2019 / 2022 comparison of pay rates

Vets working as Casuals, Part-time, or Full-time

There were a total of 239 responses in this section – some vets gave data for more than one job, and each job was included as a separate data set.

Respondents were asked to self-assess their experience level for the job they were currently answering questions for, on a sliding scale from 1 (Basic Competency) through 5 (Confident and Competent) to 10 (Highly Skilled)

Locums

For data on Locums, we combined the data for jobs classified as Casual with those who answered ‘yes’ to the question “Are you currently working as a locum / doing short term contracts (under 6 months in length)”. There was a total of 51 respondents in these 2 categories.

Happiness and Future Plans

We asked “What do you think you should be paid for this job?” and the choices were “I don’t know”, “My current rate is fair” , or “My preferred hourly rate would be ….” – and the respondent could then nominate an amount (no-one nominated less than they were currently being paid!!)

Discussion

The amount of data collected in this survey was small, therefore it’s hard to discuss the results in a meaningful way. Kookaburra collected the data in order to make it available to vets and their practices in Australia. At Kookaburra, we are interested in the differences between this survey (2022) and our previous one, before COVID, in 2019.

Are more vets moving to working part time and casual?

Have pay rates gone up?

Pay rates have increased by above 30% for locums and casuals, and around 30% for part time and full time vets, between 2019 (pre-COVID) and 2022 (3 years).

© Copyright Kookaburra Veterinary Employment

29th November 2022