A Melbourne manufacturer risks losing its star employee because of a visa administrative error, at a time when Australian employers are pleading for the door to be flung open to skilled migrants.
Jeoff Cuberes, owner of a light pole manufacturer in Melbourne's south east, said restrictive visa requirements and administrative delays could mean his best fitter and turner, Anderson, 39, will be forced out of a job.
"He's been in Australia for about five years now," Mr Cuberes told ABC Radio Melbourne.
"[He] came as a student with his wife and has been employed on a part-time basis for nearly four years now."
In addition to his role as a fitter and turner, he said Anderson had increased his skill set, also becoming a reliable welder.
"He has been a fantastic welder for us and has been doing quite a few roles with the company," Mr Cuberes said.
He said he sponsored the employee under the subclass 482 temporary skills shortage visa in July last year because of the ongoing uncertainty with the pandemic.
He said not only did the visa application take too long, but it was eventually rejected because the company did not apply within the four-month time frame required after labour market testing — a requirement aimed at ensuring qualified locals are not overlooked.
The company could reapply, but Anderson would have to re-sit his skills assessment and English language tests — a costly process that could take up to four months.
In the meantime, he may be required to leave Australia.
Difficulties retaining staff
"It's very hard to hold and train workers," Mr Cuberes said.
"We had a worker here through the pandemic and as soon as everything started opening up he got lured to retail."
Mr Cuberes said recruitment agencies and the South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance had helped identify potential new employees but many needed training from scratch.
In a letter to the federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, Mr Cuberes said the company had been lucky to have retained its core staff through the pandemic, but the decision from the Skilled Visa Processing Centre was an enormous blow.
"If Anderson were to leave the country this would have a huge impact on our business as [he] also has the role of overseeing our production workflow and scheduling commitments," Mr Cuberes said.
"This decision has put a lot of stress on both of our families."
He said the shortage of skills had become so acute he had roped in his 75-year-old father to work three days a week.
Frustrating delays
Specialist immigration lawyer Joseph Italiano has urged the federal government to strengthen its visa processing capacity.
"No wonder employers are frustrated with the massive delays," Mr Italiano said.
"They don't want to wait 10 months to one year to get a chef from overseas.
"The government has to immediately increase visa processing so we can get through some of this backlog."
Migration Institute of Australia president Julie Williams said dumping labour market testing, as well as having just one skilled occupation list would be two ways of helping ease the visa backlog.
"It would allow employers to retain skilled migrant employees for longer than just two years," she said.
"It takes a good 12 months to get somebody up to a skill level and if they leave in another 12 months it costs the employer dearly."
She said the argument that companies opted to source employees from overseas to save money was also incorrect.
"All employers have to show evidence they are paying the market rate and also have to pay additional Skills Australia funding fees for each year they want to sponsor them," Ms Williams said.
"It's certainly not cheap labour. They have to go through rigorous testing of the market across three different platforms including the federal government to prove there is no Australian available to fill the position."
In a response to Mr Cuberes' letter, a department spokesman said there were "limited pathways to help" but noted the case as an "illustration of labour market testing being a barrier to retaining important workers."
