Frequently asked questions

A Subclass 407 (Training) is for a person coming to Australia for occupational training or professional development (to gain skills for a job, to meet a registration or licensing requirement, or to take part in a capacity-building program) under the sponsorship of an approved organisation. It is Schedule 1 item 1238, Training (Class GF), and it is not a general work visa: the point of the stay is the training, not filling a position. It is granted for a temporary period the Minister specifies, capped at two years [cl 407.511].

Three layers, worked in sequence

A 407 is built in three layers, and they have to be done in order. First, an organisation must be an approved temporary activities sponsor. Second, unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency, that sponsor must have an approved nomination: the nomination sets out the training and is approved under the nomination criteria in [reg 2.72A]. Third, the applicant must meet the Subclass 407 visa criteria, including that the sponsor has agreed in writing to be the applicant's sponsor [cl 407.213] and, unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency, that the nomination has been approved [cl 407.214]. For visa applications made on or after 11 March 2026, sponsorship approval must already be in place when the visa application is lodged and, unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency, the nomination must also have been approved and not have ceased [Sch 1 1238(3)] [Sch 1 1238 item 5] [cl 407.214]: concurrent lodgement of the three stages is no longer available. A nomination can still be lodged while the sponsorship application is pending [reg 2.72A(1)(a)]; sponsorship approval is required before the nomination can be approved, not before it is lodged [reg 2.72A(3)].

Not a way around a work visa

The training must be a genuine training opportunity for one of the purposes set out in [reg 2.72B]; it cannot be ordinary employment dressed up as training. A 407 does not fill a labour shortage and is not a substitute for a work visa such as the Subclass 482; where the real object is to do a job rather than to be trained, the 407 is the wrong visa.

A 407 must be sponsored by an approved temporary activities sponsor, the sponsor class that covers the temporary-activity visas. That sponsor is drawn from the classes in [reg 2.60(c)]: an Australian organisation lawfully operating in Australia, a government agency, a foreign government agency, a sporting organisation lawfully operating in Australia, a religious institution lawfully operating in Australia, a foreign organisation lawfully operating in Australia, or a person who is the captain or owner of a superyacht. So it is almost always an organisation rather than an individual, the one individual case being the superyacht captain or owner, and in practice the applicant is not their own sponsor. Unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency, it is this sponsor that lodges the nomination; the sponsor also agrees in writing to be the applicant's sponsor [cl 407.213] and stands behind the training, so the sponsor's standing is the foundation of the visa.

Approved before the nomination can be approved

The organisation must already hold, or first obtain, approval as a temporary activities sponsor. A nomination can be lodged while the sponsorship application is still pending [reg 2.72A(1)(a)], but it cannot be approved until the sponsorship has been approved [reg 2.72A(3)]. For visa applications made on or after 11 March 2026, the sponsorship must be approved at lodgement and, unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency, the nomination must also be approved and not have ceased [Sch 1 item 1238(3)]; concurrent lodgement of the three stages is therefore unavailable outside the Commonwealth-agency exception.

Approved as a legal entity

Sponsorship is granted to the legal entity, and the approval attaches to that entity. So if the sponsoring business is bought out or restructured into a new legal entity, the new entity is not automatically the sponsor: it needs its own sponsorship approval and fresh nominations before it can carry the training. A change of the entity on paper is a real change for the 407.

A 407 nomination must be for one of a fixed set of training purposes in [reg 2.72B], which Home Affairs groups into three broad types: occupational registration, enhancing skills in a workplace, and capacity building. Whatever the purpose, the nomination must also clear the general nomination gates in [reg 2.72A].

The three types (five purposes) - Registration or licensing [reg 2.72B(2)]: training to obtain, or to meet the requirements for, the registration, membership, or licensing needed to work in the nominee's occupation, whether in Australia or in the nominee's home country. - Enhancing skills in an eligible occupation [reg 2.72B(3)]: workplace-based training to improve skills in the applicant's own occupation, where that occupation is on the specified instrument list and the applicant has at least 12 months' full-time experience in it in the 24 months before the nomination (part-time pro-rated). This is the main workplace-training route. - Capacity building overseas: three sub-purposes: practical experience, research, or observation that a person needs to complete in order to obtain an overseas qualification [reg 2.72B(4)] (up to six months); training supported by a government agency or by the government of the nominee's home country [reg 2.72B(5)]; and professional development for overseas employees in managerial or professional roles [reg 2.72B(6)].

The gates every nomination must pass

Whichever purpose applies, these are key gates among the other [reg 2.72A(3)-(16)] criteria: it must be a genuine training opportunity for a purpose in [reg 2.72B] [reg 2.72A(15)-(16)], the sponsor must not engage, or intend to engage, in activities with adverse consequences for the employment or training opportunities, or conditions of employment, of Australian citizens or permanent residents [reg 2.72A(13)], and the functional-English requirement must be met [reg 2.72A(14)]. So the purpose says what the training is for; these gates are part of the approval test [reg 2.72A].

This is the workplace-based training route, and the most commonly used one. It is for improving the applicant's skills in an occupation they already work in, not learning a new occupation, and not doing a job under a training label. Three elements have to be satisfied: a structured training program built around the person, an occupation on the specified list, and enough recent experience in that occupation.

A structured program tailored to the person

The training must be a structured workplace training program, specifically tailored to the nominee's training needs, and of a duration that meets those needs [reg 2.72B(3)(a)]. That is what separates genuine skills-enhancement from ordinary productive work: there has to be a real program, not just a job the person performs.

An occupation on the specified list

The training must be in relation to an occupation specified, with its 6-digit ANZSCO code, in the legislative instrument made for this purpose (currently LIN 19/050 [reg 2.72B(3)(b)]) and the occupation must be applicable to the nominee in the way that instrument specifies [reg 2.72B(3)(ba)]. Only this route carries an occupation list; the registration and capacity-building routes do not. Because the list sits in an instrument that is amended from time to time, the occupation should be checked against the version in force when the nomination is made.

Twelve months' recent experience in it

The nominee must have the equivalent of at least 12 months' full-time experience in that occupation in the 24 months immediately before the nomination, with part-time work counted pro-rata [reg 2.72B(3)(c)]. The experience has to be in the very occupation the training will enhance: the route deepens existing skills, it is not a way into a field the person has not worked in.

The substance the training must have is set by the Regulations, not by policy, and it is fixed purpose by purpose in [reg 2.72B], not by one formula for all five. The skills-enhancement route [reg 2.72B(3)] and the government-supported route [reg 2.72B(5)] carry structured, tailored, and needs-based-duration requirements. The overseas-qualification route [reg 2.72B(4)] carries structured and tailored requirements, but caps the practical experience, research, or observation at six months. The registration route instead requires workplace-based training whose duration is what the registration itself demands [reg 2.72B(2)], and the professional-development route turns on face-to-face teaching for an overseas manager or professional [reg 2.72B(6)]. Whatever the purpose, under the nomination criteria the Minister must be satisfied it is a genuine training opportunity offered for a purpose in [reg 2.72B] [reg 2.72A(15)-(16)] and that the sponsor does not engage, or intend to engage, in activities with adverse consequences for the employment or training opportunities, or conditions of employment, of Australians [reg 2.72A(13)]. Those are the legal tests the training has to pass.

The training plan is the vehicle, not the test

The "training plan" is not a term the Regulations define; it is the document, required at policy and form level, through which the nomination establishes the statutory elements above: what skills are built, how the program is structured and supervised, and over what period. Its role is evidentiary: it exists to show that [reg 2.72B] and [reg 2.72A] are met, and it stands or falls on whether it does.

Where policy adds detail (and where it stops)

Home Affairs policy fills in how these elements are assessed: for instance, weighing genuine training against ordinary productive output, and looking for real supervision. Any hours or percentage figures in that assessment are policy settings, not statutory numbers, so they can change and should be checked against current policy; they cannot add a requirement the Regulations do not contain. The universal legal point is genuineness [reg 2.72A(16)]: the training must be a genuine training opportunity, not a job under a training label.

Two personal requirements sit alongside the training: the applicant must have functional English, and must be able to fund the stay. They are separate requirements, and both must be met.

Functional English, at both stages

Functional English is tested twice over: once at the nomination, which must show the nominee has it [reg 2.72A(14)], and again on the visa application, where the applicant must have it [cl 407.212]. The term is defined in the Migration Act [s 5(2)], and the prescribed ways to prove it are set out in [reg 5.17]: evidence specified by the Minister in an instrument, an award requiring at least two years of full-time study conducted in English [reg 5.17(c)], or, where that instrument evidence cannot be provided, a determination made on the basis of a ministerial interview [reg 5.17(d)].

The current evidence instrument is LIN 25/014, which commenced on 7 August 2025. For a relevant application made on or after that date, section 7 preserves specified results from a qualifying test taken before commencement and within the applicable 12-month period. The test date and applicable transitional cohort must therefore be checked against the current instrument rather than applying only its post-commencement test settings. [LIN 25/014 ss 2, 7]

Enough means to fund the stay

The applicant must also have, or be able to access, adequate means to support themselves for the intended stay [cl 407.219]. The Regulations name no figure: what counts as "adequate" is judged on the facts under policy, against the length of stay and the applicant's circumstances. What answers it is evidence of the money, and of who is bearing the cost of the training and the stay.

A 407 is approved in a set order (sponsor, then nomination, then visa) and, where the sponsor is not a Commonwealth agency, the visa application is valid only if an approved, current nomination is already in place to point to. Beyond validity, the applicant must also meet the personal criteria at grant.

Sponsor and nomination first

The organisation must be approved as a temporary activities sponsor and, unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency, the training must be nominated and that nomination approved under [s 140GB] before the visa application is made. For visa applications made on or after 11 March 2026 sponsorship approval must already be in place at lodgement and, unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency, the nomination must also have been approved and not have ceased [Sch 1 1238(3)] [Sch 1 1238 item 5] [cl 407.214]: concurrent lodgement of the three stages is no longer available. A nomination can still be lodged while the sponsorship application is pending [reg 2.72A(1)(a)]; sponsorship approval is required before the nomination can be approved, not before it is lodged [reg 2.72A(3)]. So by the time the visa is lodged, there is already an approved sponsor and, unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency, an approved nomination.

A current nomination the application identifies

Where the sponsor is not a Commonwealth agency, the application is valid only if that nomination has been approved, has not ceased under [reg 2.75A], and is identified in the application [Sch 1 1238]. Without a live nomination to point to, there is no valid application to decide.

The applicant's location and visa status

At application the applicant may be in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance [Sch 1 1238]. A substantive visa the applicant holds must not be a permanent visa, a Subclass 403 in the Domestic Worker (Diplomatic or Consular) stream, a Subclass 771 (Transit), a special-purpose visa, or a temporary visa specified by the Minister in a legislative instrument [Sch 1 item 1238(3) table item 6] [reg 2.07(5)]. An applicant who is onshore without a substantive visa must have held one; the last substantive visa must not have been a Subclass 403 in the Domestic Worker (Diplomatic or Consular) stream, a Subclass 771 (Transit), or a special-purpose visa (a narrower exclusion list than the one just above), and the application must be made within 28 days, running from one of two dates [Sch 1 1238]: the day the last substantive visa ceased to be in effect, or, where that last substantive visa was cancelled and the ART set aside and substituted the cancellation (or the Minister's decision not to revoke it), the day the applicant is notified of the ART's decision. A bridging visa is not a substantive visa, so a bridging-visa holder falls under this 28-day rule; the window runs from the last substantive visa, not from any bridging visa, and the bridging visa neither counts toward nor resets it. The same location rule applies again at grant [cl 407.411].

Two applicant criteria at grant

Validity aside, at grant the applicant must also meet two personal criteria. First, a genuine intention to stay only temporarily for the training purpose [cl 407.217], judged partly on whether the applicant substantially complied with the conditions of the last substantive visa held, and any subsequent bridging visa, so a poor compliance history can sink a 407. Second, the applicant must not hold a permanent visa or an instrument-specified temporary visa [cl 407.218], which rules a 407 out however genuine the training.

A 407 carries conditions the Regulations make mandatory, plus others the Minister may add, and the work condition in particular keeps the visa firmly attached to the training. That attachment is also why changing sponsor is not a simple transfer.

The mandatory conditions

A primary holder's visa must carry four conditions [cl 407.611]: work only in relation to the training (8102), no involvement in activity disruptive to or threatening the community (8303), adequate health insurance kept in place (8501), and a continuing requirement to remain someone who would meet the visa's criteria (8516). Several others (including 8107, 8503 and 8106) may be added at discretion. A family member's visa instead carries 8104, 8303 and 8501 as mandatory [cl 407.612], with 8104 limiting their work to the standard fortnightly cap.

Work is confined to the training

Condition 8102 is the one that shapes the visa: the holder must not work in Australia except in relation to their training [sch 8 cl 8102], so a 407 confers no general right to work: only the nominated training. If the discretionary condition 8107 is imposed, it draws the line tighter again, tying a 407 holder to the most recently nominated program and barring work for any employer other than an employer that nomination identifies [sch 8 cl 8107(5)].

Changing sponsor requires a new nomination

Because the visa stands on one sponsor's approved nomination, the holder cannot move to a different sponsor by choice alone. The new sponsor has to be an approved temporary activities sponsor in its own right and, unless it is a Commonwealth agency, must lodge, and have approved, its own nomination identifying the holder. The nomination belongs to the sponsor that made it [reg 2.72A], so even continuing the same training under a new sponsor requires that new sponsor's own approved nomination; only where the new sponsor is a Commonwealth agency does the 407 scheme require no nomination at all [cl 407.214]. Since the work conditions track "the most recently nominated program," that re-nomination is what lets the authorised training change; whether a new visa application is also needed turns on the circumstances. Unlike a sponsored work visa, a 407 has no employer-transfer mechanism: it authorises the training it was granted for, and nothing wider.

Whether a 407 refusal can be reviewed, and by whom, turns on what was refused (the nomination or the visa) and, for the visa, on where the applicant was. The review right does not always belong to the person you would expect.

A refused nomination

If the nomination is refused under [s 140GB], that decision is reviewable [reg 4.02(4)(d)], but the review belongs to the sponsor who made the nomination, not to the visa applicant [reg 4.02(5)(c)]. A training case knocked out at the nomination stage is therefore the sponsor's to pursue.

A refused visa, onshore

A 407 is a prescribed temporary visa for review of an onshore refusal [reg 4.02(1A)(b)] [s 338(2)(d)]. Beyond the paragraph (d) nomination nexus, which is usually met because the applicant is identified in the approved nomination, the general onshore limbs must also hold: the visa could be granted while the applicant is in the migration zone, the application was made in the migration zone, and the decision was not made while the applicant was in immigration clearance or was a person who had been refused immigration clearance and had not subsequently been immigration cleared [s 338(2)(a)-(c)]. The applicant seeks review in their own right, and must be physically present in the migration zone when the review application is made [s 347A(2)].

A refused visa, offshore

An offshore refusal is different: it is reviewable only in the limited situations set out in [reg 4.02(4)(o)]: chiefly where the applicant is still identified in an approved nomination that has not ceased under [reg 2.75A], where a review of the sponsor's or the nomination's own refusal is still on foot, where the refusal was on the secondary criteria alone, or where the applicant is sponsored by an approved work sponsor that is a Commonwealth agency [reg 4.02(4)(o)(v)]. For the nomination-nexus and pending-review routes, the nominator or sponsor also has to be a qualifying person or body (broadly an Australian citizen or permanent resident, a company or partnership operating in Australia, a New Zealand SCV holder, or a government agency) [reg 4.02(4AA)]. The secondary-criteria route does not carry that qualifying-entity gate. Either way it is the sponsor or nominator who brings the review, not the offshore applicant [reg 4.02(5)(n)].