Subclass 407 · Sector guide
Subclass 407 Training Visas for Health, Aged Care and Disability Sponsors
Health care and social assistance organisations have flexibility under the Subclass 407 programme that most sponsors don't — and most don't know it.
By Keshab Chapagain, registered migration agent (MARN 1576536) since 2015 · WIDEN, Sydney · Reviewed July 2026
Keshab Chapagain · MARN 1576536 · Registered since 2015 - Sequential lodgement
- From 11 Mar 2026
- End-to-end timeline
- ≈ 9 months
- TS approval lasts
- 5 years
- Pathway assessment
- Typically 2 business days
Who delivers the training — the default, and the exception
First, what this is not. The exception below is about who delivers the training. It does not reduce the training obligation itself. The program must still be a genuine training opportunity under regulation 2.72A(16), still be structured and specifically tailored to the nominee under regulation 2.72B(3)(a), and still be evidenced by a proper training plan. Nothing about that changes for a health or social assistance sponsor. What changes is that you can have someone else deliver it.
Regulation 2.72A(12) requires the Minister to be satisfied that the occupational training will be provided directly by the sponsor — unless one of three alternatives applies. One is legislative instrument IMMI 16/108, which specifies sponsors not required to deliver the training themselves:
- agencies of a State or Territory
- higher education providers listed as Table A or Table B under Subdivision 16-B of the Higher Education Support Act 2003
- entities engaged in health care, scientific research, social assistance or religious services
If your organisation operates in health care or social assistance — hospitals, medical and allied health practices, aged care, disability services, community services — you fall within the third category. In practice the training can be delivered by a partner organisation, a specialist clinical educator, a related entity or another arrangement that suits your structure. Someone identifiable still has to deliver a real program, and the plan still has to show what that program is.
The same instrument specifies circumstances that apply to any sponsor, including where the training is necessary for registration, membership or licensing, and where the provider is an associated entity of the sponsor under s 50AAA of the Corporations Act 2001.
Why registration-pathway training suits health sponsors
Most of the 407 programme runs through the enhance-skills pathway in regulation 2.72B(3), which requires the occupation to appear on a skills list and the nominee to have 12 months' full-time equivalent experience in the preceding 24 months.
Registration training is different. Regulation 2.72B(2) applies where:
- the training is necessary for the nominee to obtain registration, membership or licensing, in Australia or their home country, in relation to their occupation; and
- that registration is required for the nominee to be employed in the occupation; and
- the duration is necessary to obtain it, taking account of the nominee's prior experience; and
- the training is workplace based; and
- the nominee has appropriate qualifications and experience to undertake it
That pathway tracks professional registration requirements, not skills lists, and does not move with labour market policy the way the enhance-skills pathway does. For an overseas-qualified clinician completing supervised practice toward Australian registration, this is the pathway the programme was designed for.
A structural point worth knowing. The circumstances specified under IMMI 16/108 for the delivery criterion mirror the registration pathway in reg 2.72B(2) almost exactly. Where the registration pathway applies, one set of facts satisfies two separate criteria — there is less to evidence and less that can go wrong.
Occupations on the 407 list
The Subclass 407 occupation list is set out in LIN 19/050, across three lists — the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List, the Short-term Skilled Occupation List and the Regional Occupation List. An occupation on any of the three is specified.
Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List — physiotherapist, occupational therapist, podiatrist, audiologist, speech pathologist, chiropractor, osteopath, optometrist, orthotist or prosthetist, medical diagnostic radiographer, medical radiation therapist, nuclear medicine technologist, sonographer, general practitioner and specialist medical occupations, midwife, nurse practitioner, registered nurses across aged care, community health, critical care, developmental disability, disability and rehabilitation, medical, mental health, perioperative, surgical and paediatrics, and social worker.
Short-term Skilled Occupation List — enrolled nurse, nurse educator, nurse researcher, nurse manager, resident medical officer, dietitian, nutritionist, dental specialist, hospital, industrial and retail pharmacist, orthoptist, occupational health and safety adviser, diversional therapist, community worker, disabilities services officer, family support worker, residential care officer, youth worker and welfare worker.
Regional Occupation List — dentist, anaesthetist, dental hygienist, dental therapist, environmental health officer, exercise physiologist, operating theatre technician and pathology collector.
The occupation applies to a nominee only where the tasks to be performed correspond to the tasks set out in the ANZSCO code for that occupation — a matching job title is not enough. The 407 programme uses ANZSCO as in force 27 June 2013, a different version from the one used for subclasses 482 and 186.
What the 407 is not for
It is not a solution to workforce shortages. We say this plainly because health, aged care and disability providers have genuine shortages, and the 407 can look like an answer. It isn't, and treating it as one creates real risk for the sponsor.
Regulation 2.72A(13) requires the Minister to be satisfied that the sponsor does not engage in, or intend to engage in, activities with adverse consequences for the employment, training opportunities or conditions of Australian citizens or permanent residents. Regulation 2.72A(16) requires the nominated program to be a genuine training opportunity.
Where the organisation's real purpose is to fill a roster gap, the 407 is the wrong programme and an employer-sponsored work visa should be considered instead. Where there is a genuine training need — an overseas-qualified clinician completing supervised practice, a structured program addressing a documented skills gap — the 407 does what it was built to do.
Timing: plan for around nine months
From 11 March 2026, the three stages must be lodged sequentially — you can no longer lodge sponsorship, nomination and visa application together:
- Sponsorship — approval as a Temporary Activities Sponsor
- Nomination — with the training plan and supporting evidence, lodged after sponsorship is approved
- Visa application — lodged only after the nomination is approved
End-to-end this now runs to approximately nine months. For organisations planning intakes or rotations, that timeline needs to sit in the workforce plan rather than being discovered late. Temporary Activities Sponsor approval lasts five years and covers any number of nominees, so the first stage is a one-off investment across a programme of appointments.
How we help
We prepare complete nomination documentation — pathway assessment, skills gap report, training plan and the supporting evidence regulation 2.72A requires. Every plan is prepared by Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536), a registered migration agent since 2015 who also holds a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
Start with a pathway assessment. Send us the occupation, your organisation type and the nominee's background. We'll come back to you with which pathway is available, whether the nomination is viable, and a fixed fee for the documentation. If there is no genuine training basis, we'll tell you.
Start with a pathway assessment
Send us the occupation, your organisation type and the nominee's background. We come back to you with the pathway, viability and a fixed fee — and if there's no genuine training basis, we say so.
General information current as at 30 July 2026. Instruments and requirements change; confirm the current position for any live matter. Dynamic Consultancy Pty Ltd t/a WIDEN — Migration Experts, ABN 19 167 039 250. Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.
Questions we get asked first
Do health and aged care sponsors have to deliver the 407 training themselves?
Not necessarily. Regulation 2.72A(12) requires the training to be provided directly by the sponsor unless an exception applies. Legislative instrument IMMI 16/108 specifies entities engaged in health care, scientific research, social assistance or religious services (among others) as sponsors that are not required to deliver the training themselves — it can be delivered by a partner organisation, a specialist clinical educator or a related entity. The exception is about who delivers the training; it does not reduce the training obligation itself, which must still be a genuine, structured, tailored program under reg 2.72A(16) and 2.72B(3)(a).
What is the registration pathway for a 407 nomination?
Regulation 2.72B(2) applies where the training is necessary for the nominee to obtain registration, membership or licensing in relation to their occupation, that registration is required to be employed in the occupation, the duration is necessary to obtain it, the training is workplace based, and the nominee has appropriate qualifications and experience. It tracks professional registration requirements rather than skills lists — the pathway the programme was designed for an overseas-qualified clinician completing supervised practice toward Australian registration.
Is the 407 a solution to health or aged care workforce shortages?
No. Regulations 2.72A(13) and 2.72A(16) require the nomination to be a genuine training opportunity that does not adversely affect employment or training for Australians. Where the real purpose is to fill a roster gap, the 407 is the wrong programme and an employer-sponsored work visa should be considered instead. Where there is a genuine training need, the 407 does what it was built to do.
Keep reading