Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa

A Subclass 400 (Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist)) is for short, highly specialised, non-ongoing work in Australia, usually at the invitation of an Australian organisation. It carries no sponsorship or nomination – the criteria attach to the applicant and the activity, not to an employer – and it is deliberately narrow: it is not a substitute for a Subclass 482, and not a way to fill ordinary labour shortages.

The two streams

• Highly Specialised Work stream [cl 400.221] – for a person coming to do work that is highly specialised and non-ongoing, most classically, an overseas manufacturer's own engineers installing, commissioning, or repairing specialised machinery an Australian business has bought.
• Australia's Interest stream [cl 400.241] – a narrower alternative for compelling circumstances that affect Australia's interests and require the applicant's entry and stay.

Whichever stream is used, the common criteria apply on top [cl 400.211] [cl 400.213]: the applicant must have personal attributes or an employment background relevant to the event, activity or work, must show a genuine need to be in Australia for the event, activity or work, and must genuinely intend to stay only temporarily; the common-criteria subdivision also carries the usual adequate-funds, public-interest, and special-return requirements [cl 400.214]-[cl 400.216].

The stream rests on a few criteria, with no labour market testing, sponsorship, or nomination – the case is made out on the applicant and the activity alone.

Highly specialised and non-ongoing

The work must be highly specialised [cl 400.221] and non-ongoing [cl 400.222]. Non-ongoing has a set meaning: the work is likely to be finished within a continuous period of six months or less, and the person has neither been led to expect, nor arranged, to stay on and work after it [cl 400.111]. The engagement must have a genuine end – nothing open-ended or renewable.

A genuine need for this person here

The applicant must have personal attributes or an employment background that fit the work, and must show a real need to be in Australia to do it [cl 400.211]. That is where the specialised case is actually won or lost. (The familiar "skills not available in the Australian labour market" line is policy commentary on this; the black-letter test is the specialised nature of the work plus the demonstrated need to be here.)

No harm to Australian workers

The applicant must not intend activities that would harm the employment or training opportunities, or the conditions of employment, of Australian citizens or permanent residents [cl 400.224]. Undercutting local pay or displacing local workers is what defeats a 400 here.

How long it is granted

A Subclass 400 is short. As current departmental practice, it can be granted for a stay of up to six months depending on the circumstances of the case, but a stay longer than three months generally needs a strong business case – so the ordinary grant is up to three months. That is practice within the legal ceiling, not a separate rule. Nor is there a rule barring a later offshore 400: repeat use is an assessment risk rather than a prohibition, because stringing short 400s together invites scrutiny of whether the stay is genuinely temporary and the work genuinely non-ongoing [cl 400.213] [cl 400.111].

The legislative ceiling and the clock

The regulation sets the outer limits: travel within six months of grant, and a stay of up to six months from first entry, or a shorter period the Minister specifies [cl 400.511] – the actual grant is set within that. The six-month ceiling mirrors the non-ongoing definition, work likely finished within a continuous period of six months or less [cl 400.111]. The stay runs from first entry and does not reset when a multiple-entry holder leaves and re-enters, so re-entry does not refresh the allowed time.

Yes, at two separate points. The applicant must be outside Australia when the application is made [Sch 1 1231], and must again be outside Australia when the visa is granted [cl 400.411]. Both requirements have to be met; satisfying only one does not satisfy the other. Because the applicant must be offshore at the time of grant, someone who lodges from outside Australia but then enters while the application is still being decided cannot be granted the visa until they are outside Australia again. Travel therefore needs to be planned around the expected decision.

The conditions

A primary Subclass 400 must carry condition 8107 (work) and condition 8303, and condition 8503 (no further stay) may also be imposed [cl 400.611]. Condition 8303 prohibits involvement in activities disruptive to, or violence threatening harm to, the Australian community or a group within it [condition 8303]. Family members carry 8101 (no work) and 8303 instead, and may likewise have 8503 imposed [cl 400.612].

Not an employer-sponsored visa

A 400 has no sponsor and no nomination, but that does not leave the holder free to change employer. Where the visa was granted to enable particular employment, condition 8107 means the holder must not cease that employment, work in a position or occupation inconsistent with it, or work for another person or on their own account [sch 8 cl 8107(1)]; where the visa was granted for an activity rather than employment, the same clause ties the holder to that activity [sch 8 cl 8107(2)]. The holder is therefore effectively tied to the employer or activity the visa was granted for – the real difference from a 482 is that there is no transfer or new-nomination mechanism for moving to another employer, not that there is no restriction. The work should be described accurately in the application.