Roles we mobilise
Bringing HV electrical and protection specialists to site
High voltage (HV) electrical specialists brought to Australian sites for switching, testing, protection or substation work generally need a Subclass 400 for a defined campaign, or a Subclass 482 for an ongoing role. On this role, licensing is often the constraint, not the visa. The visa doesn’t license the work, and the licensing has to be resolved separately. Resource Visa advises Australian employers on the visa, and on sequencing it with the licensing.
Every engagement starts with an employer. We don’t take on individuals seeking a visa on their own. If you need help with your own visa, you can search the Register of Migration Agents at mara.gov.au.
Licensing first
Read this before you engage anyone: the visa doesn’t license the work
This is the single most important point on this page.
A visa gives a person permission to be in Australia and to work. It doesn’t give them permission to do licensed electrical work. In Western Australia, electrical work includes work on electrical machines, instruments and equipment supplied above 50 volts AC, so HV testing and commissioning is generally licensed electrical work. An overseas-qualified electrician needs a skills assessment, a permit to work under supervision and gap training before a full licence.
That process has its own timeline and its own paperwork. It’s often only discovered after the visa is granted, when the worker is already in Australia and can’t start.
Start the licensing question first, and run it in parallel with the visa.
Who it’s for
Who this page is for
- Mining operators with HV distribution and substations on site
- Power generators and network owners planning outages and substation work
- Energy and renewables projects commissioning new HV assets
- Electrical contractors needing specialist testing capability for a defined scope
Scope of work
The work this covers
- HV switching and operations
- Protection and control testing
- Substation commissioning and maintenance
- Transformer testing
- Specialist testing on large distribution and generation assets
The right visa
Which visa applies
For defined, specialised work, the Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa generally applies, employer-backed, no sponsorship approval needed.
Normally up to three months in any 12-month period, counting every 400 stay with any employer. Up to six months only in exceptional circumstances, on strong evidence. A specialist who has already spent time in Australia on a 400 in the last 12 months may be granted only the balance, so offshore and FIFO rosters that add up to more than three months a year need a different visa. We establish the specialist’s full 400 history before anything is lodged.
For an ongoing role, the pathway is the Subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa. The Specialist Skills stream is open to most occupations where the salary meets its income threshold. It isn’t available for technicians and trades workers, machinery operators and drivers, or labourers, whatever the salary.
The evidence
What makes the application strong
Name the competencies
State the specific HV competencies and the voltage levels involved. Generic “electrician” descriptions weaken the case.
Name the systems
Protection and control testing is a narrow field. Naming the relay families and test platforms strengthens the specialised-skills case considerably.
Show the licensing plan
Show that the licensing question has been identified and is being handled. That’s good practice, and it shows the mobilisation has been planned properly.
Put a number on the outage window
The cost per day of the substation or generation asset being out, plus liquidated damages or other contract or network costs. Quantify them.
One point of control
The 400 is the specialist’s application. Run it from one desk.
Your company briefs us once. Your specialist deals with one desk and one document list. We build the business case with you and drive lodgement against your date.
Documents
What you’ll need to pull together
- The technician’s qualifications, competencies and voltage-level experience
- The systems and equipment they’ll work on
- The scope, the site and the dates
- Your plan for electrical licensing or recognition
- Who employs the technician and who directs the work
- What local sourcing returned
Common mistakes
Where HV mobilisations go wrong
- The visa is treated as the whole problem. It’s usually the smaller half.
- The licensing timeline is discovered late. That costs more than the visa ever will.
- Remote sites aren’t factored in. Inductions and site access add their own lead time on top.
How we help
How Resource Visa helps
On HV mobilisations, we raise the licensing question on the first call, help you sequence it against the visa, and prepare the visa application around the specific competencies. We handle the migration side.
The process
How a mobilisation runs
Same-business-day triage.
The work, the site, the dates, the fit, and an honest read on whether the 400 is the right instrument.
One document request.
A single consolidated list, not a drip-feed. The one variable nobody controls is how fast your documents reach us, which is why we ask for everything once.
Lodged within two business days of a complete file.
For crews, we agree the lodgement timetable at triage.
Business case assembled and evidenced, your review, then lodgement. That’s how fast we work. Decisions and processing times rest with the Department of Home Affairs.
Ongoing
Standing arrangements
For OEM service divisions and shutdown contractors that mobilise repeatedly: preferred-supplier arrangements, batch mobilisations against your shutdown calendar, one nominated contact, and each specialist’s 400 history checked before every lodgement.
Enquiries after 3pm AWST, on weekends or on WA public holidays are triaged the next business day.
When the Short Stay Specialist visa (subclass 400) is the wrong visa for HV work
If the role is ongoing, the 400 isn’t the fit and we’ll say so on the first call. And we’ll raise the licensing timeline too, before you spend money on a visa for someone who can’t start.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Not necessarily: the visa doesn’t license the work. Read the licensing section at the top of this page first.
For specialised, non-ongoing work, generally a Subclass 400. An ongoing role is a Subclass 482 matter.
Often the licensing. Plan them in parallel and start the licensing question first.
It depends on whether the specific work counts as licensed electrical work under the relevant state framework. Settle it before engagement.
The 482 is a temporary visa. Permanent residence is a separate step, usually through the subclass 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream after a qualifying period working for an approved sponsor. For that stream the nomination comes from the sponsoring employer; a Direct Entry nomination doesn’t need sponsorship approval. Either way, the position must be full-time and available for at least two years. The licensing question applies throughout.
The electrical licensing regulator in the state where the work will happen. An overseas-qualified electrician needs a skills assessment, a permit to work under supervision and gap training before a full licence. We’ll flag the question early.
Same-business-day triage. One document request. Lodged within two business days of a complete file. For crews, we agree the lodgement timetable at triage. That’s how fast we work. Decisions and processing times rest with the Department of Home Affairs. Enquiries after 3pm AWST, on weekends or on WA public holidays are triaged the next business day. The licensing may well be the longer lead time.
Reviewed by a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1686595) · Last reviewed [date]
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Why Resource Visa
Migration advice that understands what’s riding on the project.
A visa application is rarely just forms: behind it sits a shutdown window, a commissioning milestone or a contract deadline.
Resource Visa brings migration expertise together with corporate and commercial experience, so the application is approached in the context of the business requirement behind it.
Our focus is the company bringing the specialist into Australia, not high-volume individual migration.
We understand the environments behind the visa request: shutdowns, maintenance, commissioning and project mobilisation.
Need an overseas HV specialist on site?
Tell us the work and the voltage levels. We’ll map the visa and the licensing question together.
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AWST