Coded welders and pressure boilermakers brought into an Australian shutdown or fabrication campaign generally come in on a Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa, where the work has a defined end date. A strong application rests on the welding procedure qualification, which is objective and documented. Resource Visa prepares these applications for Australian employers and fabrication contractors.
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.
The distinction
“Welder” is a trade. “Coded welder” is a specialist.
That difference sits at the centre of every welding visa application.
Being “coded” means being qualified to a specific welding procedure:
- a set process and position
- a set material and thickness range
- a set consumable
Pressure welders and boilermakers work on plant that has to go back into service under an integrity regime, which is why shutdowns lean so heavily on them. There’s no formal labour market testing for a 400. The application still has to show why the skills aren’t readily available in Australia, and certification, OEM authorisation and licensing usually show that better than a job ad.
The narrower the coding, the smaller the pool of people who hold it. Exotic alloys, dissimilar metals and difficult positions narrow it further.
Who it’s for
Who this page is for
- Shutdown and maintenance contractors who need more coded welders than they can find locally
- Fabrication contractors with pressure, pipework or specialist alloy scopes
- Operators whose shutdown scope includes pressure welding repairs
The right visa
Which visa applies to coded welders
For a defined campaign with an end date, the Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa generally applies. It covers specialised, non-ongoing work, 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 welding role in your permanent workforce, the pathway is the Subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa, with your business as an approved sponsor. For some WA employers, a DAMA may also be relevant for ongoing site roles. As at [date]: five DAMAs operate in Western Australia. These are the state-wide WA DAMA, which covers all of WA including metropolitan Perth, and regional DAMAs for the Goldfields, Kimberley, Pilbara and South West. The regional agreements are closing to new applications between late October 2026 and March 2027, after which new DAMA labour agreements in WA are expected to run through the WA DAMA. Existing labour agreements and visas continue.
The evidence
Specify the coding: it’s the core of the argument
The code
Name the qualification standard: AS/NZS, ASME IX or ISO 9606. Don’t just write “certified welder”.
The detail
Name the process, position, material and thickness range. “Welder qualified to ASME IX on duplex stainless in the 6G position” is a specialist. “Welder” is a trade.
What narrows the pool
Exotic alloys, dissimilar metal joints, restricted access or difficult positions. If they apply, say so, because that’s where the local pool gets small.
What a shutdown overrun costs
Standby cost per day and the cost of an overrun. 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.
Requalification
The requalification trap
This one can cost you days on site.
Welder qualifications are procedure-specific. An overseas coding doesn’t automatically transfer to the welding procedure specification (WPS) used on your Australian job. In many cases it has to be verified, and often requalified, against your procedure.
Requalification needs time and a test facility. Unless someone plans for it, it happens after the welder arrives. So a welder can land in Australia legally and still be unable to strike an arc on your job.
Before you engage anyone, ask your fabrication or integrity team exactly what they’ll require, and book the testing into the mobilisation plan.
Documents
What you’ll need to pull together
- Each welder’s qualification records, showing the code, process, positions, materials and thickness ranges
- The WPS or procedures the job will use
- Your integrity or fabrication team’s requirements for verification or requalification
- The campaign scope, the site and the dates
- Who employs the welders and who directs the work
- What local sourcing returned
Crews
Bringing in a welding crew
A crew on one project is assessed as one case: why this many people, why none locally, and what happens when they leave. Each welder needs their own application, but the business case is shared and the applications can be prepared as a batch against your shutdown dates. If a name changes after lodgement, the replacement needs a new application of their own, so lock the crew list as late as your plan allows, but before lodging.
Common mistakes
Where welding applications go wrong
- Coding assumed to transfer. Check it against your procedure before anyone travels.
- Described as a trade, not a coding. This weakens the application for no reason.
- Requalification not scheduled. The visa isn’t the last constraint.
- Late crew changes. Each substitute is a new application.
How we help
How Resource Visa helps
For welding crews, we build each application around the coding, raise the requalification question on day one, and prepare the whole crew as a batch against your shutdown calendar. For contractors who mobilise welders every season, standing arrangements give you one contact and a business case you don’t rebuild each time.
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 welders
If you need the welder for an ongoing role, the 400 isn’t the honest instrument. We’ll say so and set out the 482 or DAMA pathway instead.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
For a defined campaign, generally a Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa, employer-backed, no sponsorship approval needed.
Not automatically. Welder qualifications are procedure-specific and often need verification or requalification against the procedure used on the Australian job. Check with your integrity or fabrication team before engaging the welder.
Yes. The code, process, materials and positions are what turn “welder” into a documented specialist skill.
Each welder needs their own application, but the business case is shared and the applications run as a batch. A crew on one project is assessed as one case: why this many people, why none locally, and what happens when they leave.
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.
They’re in the country legally but can’t work on the coded job until they qualify. That’s why requalification should be planned and booked before they travel.
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. Start as soon as the scope and crew firm up.
Reviewed by a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1686595) · Last reviewed [date]
Keep reading
Related pages
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Bringing overseas specialists in for a plant shutdown or turnaround. What the Subclass 400 covers, how far ahead to start, and what happens when the date moves.
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Resource Visa mobilises specialist personnel into Australian oil and gas operations.
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.
Short of coded welders for your next shutdown?
Tell us the codes, the materials and the dates. We’ll tell you what the visa needs and what to sort out on requalification before anyone flies.
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AWST