A LinkedIn advert will now suffice as evidence of local labour market testing for Australian employers, as the government backflips on requirements for the new Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa.

Officially implemented in March this year, the TSS visa has been designed to replace the previous 457 visa and ensure Australian workers are given first opportunity at local jobs.

Part of this is a labour market testing (LMT) policy which requires businesses “provide evidence of attempts to recruit suitably qualified and experienced Australians.”

The Department of Home Affairs has developed a strict set of requirements for LMT advertising including: the job is advertised in Australia, is published in English, and includes a salary range.

It also requires at least two advertisements be published “on a prominent or professional recruitment website with national reach that publishes advertisements for positions throughout Australia.”

The government’s jobactive.go.au is provided as an example.

Initially, all advertisements on general classified websites or social media platforms were to be rejected as evidence by the Department.

But following an update to the TSS visas, this policy has now been amended to state “LinkedIn's online recruitment platform is acceptable for LMT purposes.”

LinkedIn, which is largely used for professional networking, also contains a job listings site where companies can advertise opportunities and candidates can apply directly.

Companies set a daily budget for the job postings which are then billed on a pay-per-click basis, with higher daily budgets resulting in greater visibility of the job.

Under the new visa requirements, the job must be publicly listed and not restricted just to LinkedIn profile members to qualify as LMT.

National print media, national radio and accredited sponsor websites are also included as evidence of LMT.

All other social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and general classified sites such as Gumtree are still not accepted.

There are also changes around when the job is posted and the amount of time it is advertised.

Previously, advertising had to occur within 12 months of the date of lodgement of the visa nomination.

This has now been shortened to four months.

The advertising must now be in place for a total of four weeks, rather than the 21 days which was initially stipulated.