Getting a specialist on site for an unplanned breakdown
When equipment fails without warning and the only certified technician is overseas, the visa is usually a Subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) — it covers specialised, non-ongoing work with no sponsorship obligation, which is why it moves faster than any other work visa. Resource Visa triages urgent mobilisations the same business day and lodges within 48 hours of a complete file.
Call first. Read second.
08 6243 0379 — Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AWST.
If production has stopped, the fastest thing you can do is talk to the person who will prepare the application. You will get an honest read within the call on whether the timeline is achievable — not a callback, not a form response.
If it is outside hours, use the briefing form and write “urgent” in the first line. Urgent files are triaged the same day.
What we need from you on the first call
Have these to hand and the triage takes ten minutes instead of two days:
- What has failed, and what the specialist will actually do
- The equipment make and model, and what certification the work requires
- Who the specialist is, their nationality, and where they are now
- Whether they have been to Australia on a 400 in the last twelve months
- Who employs them — you, an EPC contractor, a labour-hire firm, or the OEM
- Where the work happens: onshore site, offshore facility, or vessel
- What a day of downtime costs you
That last one is not a sales question. The commercial consequence of the outage is evidence in the application, and it is the section that most distinguishes a strong 400 business case from a weak one.
What happens in the first 48 hours
What determines whether it's achievable
Four variables, in the order they usually bite:
How fast your documents arrive. This is almost always the binding constraint. We ask for everything once, on day one, for exactly this reason.
Where the specialist is, and what passport they hold. Location affects lodgement options; nationality affects the evidence required.
Whether the work is genuinely specialised. An urgent breakdown does not by itself make a role specialised. The case still has to stand on the skill.
What the Department does after lodgement. Outside anyone’s control, including ours. We will never tell you a grant date, because no adviser can honestly give you one.
If the OEM technician is the only person certified
This is the most common version of an unplanned breakdown in the resources sector, and it is a strong case when it is documented properly.
Where a manufacturer’s warranty, a certification regime or a safety case requires the work be done by an authorised technician, that requirement is evidence. Get it in writing from the OEM: the certification requirement, the named technician or authorisation level, and what happens to warranty or compliance if unauthorised work is performed.
Employers routinely tell us this on the phone and never think to put it in a document. It is one of the strongest pieces of evidence available to a 400 application, and it takes an email to obtain.
When it isn't achievable
Sometimes the honest answer is that the timeline cannot be met, or that the 400 is not the right instrument. If that is the case you will hear it in the triage call, not a week later.
Where that happens, there are usually still options worth discussing: a differently scoped visit, a different specialist who is already onshore or holds an existing visa, or remote support while a longer application runs. We will tell you which apply.
Frequently asked questions
Resource Visa triages the same business day and lodges within 48 hours of receiving a complete file. Departmental processing time after lodgement is set by the Department and no adviser can commit to it.
No. A visitor visa does not permit work. Performing hands-on work on a visitor visa puts the worker’s visa and the business’s compliance position at risk, and urgency is not a defence. If someone has told you otherwise, get a second opinion before the specialist boards.
For specialised, non-ongoing work the Subclass 400 is generally the fastest route, because it requires no sponsorship approval, no nomination and no formal Labour Market Testing. Which visa actually fits depends on the work, not the urgency.
It is a common and generally strong scenario. The OEM relationship and any certification or warranty requirement should be documented — that requirement is evidence that the skill is genuinely specialised.
The briefing form is monitored and urgent enquiries are triaged the same business day. Write “urgent” in the first line.
Related pages
Subclass 400 Rapid Mobilisation
The Subclass 400 covers specialised, non-ongoing work up to three months with no sponsorship obligation. Decision-ready…
Who must be the sponsor: principal, EPC contractor, or labour hire?
When a specialist is engaged through an EPC or labour-hire contractor, who sponsors them? How the contractual chain changes…
Why Subclass 400 applications get refused
The reasons Subclass 400 applications fail — and why a refusal follows both the company and the worker into every future…
Book a 20-minute mobilisation briefing
Twenty minutes. No obligation. Direct with our principal. Tell us the role, the site and the date.
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AWST