How long an ACILA takes - the union clock your visa is on, the six week negotiation, and how to verify progress without asking your employer

Work VisasAged CareEmployer Sponsorship

By Aussie Migration GuidePublished 30 September 202614 min read

Your Aged Care Employer Does Not Hold an ACILA: How Long Getting One Takes

Your employer has said they will look into a labour agreement. That is genuinely good news, and it is also the point at which most people stop asking questions and start waiting.

The Framing This Article Exists to Change

Waiting Is the Problem. You Are on a Visa With a Fixed End Date and the Process You Are Waiting on Has No Obligation to Finish Before It.

There are real numbers attached to each stage, one union publishes a public list you can check yourself, and there are specific points at which the honest answer is that it will not arrive in time.

This article is about those three things.

The Short Version

The union negotiation typically runs to about six weeks once it actually starts, and one union has said it responds to a provider enquiry within ten business days. After the memorandum of understanding is signed, the agreement request goes to the Department, then sponsorship approval if the provider is not already approved, then the nomination and your visa. Nominations under the agreement are fast-tracked. A realistic best case, where the provider already holds sponsorship approval and moves promptly, is a few months. Nothing about that fits a visa expiring in weeks.

Employer Says They Are Working on an Agreement? A Confidential Review Sets the Timeline Against Your Visa Before Anything Runs Out.

Whether the stage the process is at will complete before your visa expires, whether your employer is even eligible for the agreement, and whether a provider that already holds one is worth approaching in parallel, all turn on your specifics. A migration professional can settle the timeline before you decide what to do this month.

Registered Migration ProfessionalsConfidential AssessmentResponse Within 24 Hours

You Can Check This Yourself, Without Asking Anyone

This is the part almost nobody knows and it is the most useful thing on this page.

Public and Checkable

The United Workers Union Publishes a List of Aged Care Providers That Have Signed, or Are Signing, MoUs for Labour Agreements.

It is on their website and it is public. Two things you can do with it.

Use 1

Check whether your own employer appears, which tells you whether anything has actually started.

Use 2

Use it as a shortlist of providers who have already done the work, if you reach the point where changing employers becomes the faster route.

Two caveats worth holding. The union states the list does not reflect every discussion it is currently having, so absence from it is not proof that nothing is happening. Presence on it is good evidence that something is. It also only covers one of the three unions. A provider working with the ANMF or the HSU would not appear there at all.

Our page on identifying aged care providers that already sponsor covers what to look for once you have a shortlist.

The Stages, With the Times Attached

Stage	Realistic Time	What Is Actually Happening
Initial contact	Days	The provider emails the relevant union. The ANMF has said it responds to provider enquiries within ten business days. This stage is quick, which is why it is a useful early checkpoint.
Union negotiation	About six weeks	The figure the United Workers Union has given for the negotiation itself, with meetings scheduled around the provider availability. It can run longer where union capacity is stretched, and more providers seeking access makes that more likely.
Agreement request	Departmental assessment	Lodged through ImmiAccount with the signed MoU attached. The Department assesses the request.
Sponsorship approval	Additional time	Only if the provider is not already an approved sponsor. Worth establishing early because it is a separate application.
Nomination and visa	Fast-tracked	Nominations and visa applications under the agreement receive priority processing. This is the quickest stage and the one people wrongly worry about most.

Add those together and the shape becomes clear. The negotiation is the long pole, the Departmental stages follow it, and the part everyone focuses on, the visa itself, is the fastest. Our full ACILA employer process explainer covers the mechanics of each stage in more depth.

A provider that starts today and moves without delay is looking at a few months rather than a few weeks. A provider that has not yet sent the first email has not started at all.

The Checkpoints, and What Each One Tells You

Rather than waiting and hoping, set dates. Each of these is a question with a factual answer, and the answers tell you whether to keep waiting or to change plan.

When	What to Ask	What the Answer Means
Week 0	Who is handling this and when will they contact the union?	You want a name and a date. If nobody owns it, nothing will happen.
Week 2	Has the union been contacted, and have they replied?	The ANMF response time suggests a reply should have arrived. No contact by week two means the process has not begun.
Week 8	Is the memorandum of understanding signed?	If negotiation started around week two and typically runs six weeks, this is roughly when it should land. Not signed and not close means the timeline has slipped.
Week 12	Has the agreement request been lodged with the Department?	This is the point at which the process becomes visible in a system rather than sitting in a negotiation.
Ongoing	Are we already an approved sponsor?	Ask this at week zero, not week twelve. It determines whether an extra application sits in the sequence.

The Honest Checkpoint

The Decision Moment

If Your Visa Expires Within Four Months and the Memorandum of Understanding Is Not Signed, This Is Not Going to Finish in Time.

That is not pessimism. It is the arithmetic of a six week negotiation followed by three further stages.

Keep supporting the agreement process, because it may well help you next year or help the next person. But stop treating it as your plan for this year and put something else in place now, while you still hold a valid visa.

Our companion article on what is left when the ACILA timeline does not fit an expiring 485 covers the alternatives worth checking this week.

Before spending months waiting on an ACILA make sure your employer is even eligible - two categories are excluded entirely — Before you spend months on this, make sure your employer is even eligible. Two categories are excluded from the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement entirely, and if either applies to you the conversation needs to be about a different route rather than about how long an agreement takes.

Who Can Never Get One

Before you spend months on this, make sure your employer is even eligible. Two categories are excluded from the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement entirely.

The Two Exclusions

Disability care and support providers. The agreement covers residential and home care aged care providers. A disability-only organisation cannot access it, whatever the occupation description says about disabled carers. Our page on NDIS support worker visa sponsorship covers what is available instead.
On-hire and labour hire agencies. If you are employed through an agency rather than directly by a provider, this agreement is not available to your employer.

If either applies to you, the conversation needs to be about a different route entirely rather than about how long an agreement takes. A regional designated area agreement or a company-specific agreement may be possible, and a move to a directly employing aged care provider is often the simplest answer.

What to Do in Parallel

Supporting the agreement process and preparing a fallback are not in conflict. Do both.

Check the union list to see whether your employer appears, and to build a shortlist of providers that already hold agreements.
Apply to providers that already hold an agreement. They can act on a timeline a first-time applicant cannot, and you lose nothing by having the option.
Get your own documents ready now. Qualification, employment records, English test, identity. None of that depends on your employer and all of it is needed the moment a nomination becomes possible.
If you studied and lived in a designated regional area, check the second graduate visa immediately, because that must be lodged while your current visa is still valid.
Work out what else you could lodge before your visa expires, even if it is not your first choice. A lodged application protects your status. A pending agreement does not.
Set your own decision date, at least six weeks before your visa expires, and hold yourself to it.

What You Should Not Do

Offer to pay for any part of the agreement, the sponsorship or the nomination. Employers cannot lawfully recover those costs from you in any form, and offering carries its own exposure.
Resign from your current role on the strength of a promise. Nothing is secure until a nomination is lodged.
Let your visa lapse while waiting. An expired visa closes options that a pending agreement will not reopen.
Assume silence means progress. Ask the checkpoint questions and get answers in writing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take an employer to get an ACILA? v

The union negotiation typically runs to about six weeks once it starts, and the Departmental stages follow. A realistic overall timeline is a few months where the provider already holds sponsorship approval and moves promptly, and longer where it does not. The negotiation is the stage that consumes the time.

How can I tell whether my employer has actually started? v

Ask who is handling it and when the union was contacted. The United Workers Union also publishes a list of providers that have signed or are signing memorandums of understanding, which you can check yourself. Absence from that list is not proof nothing is happening, since it does not capture every discussion and covers only one of the three unions.

My visa expires in two months. Will this be ready? v

Almost certainly not, unless the memorandum of understanding is already signed and the provider is already an approved sponsor. The negotiation alone typically takes about six weeks and three further stages follow it. Plan on the basis that it will not arrive in time and treat it as a bonus if it does.

Can my employer speed it up? v

Partly. Scheduling meetings promptly is within their control and the union has noted that timing depends on provider availability. The union capacity and the Departmental assessment are not within their control. Prompt scheduling helps, but it does not compress the process into weeks.

Does this apply to disability providers? v

No. The agreement covers residential and home care aged care providers. Disability care and support providers are excluded, as are on-hire and labour hire agencies. A different route would be needed.

Will the visa itself take long once the agreement is in place? v

No. Nominations and visa applications under the agreement receive priority processing. Once the agreement exists, the nomination and your visa application can be lodged together, and lodging while you still hold a valid visa is what secures your bridging visa.

Should I look for another employer while I wait? v

Yes, and it costs you nothing. A provider that already holds an agreement can move on a timeline your current employer cannot. If your employer completes theirs, you simply stay. If they do not, you have not lost the months you spent waiting.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Australian migration processes and is current as at 30 September 2026. It is not immigration assistance or legal advice and should not be relied on in place of advice about your own circumstances. The timeframes described are indications drawn from published union and departmental material rather than guarantees, and actual timing varies considerably by provider, union capacity and individual circumstances. Labour agreement terms and eligibility change. Nothing here should be read as an indication that any particular agreement, nomination or visa application will succeed. If your visa is close to expiring the time available to act is short. Aussie Migration Guide is an independent information platform and is not a registered migration agent. For advice on your situation, speak with a MARA-registered migration agent or an Australian immigration lawyer. Official information is published by the Department of Home Affairs at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au.

Your Employer Is Working on the Agreement and Your Visa Is Not Waiting. Set the Timeline Against Your Own Clock.

Whether the process can plausibly finish in time, whether a parallel application is worth lodging now, and whether a provider that already holds an agreement is worth approaching, all turn on the specifics of your situation. A confidential review can settle the timing before you decide what to do this month.

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