As part of the deal, Peoplebank, is permitted to recruit overseas staff for enterprise and Government clients to work on specific projects that have skills shortages. In return for expedited visa applications, the recruiter must take responsibility for the contractors' immigration process. On-Hire Labour Agreements were introduced after changes were made in October last year to tighten the 457 visa process.

"You had to go through quite a lengthy process with multiple submissions," Peoplebank COO, Peter Acheson, said.

Candidates sourced under the deal could be working in Australia within "a few weeks".

"Probably not in the next 12 months, but we would be expecting to bring in during a normal year between 150 and 200 people, that is our rough estimate," Acheson said. "Obviously with the economic circumstances we are in at the moment there is less demand from clients to bring people in and there are more local candidates available.

"We believe it will obviously be in the areas where there are skills shortages within IT. There is still a shortage with .NET and J2EE programers and there is still a shortage of good business analysts with a financial background. That is what we mean by specific skill sets where there are clearly shortages."