Not quite Meisterin.
The options for coming over to Oz are:
- Working holiday visa, if under 30. This is for a maximum of two years, and doesn't have a pathway to permanent residence.
- 457 visa, which is sponsored by an employee. You have residence rights for as long as you're working for either that company, or can find another one to take you on. There's a pathway to permanent residence over time. I suspect that this is the subclass being rorted.
- Skilled migration, where you can remain in Oz permently. After two or three years you can upgrade this to citizenship.
- Marriage, de facto, prospective marriage, etc. all allow someone to come over permanently. Unfortunately the couple in question are already married, so this one's out.
- Investor or business class visas, which generally require the applicant invest $500K in Australia. Leads to PR.
The immigration system is pretty easy to navigate. If your friends can understand English then sites like
PomsInOz.com can supply the answers to most questions.
It's changed since I looked at it, and I believe that the basic principle is that you submit an expression of interest. If the specific visa class's quota hasn't been filled then Immigration will eventually contact you, and a formal application can be placed.
The old scheme required a formal application to be made upfront. Unfortunately the system got clogged up with a vast number of low priority cases, who I believe are legally required to be offered PR at some point. However, their applications are either stuck at the bottom of the processing queue, or were "capped and ceased", and no longer progressing.
Depending on your friends' backgrounds, I'd suggest looking at one of the PR visas for skilled migration as well. These have few restrictions on them, and might be less hassle to get than a business or investor visa.
I applied for a visa about four or five years ago, and am actually finally heading to Oz in the next couple of weeks. I probably can't help too much as things have changed, but will try to answer any questions.