Universities and C-Suite executives are expected to be the winners in a revised list of occupations affected by a crackdown on 457 temporary visas due to be published on Friday.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton will issue the revised list of occupations for employers to bring in foreign workers to meet skills shortages.
The government stripped back the list of eligible occupations in April, prompting a backlash from a raft of industries that compete for overseas talent.
CEOs were hit by the changes announced in April and are expected to be reinstated in the revised list but with a pay threshold in line with the top tax threshold of $180,000, to prevent rorting of the changes.
The retail and mining sectors have also been lobbying hard but are expected to have mixed feelings about Friday's revised list after some occupations have been reinstated while others remain excluded.
University lecturers and vice chancellors were also among the occupations affected but after fierce lobbying, Universities Australia is optimistic the government has heeded its concerns.
Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said there was broad understanding that for Australia to build its research and innovation capability and compete internationally, it had to engage with the rest of the world.
"Just as many Australian researchers work overseas to get the experience they need in their fields of expertise, it is in Australia's best interests to reciprocate," she said.
"The global community of university lecturers and researchers is highly mobile and that means Australia needs to have policy settings comparable with many of our competitors that enable us to snap up the best global talent to work alongside our brilliant home-grown talent."We are hopeful of a result that can allay the concern and anxiety of the stellar talents that Australia can't afford to lose to one of our economic competitors."
The Australian Financial Review revealed a host of chief executives working on 457 visas were affected by the changes to limit chief executives, chief information offices and managing directors to shorter two-year stints with no path to permanent residency, including US-born Graincorp chief executive Mark Palmquist, Colombian-born Orica chief executive Alberto Calderon, as well as in the government's own agencies, such as NBNCo's chief executive Bill Morrow.
