The controversial 457 visa for foreign workers allowed prostitutes to be brought into Australia under the guise of 'massage therapists,' according to secrets documents.

On April 18, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the visa would be replaced by two stricter programs to bring skilled workers into the country with a list of over 650 jobs to be cut by 200.

But on Thursday, secret documents revealed the government was 'aware' of the 457 visas being used to 'exploit people for prostitution for some time,' the Sunshine Coast Daily reported.

'While lodged nomination numbers are very low, they are increasing and it is considered that the Australian community would be very concerned about such positions being filled with overseas workers,' the document reportedly says. 

The document is believed to reveal a rise in the number of foreign workers applying to be massage therapists in Australia and said the occupation was used in a 'prostitution setting'.

Other concerning occupations in the document included hair salon managers who were working as beauty therapists and truck drivers working as importers, according to the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Mr Turnbull announced the replacement of the 457 visa with two new programs last week in a video statement.  

'It is focused, relentlessly, on ensuring that temporary migration visas are not a passport for foreigners to take up jobs that could and should be filled by Australians,' Mr Turnbull said.

'It will be manifestly, rigorously, resolutely conducted in the national interest to put Australians and Australian jobs first.'

A short-term two-year visa with a smaller list of eligible jobs will essentially replace the 457, which has about 96,000 current holders in the country. 

The medium-term will be for four years and require a better standard of English and mandatory labour market testing.

It will be of much shorter list of 183 occupations, mostly high-level professionals, but also nurses and some tradespeople.  

'It will require a full - a proper police record, a criminal check, which is not the case at the moment,' Mr Turnbull said. 

He said the new visas would allow businesses to fill 'real skill gaps' with foreign workers but wherever Australians would be given jobs first.

The government would establish a new training fund to help train Australians to fill skills gaps so fewer foreign workers would be necessary.

The short-term visa would cost $1,150 and the medium-term one $2,400 - more than the $1,060 the 457 visa cost.  

Almost 1.3 million people have entered Australia in the past 20 years on 457 visa, with more than 120,000 applications approved on the busiest years. 

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said although 457s lasted for four years they were 'essentially open-ended.

'It results, in many cases, in a migration outcome, somebody going into permanent residency and becoming a citizen, which is a significant part of the attraction to using the 457 visa,' he said.

More than 11,500 people applied for permanent residency in the 12 months to September 2016.

He said the medium-term visa was aimed at higher skills with a 'much shorter skills list', but could be applied for in Australia instead of just overseas.