Standard business sponsor obligations
A business must be an approved standard business sponsor (SBS) to sponsor visa applicants for
Subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS)
Subclass 457 Temporary Work (Skilled)
Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional)
To protect overseas workers from exploitation and to ensure that these program are used correctly, approved SBS must adhere to the following obligations:
Sponsorship obligations
Cooperate with inspectors
Ensure equivalent terms and conditions of employment
Pay travel costs to enable sponsored persons to leave Australia
Pay costs incurred by the Commonwealth to locate and remove unlawful non-citizens
Keep records
Provide records and information to the Minister
Provide information to Immigration when certain events occur
Ensure primary sponsored person works or participates in nominated occupation
Not to recover certain costs from a sponsored employee (or the dependents included on that employee’s visa)
Not to engage in discriminatory recruitment practices
Immigration are the ones who oversees that sponsors are fulfilling their obligations throughout the sponsorship period and for some obligations up to five years after the sponsorship period has finishes.
Immigration may also check if the sponsored employees are comply with their visa conditions.
Monitoring may be led by Inspectors who have investigative powers under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), such as Immigration Inspectors, Fair Work Inspectors or Fair Work Building Industry Inspectors.
Monitoring requests can be may by different means such as:
A written requests to the sponsor for evidence to show they have complied with their obligations
Visting the sponsored business site, locations associated with the sponsoring business or sponsored employee worksites. This can be done with or without notice by Immigration Inspectors, Fair Work Inspectors or Fair Work Building Industry Inspectors
Receiving information about the sponsor and sponsored visa holders from internal sources, other Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies and departments, including the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Department of Jobs and Small Business, and the Australian Taxation Office
If the sponsor has been found not to be compliant, varying on the extent and the seriousness of the infringement, one or more sanctions could be brought against them:
Execute an ‘enforceable undertaking’ by promising, in writing, to carry out certain procedures which will end in resolving the breach(es) and ensure non-compliance will not reoccur
Publish personal information of sponsors who have not complied with the sponsorship obligations, including past breaches, and any action taken against the sponsor
Impose bars preventing further visa sponsorships for a specific period of time
Refuse sponsorship applications
Cancel all of the sponsor’s existing sponsorship approvals
Issue an infringement notice of up to AUD12,600 for a body corporate and AUD2,520 for an individual for each failure
Apply to a court for a civil penalty order of up to AUD63,000 for a corporation and AUD12,600 for an individual for each failure
