To become a standard business sponsor in the first place, your business must be legally established and currently operating.
Ensure your employee works only in the nominated occupation
You must ensure that your sponsored employee works only in the occupation you nominated them for.
If you want a visa holder to work in a different occupation, lodge a new nomination.
If you are sponsoring them under the Temporary Skill Shortage visa (TSS) (subclass 482) or the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) (SESR) visa (subclass 494), the employee will also need to apply for and be granted a new visa.
This obligation starts:
- on the day we grant the nominee a visa or
- on the day the nomination is approved if the nominee is already working for you
This obligation ends on the day (whichever is the earliest):
- your employee has a nomination approved for a different approved sponsor
- we grant your employee a visa that is not a TSS or SESR, bridging, criminal justice or enforcement visa
- your employee leaves Australia and their TSS or SESR visa (or any subsequent bridging visa) is no longer in effect
If you are a standard business sponsor, you must employ the person you have sponsored under a written contract of employment.
Unless the nominated occupation is exempt, you cannot supply or be involved in recruiting or hiring the sponsored employee to another business unless:
- you were lawfully operating a business in Australia when we approved your standard business sponsorship or when the terms of your approval were last varied, and
- the business is an associated entity
Ensure equivalent terms and conditions of employment
If you are a standard business sponsor:
- the annual earnings of the employee must be at least the same as those stated on the nomination application when we approved the application
- the employment conditions of the employee must not be less favourable than those of an equivalent Australian worker
Note, this obligation:
- applies only if the annual earnings of the employee is less than AUD250,000.
- also applies to labour agreement sponsors unless otherwise stated in the labour agreement
This obligation starts the day (whichever is the earliest):
- we grant your employee TSS or SESR visa or
- we approve your nomination if your employee already holds a TSS or SESR or subclass 457 visa
This obligation ends the day:
- the nominated employee stops working for you or
- we grant your employee a visa that is not a TSS or SESR, bridging, criminal justice or enforcement visa
This obligation continues we grant your employee another TSS or SESR visa to continue to work for you.
Hot tip – Keep records with sponsorship obligations
You must keep records to show your compliance with your sponsorship obligations. All records must be kept in a reproducible format and some must be capable of verification by an independent person. In addition to records kept under other Australian government, and state or territory laws, also keep records of:
- written requests for payment of travel costs for the employee or their family, including when the request was received
- how and when you paid the travel costs, how much you paid, and who you paid it to
- any event you need to report to us, including the date and method of notification and where the notification was provided
- tasks performed by the employee in relation to the nominated occupation and where the tasks were performed
- earnings paid to the sponsored visa holder (unless the sponsored visa holder earns AUD250,000 or more)
- money applied or dealt with in any way on behalf of, or as directed by, the employee (unless the sponsored visa holder earns AUD250,000 or more)
- non-monetary benefits provided to the employee. Record the agreed value and the time at which, or the period over which, those benefits were provided (unless the sponsored visa holder earns AUD250,000 or more)
- if there is an equivalent worker in your workplace, the terms and conditions of the equivalent worker, including the period over which the terms and conditions apply (unless the sponsored visa holder earns AUD250,000 or more)
- the written contract of employment you engage each employee under
- how you are complying with the training obligations if you were lawfully operating a business in Australia when we approved your standard business sponsorship or the terms of your approval as a standard business sponsor were varied
- the records you need to keep as party to a work agreement, if applicable
This obligation starts the day we approve your sponsorship or the nominee starts work with you.
This obligation ends two years after:
- your sponsorship or the work agreement ends and
- you no longer employ a sponsored visa holder
Provide records and information
You must provide records or information if requested by a departmental officer. The records or information will be those that:
- you are required to keep under Commonwealth, state or territory law
- you are obliged to keep as a sponsor
The records and information will be used to determine whether:
- a sponsorship obligation is being or has been complied with, and
- other circumstances in which the Minister might take administrative action exist or have existed
Provide the records or information in the manner and timeframe requested by us.
This obligation starts on the day we approve your standard business sponsorship or a work agreement starts.
This obligation ends two years after:
- your sponsorship or the work agreement ends and
- you no longer employ a sponsored visa holder
Assume all costs
You must pay and assume all of the following costs yourself:
- cost of becoming a sponsor
- nomination charges
- migration agent costs associated with sponsorship and nomination applications
You must also pay and assume all costs associated with the recruitment process including:
- recruitment agent fees
- migration agent fees
- advertising
- screening, short listing, interviewing and conducting reference checks of candidates
- salaries of recruitment or human resource staff
- outsourcing background checks, police checks and psychological testing
- responding to queries from potential candidates and advising unsuccessful applicants
- travelling nationally or internationally to interview and/or meet applicants
You must not, or attempt to, transfer or charge these costs to another person such as a sponsored visa holder or their sponsored family members.
This obligation starts on the day we approve your standard business sponsorship or the work agreement starts.
This obligation ends two years after:
- your sponsorship or the work agreement ends and
- you no longer employ a sponsored visa holder
Pay travel costs
You must pay reasonable and necessary travel costs to let the sponsored employee and their sponsored family members, leave Australia.
We consider all of these costs to be reasonable and necessary:
- travel from the employee’s usual place of residence in Australia to their departure point from Australia
- travel from Australia to the country for which the employee holds a passport and intends to travel to
- economy class air travel or reasonable equivalent
To pay travel costs, a written request for payment must be made by:
- the sponsored employee or
- The Department of Home Affairs on behalf of the sponsored employee
Travel costs must be paid within 30 days of receiving the request.
Pay travel costs once only. If, after paying travel costs your employee returns to Australia holding the visa for which you sponsored them, you don’t have to pay their travel costs again.
This obligation starts on the day (whichever is earliest):
- we grant the visa
- we approve your nomination if the nominee held a TSS or SESR visa on that day
This obligation ends on the day (whichever is the earliest):
- your employee has a nomination approved for a different approved sponsor
- we grant your employee a visa that is not a TSS or SESR, bridging, criminal justice or enforcement visa
- your employee leaves Australia and their TSS or SESR visa (or any subsequent bridging visa) is no longer in effect
Pay costs to locate and remove an unlawful non-citizen
If your sponsored employee or any of their sponsored family members becomes an unlawful non-citizen, you might have to repay the costs incurred by the Commonwealth in relocating and/or removing them from Australia.
If required, you must pay the difference between the actual costs incurred by the Commonwealth (up to a maximum of AUD10,000) less costs you might have already paid under your obligation to pay travel costs to enable sponsored people to leave Australia.
This obligation starts on the day your sponsored employee or family member becomes an unlawful non-citizen.
The obligation ends five years after they leave Australia. That is, we might require payment up to five years after your sponsored employee left Australia.
Cooperate with inspectors
Inspectors are appointed under the Migration Act 1958 (the Act) to investigate whether:
- your sponsorship obligations are being, or have been, complied with
- you have hired an illegal worker
- there are other circumstances in which we could take administrative action
You must cooperate with inspectors by:
- providing access to your premises, any person on your premises
- producing and providing documents within a requested timeframe
- complying with any other request made by an inspector
This obligation:
- starts on the day sponsorship is approved or the visa applicant starts work in the nominated position
- ends five years after the day the approved sponsorship ends or the applicant stops working for you
