Standard Business Sponsorship: What are your obligations?

A standard business sponsorship refers to a business which has been approved by the Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) to sponsor employees under the Temporary Skill Shortage visa (TSS visa). As a sponsor, it’s important to be aware that you have obligations that apply beyond the term of your sponsorship approval and that in order to retain or renew your standard business sponsorship, you must continue to meet these obligations.

What you need to do

1.Inform the Government when certain events occur

This can be via the email at sponsor.notifications@abf.gov.au or by completing the new notification via a sponsor changes form.  These notifications can be completed by Edupi Migration. These events include:

Changes to your:

• Legal name
• Trading name
• Registration details
• Business structure
• Ongoing communication contact
• Owners, directors, principals or partners
• Business address

If your business becomes:

• becomes insolvent or is bankrupt
• goes into receivership, liquidation or administration
• ceases to exist as a legal entity

If the person you sponsor:

• ceases employment with you
• has a change in duties
• did not commence working with you

Any changes to how you meet your training obligations.

2.Ensure your employee works in their nominated occupation

The person you have sponsored must be employed under a written contract of employment. It is important to ensure your sponsored employee only works in the occupation you nominated for them. If you want them to change occupation, you need to lodge a new nomination.

3. Ensure equivalent terms and conditions of employment

The annual earning of the sponsored employee must be at least the same as what was stated on the nomination application when approved. Their employment conditions must not be less favourable than those of an equivalent Australian worker.

This obligation only applies if the annual earnings of the employee is less and AUD250,000.

4. Not engage in discriminatory recruitment practices 

It is important to ensure you do not engage in discriminatory recruitment practices that adversely affect Australian citizens, or any other person on the basis of their visa or citizenship status.

5. Keep records

All records that show your compliance with sponsorship obligations need to be kept up to date. Additional records you need to keep include:

• Written requests for payment of travel costs for the employee or their family
• How and when you paid travel costs, including how much and to whom
• Tasks performed by an employee
• Earnings paid to the employee
• Any money applied for or dealt with in relation to the employee
• Non-monetary benefits provided to the employee
• The written contract of the employment
• How you are complying with training obligations

You need to provide records or information if requested by a departmental officer. These will be used to determine is a sponsorship obligation is being complied with.

6. Assume all costs yourself

One of the obligations of becoming a sponsor involves covering all costs for the process. This includes:

• Costs of becoming a sponsor
• Nomination charges
• Migration agent costs associated with sponsorship and nomination applications
• Any fees involved in the recruitment process, such as recruitment agent fees, migration agent feed, advertising, interviewing, reference checks and so on.

7. Pay travel costs

As a sponsor, you need to pay reasonable and necessary travel costs to allow the sponsored employee and their sponsored family members to leave Australia. This covers:

• Travel from the employee’s usual place of residence in Australia to their departure point in Australia.
• Travel from Australia to the country in which they hold a passport and intend to travel to.

To pay these travel costs, a written request must be made by the sponsored employee or by the Department of Home Affairs on behalf of the sponsored employee. These costs must be paid within 30 days of receiving the request.

8. 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 may have to repay the costs incurred by the Commonwealth (up to AUD10,000) in relocating and/or removing them from Australia.

9. Cooperate with inspectors

Inspectors are appointed to investigate whether your sponsorship obligations have been complied with. You must provide them with access to your premises, provide documents within a requested timeframe and comply with any other requests made.

10. Monitoring of sponsors and visa holders

Your compliance with your sponsor obligations will be monitored both while you are a sponsor and up to five years after your sponsorship ends. Sponsored employees are also monitored to ensure they comply with their visa conditions.

Meeting your Sponsorship Obligations

If you fail to meet your obligations as a sponsor, the following actions could be taken:

Administrative:

• You may be barred from sponsoring additional visa holders for a specified time.
• You may not be approved for your application for sponsorship for this or any other visa.
• DOHA may cancel your existing sponsorship approvals.

You may also be asked to enter into an enforceable undertaking, which requires you to promise, in writing, to complete certain actions to show that failures have been rectified.

Civil:

• DOHA might issue an infringement notice of up to AUD12,600 for a body corporate and AUD2520 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.