22 Mar, 2017
Vihaan Salaria
Australia Immigration
The Australian Immigration has laid down some obligations that an employer must follow while sponsoring employees and their dependents under 457 visa. Any breach of the obligations, it can result in a penalty and other severe consequences at the time of monitoring process.
DIBP has commenced it’s monitoring process for many businesses in Australia that sponsor overseas workers on 457 visa. For those sponsors who have recently received the commencement of monitoring process notice by DIBP, it is essential to respond to the notice by providing accurate documents within the given time frame.
We at XL Migration and Education Services help the sponsors to understand the importance of following and maintaining their 457 obligations.
The 457 sponsorship obligations are as follows:
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The employer must ensure that all the records of compliance are maintained and can be reproduced for verification by an independent authorised person. The obligation is from the period when the sponsorship of nominee is approved.
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The employer must ensure that the terms and conditions of employment of the sponsored person are equal to an Australian citizen holding the same position or doing the same set of work. The employer must follow this obligation from the time the visa of the employee is approved or the visa is granted, whichever is earlier. The obligation ends when the employee ceases the employment or is allotted a further substantive visa.
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The standard business sponsor i.e. the employer must co-operate with the migration inspectors from the time the sponsorship is approved until the employer remains an approved business sponsor.
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The employer must provide information and records to DIBP upon request. The records and information can be in relation to the sponsorship obligation or any other circumstance under which the DIBP can take administrative action. The obligation is from the period when the sponsorship of nominee is approved.
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The employer must provide information to the immigration department upon the occurrence of certain events like a change of address or contact details, change of duty or end of employment of sponsored employee, etc. The employer must provide the information within 10 working days via registered post or e-mail to the 457 team at DIBP.
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The employer while hiring an overseas employee on sponsored visa must contribute towards the training of permanent Australian residents. The contribution should be either two percent of payroll to the industry training fund, same as business sponsor’s industry; or contribution of one percent of payroll as a provision for training Australian permanent citizens in sponsor’s business. The obligation on the employer is from the day it becomes an approved sponsor. The obligation needs to be met in each 12 months till the sponsor is approved to be a standard business sponsor under 457 visa.
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The employer must provide employment to the sponsored employee in the most recently approved occupation only. The employer must ensure that the sponsored participant in not put in any other service other than that applied in the visa. In case, the employer is willing to employ sponsored participant in another occupation, then he needs to file new nomination application. The employer must follow this obligation from the time when visa of the employee is approved or the visa is granted.
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The employer shall not recover, transfer or charge any cost related to the recruitment of the employee from the sponsored visa holder or any of his family members. The obligation is from the day the sponsorship is approved or work agreement commences. The obligation ends when the employer ceases to be an approved sponsor or when the employee ceases to hold sponsored visa.
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The employer must pay to the sponsored person (upon his request), the travel cost to leave Australia. The cost includes the cost of travel from his place of residence in Australia to the place of departure in Australia including the travel cost to the country of the sponsors mentioned in the passport. The employer must follow this obligation from the time visa of the employee is approved or the visa is granted, whichever is earlier. The obligation ends when the nominated employee has been granted a further substantive visa or he no longer holds subclass 457 visa.
The few examples above for the sponsorship obligations are essential for any standard business sponsor, without which the employer fails the monitoring process.
For further assistance, you can contact XL Migration and Education Services. Our Registered Migration Agents have years of experience in 457 and all other Employer Sponsored Visas.
