Australian Immigration Daily News

Over the past 12 months there has been substantial increase in compliance and monitoring exercises conducted by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.  A monitoring exercise conducted by the Department is not just limited to business sponsors, individual visa holders are also being targeted.

What is monitoring?

Essentially monitoring is a formal exercise conducted by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) to ensure sponsors are complying with their sponsorship responsibilities. Monitoring confirms that sponsors are satisfying their sponsorship obligations, that circumstances to bar or cancel approval as a sponsor do not exist, and that visa holders are abiding by their visa conditions.

What type of information may be requested?

Generally DIBP will request a standardized of information during their monitoring exercise

Records or information that a delegate of the Minister can request are limited to those that:

• the sponsor is legally required to keep
• relate to a sponsorship obligation
• otherwise relate to the administration of the sponsorship program.

Specific examples include providing payslips for subclass 457 visa holders, list of all subclass 457 visa holders employed by the business, details of any employees who have or are expected to cease employment.

How monitoring is conducted:

There are a number of ways monitoring is conducted by DIBP.  For example, DIBP may write to sponsor or a visa holder to request specific information.  DIBP may conduct a site visit (announced or unannounced) and request information.  Recently, the Department of Immigration has been calling visa applicants directly to ensure they remain compliant with their visa conditions.

What happens if I receive a request from DIBP to provide information?

The first step is to carefully review the request and determine whether the information requested can be provided in a timely manner.  It is important to understand and be aware of any deadlines imposed and any specific documents DIBP has requested.  Where you believe there may have been a breach it is highly recommended to seek professional opinion before volunteering any information to the Department of Immigration to ensure this is properly addressed.

What happens once monitoring exercise is completed?

There are a number of outcomes, for example, DIBP may do nothing and will not be contacting you again.  DIBP may write to you to confirm that result of monitoring was satisfactory.  In not so fortunate circumstances, DIBP may confirm that as a result of monitoring exercise a sanction is being imposed due to breach.  Sanctions include a fine, bar or cancellation of sponsorship or a visa or in some circumstances, a criminal persecution. 

What can I do to be more prepared?

Monitoring by DIBP is not necessarily an indication that there is an issue.  However, it can be time consuming and somewhat stressful.  It is therefore important to treat any request issued by the Department of Immigration seriously and provide any relevant information as soon as practical.  It is also worthwhile conducting an audit "healthcheck" to ensure that you are compliant with sponsorship obligations or visa conditions.

As always, I am happy to hear your stories relating to any monitoring exercises you may have experienced! E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.