Australian Immigration Daily News

The process of sponsoring an employee on a TSS (482) visa should be viewed beyond transactional aspect of obtaining a TSS visa.  As an approved business sponsor, there are a number of Sponsorship Obligations which the sponsoring entity must meet as part of holding their sponsorship status.  In broad terms, the following Sponsorship Obligations apply to all standard and accredited business sponsors:

Notify the Department of Home Affairs when the following occurs:

• the visa holder’s employment ends or is expected to end
• there are changes to the work duties carried out by the sponsored visa holder
• the sponsor pays or has paid the return travel costs of a sponsored visa holder or any of their family members in accordance with the obligation to pay return travel costs
• the sponsor becomes insolvent within the meaning of subsections 5 (2) and (3) of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and section 95A of the Corporations Act 2001
• the business ceases to exist as a legal entity

These are just some of the examples of sponsorship obligations.  The remainder of which can be found on Home Affairs website: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/employing-and-sponsoring-someone/existing-sponsors/standard-business-accredited-obligations

What happens in the event of a breach?

A breach of sponsorship obligation/s no matter how serious needs to be immediately rectified.  Honesty is the best policy here.  For example, if the sponsor failed to notify the Department regarding cessation of employment of a sponsored employee, a notification to the Department should be made by the sponsor as soon as the breach has been identified.  This is also an opportunity to conduct an internal audit (or health check) to identify if there are any other breaches before making the final submission to the Department.  The Department will be interested to see whether the business as a result has put together new systems and processes in place to ensure that similar breaches do not occur in future.  Naturally, repeat offenders are likely to attract further investigation by the Department in relation to the matter.

What happens next?

Once a breach is identified and appropriate notifications are made to the Department there are a number of possible outcomes.  First time offenders are likely to escape more severe penalties.  Repeat offenders may receive a warning letter regarding their sponsorship status.  In more serious cases, cancellation or bar may occur.

A key consideration on the sanction to be applied is the effect that the sanction will have on the sponsor. The Department will need to be satisfied that:

• the sanction applied is commensurate with the failures that have occurred
• any sanction will serve as a deterrent for the sponsor and other sponsors in the programme from future non‑compliance.

Size of the business and reliance on the sponsorship of overseas workers will also be taken into account (for example, cancelling sponsorship status of a large business with high number of TSS visa holders is significant compared to a small/one off TSS user).

If the bar occurs, the business will no longer be able to sponsor any TSS visa holders.  There may also be an impact on applications made via the Employer Nomination Scheme.  If cancellation of the sponsorship occurs, the ramifications are more serious as existing TSS visa holders may be referred to cancellations unit.

Prevention is key

Whilst cancellation and bar of sponsorship is unfortunate, in most circumstances either event could be prevented by putting in systems of processes in place to ensure the sponsor is always aware of their obligations to the Department. 

As a business sponsor, consider the following:

• review your record keeping (do you have easy access to nomination and visa grants)
• review your sponsored population (have any of your employees obtained another visa status such as permanent residence, ceased employment or moved into another role)
• consider seeking professional advice if the process becomes unmanageable