Sponsoring an overseas worker is three applications, and two of them belong to your business
Most WA employers come to sponsoring an overseas worker expecting one application, mainly about the worker, with a fee attached. It is three applications, most of the assessment is about the business, and the real cost is the set of obligations the business carries for years after the worker starts. This guide sets out what that means in practice, so you can decide whether it is worth pursuing before you spend anything on it. If it is not, that is a useful answer to reach early.
A Registered Migration Agent will review your enquiry and respond within one business day. If your matter is urgent, please call us on (08) 6555 7037.
Obligations that stay with your business
Sponsorship carries ongoing legal obligations that attach to the business, enforceable by the Department of Home Affairs, with sanctions for breach. In broad terms they cover:
Equivalent terms and conditions: a sponsored worker cannot be employed on worse terms than an Australian doing the same work in the same place.
Market rate: paying at least the market rate for the role.
Record keeping: particular records, kept for a particular period, and produced on request.
Notifying the Department: telling the Department when the worker leaves, the role changes or the business changes.
Cooperating with inspectors: who may require records and access.
Costs you cannot pass on: certain sponsorship costs must not be passed on to the worker or their family. This one catches employers regularly, and breaching it is not a technicality.
Sanctions such as barring, cancellation of your approval to sponsor, civil penalties and publication are directed at the sponsor, not the worker, and your own compliance history is assessed. The Department sets out the current obligations for standard business sponsors; we confirm how each applies to your business at consultation.
What sponsoring an overseas worker costs
Costs come in four separate layers, and an employer given a single number has been misled:
Government charges: at each of the three stages, per person and per family member, paid to the Department of Home Affairs.
Employer levy: a levy payable by the employer to the Department.
Professional fees: paid to Australian Migration Co for the work we do.
Third-party costs: skills assessment, English testing, health checks and police checks, paid to the relevant providers.
What makes it vary is the work involved: a single applicant with a straightforward role and a clean compliance history is a different piece of work from a complex corporate structure, accompanying family or a previous refusal. Current figures for your situation are given at consultation. See our guide to the cost of sponsoring an employee and the Department's cost of sponsoring page.
The three applications are decided separately, and the work is front-loaded. Which visa the worker applies for, whether Skills in Demand (subclass 482), Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) or subclass 494, is covered on our employer-sponsored visas page. The Department explains how to sponsor a worker, becoming a sponsor and nominating a position.
Five things that catch WA employers out
The position description is the application. A vague or inflated one is the commonest problem, and it is usually written long before anyone thought a visa was involved.
"Can we use a working holiday visa instead?" Sometimes, yes. It is a different arrangement, with different obligations and a different duration, and worth asking about rather than assuming either way.
"What if they leave?" A real commercial risk, and a question about your employment relationship rather than the visa. It deserves a straight answer.
A previous refusal is not the end. What was refused, and on what ground, changes the work substantially. Raise it early.
Regional WA can work differently from Perth. The arrangements for regional areas change, and are confirmed for your site.
Any of these is easier to deal with at the start than halfway through an application.
How long it takes
No timeframe is promised here. Processing times are published by the Department, they move, and they are not within any migration agent's control.
The sequence is fixed. The worker's visa application is usually decided last.
The part you control is often the longest. Assembling records, documenting recruitment and getting the position description right.
A request for more information restarts your wait. The commonest cause is a document the business could have had ready at the start.
Your past advertising is evidence. If you have already advertised the role and could not fill it, keep the job ads, applicant numbers and recruiter correspondence. They are the kind of record labour market testing asks for.
Current processing times are on the Department's visa processing times page, and its labour market testing page sets out the advertising requirement.
How we work with your business, step by step
We look at your business, the role and the candidate, and tell you plainly whether sponsorship is worth pursuing.
We check the records, finances and compliance history the sponsorship application will rely on.
We make sure the position description describes the real job and fits the nominated occupation.
We prepare and lodge the business's two applications, with the labour market testing evidence.
We prepare the visa application with the worker and respond to any request from the Department.
After the grant, we help you keep records and notifications in order for as long as you sponsor.
Frequently asked questions
Australian Migration Co is a private migration advisory firm. Immigration assistance is provided by Adam (Gürkan) Kocoglu, Registered Migration Agent (MARN 2418576), registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA). Australian Migration Co is not a government body and is not part of, or operated by, the Australian Government or the Department of Home Affairs. The information on this page is general in nature, is not immigration assistance or legal advice, does not assess any role, business or person, names no occupation as sponsorable and does not guarantee any outcome. Sponsorship obligations, charges and thresholds change and are confirmed against current sources for your business before you proceed. For the steps involved, see becoming a standard business sponsor and sponsoring a skilled worker by occupation, or speak with our employer sponsorship team in Perth and book a consultation.