You are responsible for meeting all your obligations as a sponsor, even if you authorise someone else to act on your behalf, including a registered migration agent.
These obligations apply to all temporary activities sponsors.
You, and any employee of yours acting with actual or apparent authority, must cooperate with any inspectors appointed under the Migration Act 1958 (the Act) who are investigating whether:
- you are complying with your sponsorship obligations
- you have hired an illegal worker
- you have done anything else that requires us to take administrative action
Your obligation to cooperate:
- starts on the day your sponsorship is approved
- ends 5 years after your sponsorship approval lapses
Cooperating with inspectors could mean:
- providing access to premises
- allowing inspectors to inspect any work, process or object while on your premise or place
- producing and providing documents when we require them
- not preventing or attempting to prevent inspectors from contacting someone who holds or has access to a record or documents
- allowing inspectors to interview anyone on your premises or place
You must keep records that show you comply with your sponsorship obligations. You must be able to reproduce your records and, if necessary, have an independent person verify them. From the day you are approved as a sponsor, you must keep a record of:
- any notification you must make to us
- when, where and how you notified us
Your record-keeping obligations end 2 years after:
- your approval as a sponsor lapses, and
- you no longer sponsor a visa holder
The longest you need to keep any records for is 5 years.
You must provide records or information when requested by a departmental officer to help determine whether:
- you have been and are complying with your obligations, and
- there exist or have existed any circumstances relating to which the Minister might take administrative action
We might ask you in writing to provide records or information relating to your sponsorship obligations and anything to do with your sponsorship of a visa holder. You must provide the records or information if:
- you are required to keep the records or information under Commonwealth, state or territory law
- you are obliged to keep the records as a sponsor
This obligation applies from the day we approve you as a sponsor and ends 2 years after the day by which each of the following has occurred:
- your approval as a temporary activities sponsor ceases, and
- you no longer sponsor a visa holder
You must let us know in writing when certain events occur. You must send the information through ImmiAccount using the Notification of Sponsorship Changes form, by registered post or email to the address we specify within the specified time of the event occurring.
Events you must let us know about in writing include:
- a change to your notified address and contact details
- if the primary visa holder doesn't participate in the position, program or activity we granted the visa for
- if the primary visa holder doesn't continue to participate in the position, program or activity we granted the visa for
- any change to your formal agreement with the visa holder
- any change to the date the visa holder will cease the position, program or activity
- if you pay the visa holder's return travel costs
- if you cease to hold any necessary licenses you were required to hold in order to sponsor an entertainer
- if the visa holder can't meet the requirements of a special program activity
- your legal entity ceases to exist
- if the visa holder disengages from their sponsor.
This obligation applies from the day we approve you as a sponsor and ends 2 years after:
- your approval as a temporary activities sponsor ceases, and
- you no longer sponsor a visa holder.
Let us know about any of these events within 28 calendar days of the event occurring.
You can let us know:
You must pay the costs of becoming and being an approved sponsor and sponsoring a visa holder. You must not transfer or charge any costs to the visa holder, their family members or anyone else. This includes:
- the cost of becoming or being a sponsor or nominating someone
- migration agent fees
- recruitment costs such as the cost of advertising the job, screening candidates and interviews
- the salaries of recruitment or HR staff
- the costs of performing or outsourcing background or police checks or psychological testing
- training costs
- the cost of travelling to interview or meet applicants overseas or in Australia
This obligation applies from the day we approve you as a sponsor and ends on the day:
- your approval as a temporary activities sponsor ceases, and
- you no longer sponsor a visa holder
If the visa holder you sponsor becomes an unlawful non-citizen, we might require you to pay the cost of locating and/or removing them from Australia.
You might be liable to pay the Commonwealth the difference between the actual costs incurred by the Commonwealth up to a maximum of AUD10,000, less any amount you might already have paid to help the visa holder leave Australia.
This obligation starts the day the visa holder becomes an unlawful non-citizen and ends 5 years after they leave Australia. You might be asked to pay these costs for up to 5 years after the visa holder leaves Australia.