Businesses that wish to sponsor a foreign worker under the visa subclasses 407 – Training and 408 – Temporary Activity must be an approved temporary activity sponsor – also known as “TAS”.
In short, the Subclass 407 is a training visa where, after having their TAS approved, a business can nominate a foreigner to perform occupational training in one of the three streams:
- Registration
- Enhancing Skills
- Capacity Building Overseas
On the other hand, the Sc 408 is a visa that allows foreigners to come to Australia to do specific types of work on a short-term, temporary basis. Note that nomination is not required for this visa if the period of stay is less than 3 months.
What are common obligations for all Temporary Activity sponsors?
- Cooperate with inspectors:
The business and any employee 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
- Keep records
The Business must keep records that show compliance with the sponsorship obligations and be able to reproduce them.
From the day the TAS is approved, the business must keep record of any notification that must be made to the Department of Home Affairs and demonstrate when, where, and how this notification was made.
The record-keeping obligations end 2 years after the TAS expires and the business no longer sponsors a visa holder. The longest need to keep any record is 5 years.
- Provide records and information to the Minister
The business must provide records or information when requested by the departmental officer to help determine whether:
- The business has been and is complying with the obligations, and
- There exist or have existed any circumstances relating to which the Minister might take administrative action.
The Department might ask you in writing to provide records or information if the business is required to keep them under Commonwealth, state or territory law, and as a sponsor.
This obligation ends 2 years after the TAS expires and the business no longer sponsors a visa holder.
- Inform the Department when certain events occur
The business must notify the Department if certain events occur:
- a change to the notified address and contact details
- if the primary visa holder doesn’t participate in the position, program or activity the visa was granted for
- if the primary visa holder doesn’t continue to participate in the position, program or activity the visa was granted for
- any change to the formal agreement with the visa holder
- any change to the date the visa holder will cease the position, program or activity
- if the business pays the visa holder’s return travel costs
- if the business ceases to hold any necessary licenses they were required to hold in order to sponsor an entertainer
- if the visa holder can’t meet the requirements of a special program activity
- the business legal entity ceases to exist
- if the visa holder disengages from their sponsor.
This obligation ends 2 years after the TAS expires and the business no longer sponsors a visa holder.
- Send the Department notice of an event or change
The business has 28 calendar days to send a notice of an event or change to the Department.
- Not recover, charge or transfer certain costs
The business must pay the costs of becoming an being an approved sponsor and sponsoring a visa holder, including:
- 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 ends after the TAS expires and the business no longer sponsors a visa holder.
- Pay costs to locate and remove an unlawful non-citizen
If the visa holder the business is sponsoring becomes an unlawful non-citizen, the Department might require the business to pay the cost of locating and/or removing them from Australia.
The business 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 they 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.
These are the common obligations to all Temporary Activities Sponsors. Other obligations may apply depending on the visa choice.