September 7 2023:
Top 5 Tips for visa compliance
Adhering to Australia’s immigration laws is critical for business.
Failure to comply with immigration laws can result in a myriad of undesired consequences, including reputational damage, pecuniary fines, cancellation of sponsorship facility and other sanctions. There is a public register of businesses who have been sanctioned.
The Australian government has budgeted $50 million over four years from 2023-24 (and $15.3 million per year ongoing) for additional enforcement and compliance activities to maintain the integrity of the migration system. Funding from 2025-26 will be held in the Contingency Reserve, pending an evaluation of the effectiveness of the activities. This is desperately needed as immigration compliance activities have been steadily degraded.
The Australian Government further, is looking to improve the rights of migrant workers, and has introduced the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Bill 2023, which includes equipping the Australian Borde Force (ABF) with new compliance tools to deter exploitation.
The Australian Border Force (ABF) officers inspected around 300 businesses in every state and territory in the month of July 2023.
This blitz is on top of the 140 businesses that have been sanctioned in 2023. The ABF targeted sponsoring businesses, issuing fines, bans and other sanctions to those who failed to uphold workplace rights, such as pay, conditions, health and safety.
Where compliance is the new focus, here are our top 5 compliance tips for Business:
- Conduct a self-audit. Do you know who holds a visa in your organisation? Do you know which visas holders have left. Was there an obligation to notify Immigration as to the cessation of employment? If yes, did you discharge the obligation?
- Obtain permission from visa holders to conduct VEVO checks on a regular basis. VEVO checks provide real-time checks of current visa held and importantly, the level of work rights held (if any)
- Does your organisation have a visa record-keeping and document management systems in place to store details of employees? Are they centralised systems?
- Does your organisation have policies, procedures, plans or systems to ensure compliance? Do the relevant people in your organisation know about them? Do those people need training/ refresher training?
- Are the policies, procedures, plans or systems in your organisation independent of a person? In other words, do you have robust systems in place that means compliance is still key regardless of whether the person leaves the organisation?
You can read more about the Government’s commitment to compliance activities in the August 2023 Media Release here.
How can we help?
If you are concerned that you may be falling short of immigration compliance, contact us for a confidential discussion, and tailored advice. Contact us.
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