Standard Business Sponsor

This process involves applying for approval to be a Standard Business Sponsor (SBS). Employers will have certain obligations set by the Department of Home Affairs, ensuring the welfare and the rights of sponsored employees.

Standard Business sponsors can sponsor employees for:

• 482 visas
• Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494)

Standard Business Sponsorship lasts for 5 years. Its recommended to renew a employer’s SBS 2- 3 months before its due to expire.

Accredited Business Sponsorship

Accredited Business Sponsorship (ABS) is an enhanced status that eligible businesses can attain.

Accredited sponsors often experience faster processing times for visa applications, benefiting both the employer and the sponsored employee.

Accredited Business sponsorships involve a more in depth application process, including having been a standard business sponsor for at least a year and having made a significant investment in Australia of at least A$50 million.

Training Activities Sponsors

Training Activities sponsors can nominate overseas workers for the Training visa (subclass 407), allowing them to participate in occupational training and skill development programs.

The Training visa is divided into several streams, including workplace-based training, structured workplace-based training, and professional development.

Employers seeking to become Training Activities sponsors must demonstrate their commitment to providing high-quality training opportunities and comply with the specific requirements outlined by the Australian government.

Becoming an employee sponsor

The main components to becoming an approved employer sponsor include:

• being a legally established and currently operating business
• demonstrating a commitment to employing Australian workers
• understanding your employer responsibilities as a business sponsor.

We advise employers on how to achieve this status and represent businesses when applying to be a sponsor.

How do you sponsor an employee?

Once your business has been granted its standard business sponsor status, as the employer you must make the case for sponsoring a skilled worker.

Occupation

If you want to sponsor a worker for a 482 visa, you will need to nominate the applicant for an occupation. The occupation must be on the skilled occupation list that covers 482 visas.

Labour Market Testing

You will need to prove you cannot find an Australia worker to fill your vacancy. To do this, you will need to carry out Labour Market Testing. This involves advertising the position to Australians and the local market for a minimum of 28 days prior to nominating the position for a visa.

There are different ways you can advertise the position, such as through a recruitment agency or via job platforms. What’s important is presenting evidence showing when the search began.

Genuine Position

The Department asks to see evidence to prove the position is genuine to ensure the integrity of the visa sponsorship system. The evidence includes presenting job descriptions, the function it plays in your company.

482 nominations must be for full time positions of 38 hours a week or hours that are part of an industry award, agreement or in line with National Employment Standards.

Salary

You’ll need to show that the position pays the annual market salary rate (AMSR) for that occupation in the location where the job will be based.

Positions offering salaries that do not meet the annual market salary rate and/or offer salaries under $70,000 per annum are not eligible for sponsorship. (The $70,000 is the current Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT).

Top Tip: superannuation is not part of an employee’s base salary. Your employment contract needs to show the salary and superannuation are separate. Applications have been refused before because the separation of salary and superannuation is not clear.

Exemptions: This does not apply for salaries above $250,000 or for applicants from certain countries with trade agreements with Australia.

Written Contract

Whether you are an Australian business or an overseas business, you must present the employment contract. This is a place to show the employment conditions

We advise employers on their contracts from the perspective of meeting the 482 sponsorship requirements.

Employment Conditions

When you nominate the position for sponsorship, the employment conditions of the nominated employee must be at the very least the same as Australians working in an equivalent role in the same the location.

Proving this typically involves presenting examples of salaries of existing employees in equivalent roles at your business. However, it can also involve sourcing salary examples other operators in the area.

No Adverse Information

You will need to confirm there is no adverse information about you, your business, or anyone associated with your or your business. The Department of Home Affairs will assess information that raises concerns about you being a suitable sponsor or relates to something that has happened in the previous 3 years.

For example, if you or your organisation has become insolvent under the Bankruptcy Act, the Department of Home Affairs will regard that as adverse information and question your / your business’s suitability to sponsor an employee.

Other examples are if you or your organisation:

has been found guilty by a court of an offence

has been found to have contravened the law by a competent authority

has been the subject of administrative action, including being issued a warning, by a competent authority

is being investigated

has been subject to disciplinary or legal action

These matters relate to laws affecting:

discrimination

immigration

industrial relations

occupational health and safety

people smuggling or related offences

slavery, sexual servitude and deceptive recruiting

taxation

terrorism

people trafficking or debt bondage

The Department of Home Affairs also advises “Some adverse information is unlikely to affect our decision. For example, it is not relevant if we learn your business was fined for operating an unregistered vehicle on a public road. But it would be relevant if we learn your company director is being investigated for people trafficking offences”.

If you are concerned about something that you believe might be considered adverse information, we can discuss this confidentially. We can find out if its likely to affect the visa nomination decision or indeed your sponsorship status.

We have bought a business that employs 482 visa holders. What do we do?

When the sponsor of 482 visa holders or 494 visa holders changes, such as when a business changes hands, the new employer will need to sponsor the 482 visa holders, assuming the new employer wants to keep employing them. This means the new employer will need to apply to obtain the status of being a Standard Business Sponsor.

Do all temporary work visas need a standard business sponsor?

No, not all temporary work visas require the employer to be a standard business sponsor. The 407 Training visa, the 408 Temporary Activity visa and the 485 Graduate visa are temporary work visas that do not require the employer to be a standard business sponsor.

Sources: Department of Home Affairs,  Australian Government; Federal Register of Legislation