Checking a worker’s right to work: VEVO, conditions, re-checks and penalties

MARN 1576536

The obligation

The Migration Act makes it a contravention to allow a non-citizen to work who is unlawful or whose visa does not permit the work, and to refer such a person for work. The provisions apply whether or not the employer knew, with a defence where the employer took reasonable steps at reasonable times to verify the worker's right to work. The Department's position is that a VEVO check before the worker starts, and again at reasonable intervals for a temporary visa holder, is a reasonable step; relying on the worker's word, or on a visa label in a passport, is not. The obligation attaches to the person who allows the work, which includes a business engaging contractors and a labour hire firm supplying them.

How to run a VEVO check

• Obtain the worker's written consent to check their visa details. The Department's consent form, or a clause in your onboarding paperwork, is sufficient; keep it.
• Either have the worker log in to VEVO and send you the result by email from the system, or run the organisation check yourself on the Department's site with the worker's passport number, country of passport and date of birth.
• Read the result for the visa subclass, the expiry date, and the conditions, and save it with the date it was run.
• Where the worker has a new passport, VEVO may not find the visa until the Department has updated the record; the fix is the worker updating their passport details, not a different document.

Reading the result

The result shows the visa the person currently holds, its grant and expiry dates, the period of stay, and the conditions by number with a short description. A permanent resident shows a permanent visa with no work condition. A citizen does not appear; a person who says they are a citizen and has no result is proving citizenship another way. A temporary visa holder shows the subclass and conditions, and the conditions are the part employers skip. A student visa with 8105 permits 48 hours a fortnight in session; a 482 with 8607 permits work only for the sponsor in the nominated occupation; a bridging visa with 8101 permits no work at all. A visa that has expired shows as not in effect, and a person with no result and no citizenship evidence is a person you do not employ until they have one.

The work conditions you will see

• 8101: no work. Visitor visas, many bridging visas.
• 8104 and 8105: 48 hours a fortnight while the course is in session, for student dependants and students. The employer counts hours across all of the worker's jobs; you only see your own, so ask.
• 8107, 8607 and 8608: work only for the sponsor in the nominated occupation, for 457, 482 and 494 holders. A sponsored worker cannot take a second job with you.
• 8547: no more than six months with one employer, for working holiday makers, with exceptions for some regional and sector work.
• 8103 and 8102: no work, or work limited to the activity the visa was granted for, on some temporary activity visas.
• No work condition shown: full work rights, for example on a 485, a partner visa or a bridging visa A granted on a partner application.

The full table is on visa conditions explained.

Bridging visas

A bridging visa shows in VEVO with its conditions and usually no fixed expiry, because it ends when the matter it bridges is decided. A worker on a bridging visa A from a partner application typically has full work rights; one from a visitor visa application typically has none; a bridging visa E has none unless the Department has granted work rights on hardship, which the result will show. The bridging visa can end with a refusal the worker may not tell you about, after which they are unlawful within weeks. Re-check bridging visa holders every three months, and ask for the grant notice of any new visa when the matter is decided.

Re-checking and records

Keep, for each non-citizen worker, the consent, the VEVO results with dates, and for citizens the document sighted. Set a reminder before each temporary visa's expiry and re-check then; set a three-monthly reminder for bridging visas; re-check when a worker tells you their circumstances have changed. Records are what the reasonable-steps defence is made of, and a monitoring officer asks for them by name. The records are personal information and are kept under your privacy obligations.

Labour hire and contractors

The obligation covers workers you engage through a labour hire firm and contractors engaged on an ABN, because the contravention is allowing the work, not the employment contract. A host business relying on a labour hire provider's assurance should see the provider's checks or run its own. A sponsored worker on a 482 supplied to you by a labour hire firm is lawful only if the firm holds an on-hire labour agreement; the on-hire guide explains why a standard sponsor cannot supply them.

Penalties

Allowing illegal work is a civil penalty provision, with penalties per worker set in penalty units and higher for companies, and the Department can issue an infringement notice without going to court. Allowing illegal work knowingly or recklessly is a criminal offence with larger penalties and imprisonment available, and aggravated where the worker is exploited. The Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Act, in force from 1 July 2024, added offences for coercing or pressuring a worker into breaching their visa conditions, allowed the Minister to declare a business a prohibited employer that may not employ further temporary visa holders for a period, and raised the penalties. In practice a first inadvertent case, where the employer co-operates and has some checks in place, produces an Illegal Worker Warning Notice, which is recorded and counts against the business if it happens again. The current penalty amounts are on the Department's employer compliance pages, and they rise with the penalty unit.

Workers who report exploitation

A temporary visa holder who has been underpaid or exploited and reports it to the Fair Work Ombudsman is covered by an assurance arrangement between the Ombudsman and the Department: the Department will not cancel the worker's visa for a breach of a work-related condition that arose from the exploitation, where the worker has sought help and is assisting. Since 2024 there has also been a workplace justice visa for workers who need to stay to pursue a claim. For an employer, the point is that a worker who has been paid cash under the award and told their visa will be cancelled if they complain is a worker who can complain, and the cancellation threat is itself an offence.

If you find a problem

• A worker whose visa has ended: stop the work, pay what is owed, and tell them to get advice today; the unlawful guide is where they start.
• A worker exceeding a condition, such as student hours: bring the roster inside the condition from the next fortnight and keep the record of the correction.
• A sponsored worker whose sponsor has ended their employment: they have a window to find a new sponsor, and if that is you, sponsorship approval is the first step.
• A worker you want to keep whose visa is ending: the sponsorship conversation starts months before the expiry, not weeks.

Book a consultation — $330 inc. GST, credited

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Work-rights provisions in Division 12 of Part 2 of the Migration Act 1958 as amended by the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Act 2024; penalty amounts are as published by the Department of Home Affairs at the date above. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each matter; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.