Can a franchise sponsor a worker?

The rule

A standard business sponsor must employ the sponsored worker under a written contract of employment, keep them in the nominated occupation, and must not supply them to another business unless that business is an associated entity. Those are parts of the sponsorship obligation in regulation 2.86 of the Migration Regulations 1994, set out by Home Affairs on its sponsor obligations page. "Associated entity" takes its meaning from section 50AAA of the Corporations Act 2001, which turns on control and related tests, not on sharing a brand.

A franchise agreement licenses a brand and a system. It does not usually make the franchisee and the franchisor one employer, or associated entities. So migration law sees a franchise network as many separate businesses.

The franchisee as sponsor

The franchisee applies in the name of the entity on the workers' payslips. Home Affairs assesses that business on its own footing: that it is lawfully and actively operating, its finances, its staffing, and whether the position is genuine. The franchise agreement is useful evidence of how the business operates, and a franchisor's sales reports can support trading history, but they do not replace the franchisee's own financial records.

A franchisee that has just opened is in the same position as any new business: it can sponsor, with more evidence asked of it. See can a new business sponsor. Where one owner runs several stores through different companies, each company that will employ a sponsored worker needs its own sponsorship, unless the companies are associated entities and the structure is set up to use that.

What the franchisor can and cannot do

• Can: sponsor workers for its own head office and company-owned stores.
• Cannot: sponsor a worker and place them in an independently owned franchisee's store. That is supplying the worker to another business.
• Should: know which franchisees sponsor workers. Under sections 558A and 558B of the Fair Work Act 2009 a franchisor with significant influence or control can be held responsible for a franchisee's workplace contraventions where it knew, or could reasonably have known, and did not take reasonable steps. The Fair Work Ombudsman's examples of reasonable steps include requiring compliance in the franchise agreement, providing payroll systems and templates, and auditing pay records.

Moving staff between stores

Within one employing entity, a sponsored worker can work at the locations the nomination covers; see work location and multiple sites. Covering a shift at a store owned by a different franchisee company is working for a different employer. For the sponsor it is a breach of the obligation not to supply the worker to another business; for a 482 holder it is also outside visa condition 8607, which ties their work to the sponsor. Common ownership of the brand does not change that.

When a store is sold to another franchisee, the sponsored workers do not transfer with the lease. The buyer needs its own sponsorship and a new nomination for each worker before they work for it. See business sold or restructured.

The practical trap

What the decision maker looks at

• Who the employer is. The entity on the contract, the payslips and the sponsorship must be the same one.
• Whether the position is genuine. Staff numbers, turnover, who does these duties now, and how much of the role is set by the franchisor's system.
• The salary. At least the Core Skills Income Threshold of A$79,423 and the annual market salary rate, judged against what the business and comparable businesses pay.
• Caveats on the occupation. Any caveat attached to the nominated occupation, such as the limited service restaurant one.
• Compliance history. Fair Work findings against the franchisee can be treated as adverse information.

Worked example (illustrative)

Sponsoring through a franchise

In a sponsor consultation Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536, registered since 2015) goes through which entity should sponsor, the occupation and its caveats, and the evidence your business can give, and quotes a fixed fee for the work. A$330 inc. GST for 30 minutes or A$550 for 60 minutes, credited in full if you engage the practice. No outcome can be promised.

Book a sponsor consultation →

In other currencies: A$330 is about US$225, €205 or £170; A$550 is about US$380, €340 or £285 (approximate, November 2026).

General information, not migration advice. Sources: Home Affairs: sponsorship obligations · Fair Work Ombudsman: franchisors · Migration Regulations 1994.