On-hire labour agreements and the 482: what a labour hire business can and cannot do

MARN 1576536

Why direct sponsorship fails

A nomination under Standard Business Sponsorship must be for a position in the sponsor's own business, with the nominee employed by the sponsor or an associated entity, under the sponsor's direction and control. The Regulations exclude an arrangement in which the sponsor supplies the nominee's labour to another business: a nomination where the nominee will work for an unrelated client, at the client's premises, under the client's direction, with the sponsor invoicing the client for the hours, is an on-hire arrangement, and it is refused as not a genuine position in the sponsor's business. The Department looks at substance: a contract that calls the client a project, a consulting agreement that is in truth a placement, a worker who reports to the client's manager, are all read as on-hire. The exception is a genuine professional services engagement where the sponsor retains control of what the worker does, an accounting firm sending staff to audit a client, an engineering consultancy delivering a design, and the line between the two is the sponsor's control of the work.

The associated entity exception

A sponsor may nominate a position in an associated entity, meaning a company related to it under the Corporations Act, a subsidiary, a parent, a sister company under common control. A group services company can sponsor and nominate workers who will work for the operating companies in the group, and the sponsorship obligations are shared. That is not on-hire, because the group is one business for this purpose. It does not extend to franchisees, to joint venture partners, or to clients, however long-standing.

What the agreement is

An On-hire Labour Agreement is a labour agreement between the business and the Commonwealth on the Department's standard template, which allows the business to sponsor overseas workers in the 482 Labour Agreement stream for the purpose of on-hiring them to clients. It is one of the template agreements, alongside those for the meat, fishing, restaurant and other industries, which means its terms are set and are not negotiated case by case. It runs for a fixed term, commonly five years, with an annual ceiling on nominations, and it is reviewed against the business's compliance. The agreement is the sponsorship; nominations and visas are then lodged under it in the ordinary way.

Who can get one

The agreement is for businesses whose core activity is on-hire: labour hire, recruitment with placement, contracting-out of staff. The business must be lawfully operating in Australia with a track record of on-hire activity, must be able to show it is a going concern with clients and placements, and must have no adverse compliance history with workplace or migration law. A newly formed business, or a business that wants the agreement to place one worker with one client, does not meet the profile. The application is made to the Department's labour agreement section with a submission about the business, its clients, the occupations and the numbers, and evidence of consultation with the relevant industry stakeholders, and it takes months to negotiate and sign.

What it requires

• Occupations on the Core Skills Occupation List, nominated by ANZSCO code, with the number of positions capped by the agreement.
• Salary at least the Core Skills Income Threshold, A$79,423 from 1 July 2026, and the market rate for the occupation, paid by the on-hire company. The on-hire template carries no salary concession.
• English and skills at the standard 482 levels, with a skills assessment where the Department requires one.
• Labour market testing for each nomination, in the standard form.
• Employment by the on-hire company: the worker's contract, pay, superannuation, leave and supervision are the on-hire company's, whichever client they are placed with.
• Obligations as a sponsor: records of placements, hours and pay; notification of changes; no recovery of costs from the worker; training contributions through the Skilling Australians Fund levy on each nomination.
• Reporting to the Department under the agreement, annually or as it requires, on placements and compliance.

What it allows

Under the agreement the on-hire company nominates a worker for a position in a nominated occupation, employs them, and places them with a client or a succession of clients. The worker holds a 482 in the Labour Agreement stream, tied to the on-hire company as sponsor and to the nominated occupation, and may be moved between clients in that occupation without a new nomination. The client has no sponsorship role, no obligations under the Migration Act, and no say in the worker's visa, which is the arrangement a labour hire model needs and the one the standard sponsorship forbids.

The client sponsoring directly

Where a client wants a particular worker for a long period, the direct route is usually faster and cleaner: the client becomes a Standard Business Sponsor, nominates the position as the employer, and the worker becomes the client's employee. The labour hire company's role becomes recruitment, and it is paid for that. The client takes on the obligations and the costs, which is the conversation that decides it, and the approved sponsor guide is written to be sent to a client for that purpose. For a worker, direct employment also carries the direct path to permanent residence.

Permanent residence

A worker sponsored under an on-hire agreement is in the Labour Agreement stream, and permanent residence through the 186 depends on the terms of the agreement providing for it and on the on-hire company nominating under the 186 Labour Agreement stream after the required period. The on-hire template has in recent years provided a permanent pathway; whether it applies to a given worker depends on the agreement they are under and its terms, which are checked rather than assumed. A worker who moves to direct employment with a client and is nominated by that client under Standard Business Sponsorship starts the ordinary 482 to 186 path with the new employer.

For workers placed under one

• Your employer is the on-hire company. Your contract, payslips and superannuation come from it, and your condition 8607 ties you to it and to your nominated occupation, not to the client.
• A placement in a different occupation from the one nominated is a breach, for you and for the sponsor.
• You cannot be charged for your sponsorship, your placement or your visa by the on-hire company or the client; a deduction or a fee for that is unlawful and should be reported.
• If the on-hire company has no labour agreement and has nonetheless placed you with its clients, your nomination is exposed and the fix is a new sponsor, client or otherwise, before the Department finds the arrangement. The 180-day guide sets out the window.
• Between placements you remain employed and paid; a gap in pay is a breach by the sponsor, not a holiday for you.

Book a consultation — $330 inc. GST, credited

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Standard Business Sponsorship and nomination criteria in Division 2.13 and 2.17 of the Migration Regulations 1994, and the Department of Home Affairs’ On-hire Labour Agreement template as published at the date above; thresholds from 1 July 2026. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.