Sponsoring a worker to Australia from a company with no Australian entity: the overseas business sponsor, what it can and cannot do, and the alternatives

MARN 1576536

Who the overseas business sponsorship is for

Standard business sponsorship is ordinarily approved for a business lawfully operating in Australia, and the approved sponsor guide covers that route. The regulations also allow approval of a business that is lawfully operating outside Australia and does not operate in Australia, where it needs to sponsor a person to come here for one of two purposes and cannot otherwise do it, and a sponsor approved on those criteria is called in practice an overseas business sponsor. It exists for the foreign company opening its first Australian office, the manufacturer appointing a distributor and sending its own manager to set it up, the engineering firm with a contract to install and commission its equipment at an Australian site, and the software company sending its own engineer to deliver a project it has contracted for; it is for the business's own employees and its own purposes, and it is not a way for an overseas labour supplier to place workers with Australian employers, which the Department refuses. The route is used far less than the ordinary sponsorship and is assessed by officers who see few of them, which makes the evidence of the business and the purpose more important than usual.

The two purposes the rules allow

The first purpose is to establish a business operation in Australia, which the rules extend to a joint venture or a distributorship, with overseas connections: the overseas business is coming to Australia and needs its own person here to do it, and the connection to the overseas business, its products, its capital, its brand or its contracts, is what distinguishes it from a person simply starting a business. The evidence is the business plan for the Australian operation, the capital committed, the premises or the steps toward them, the agreements for the joint venture or distributorship, and the worker's role in the establishment. The second purpose is to fulfil, or assist in fulfilling, a contractual obligation the overseas business has in Australia: the contract is the evidence, with the scope of work, the term, the Australian counterparty and the reason the obligation needs the overseas business's own staff rather than Australian contractors. A purpose outside those two, sending a salesperson to look for customers, placing a worker with an Australian client as labour, giving an employee Australian experience, is not one the overseas criteria cover, and the application is refused on the criteria rather than on the merits of the business.

What the overseas business must show

The sponsorship application shows that the business is lawfully operating outside Australia, which means a real and active business with the substance to employ and to meet obligations: the registration or incorporation in its home jurisdiction, the financial statements and tax filings, the premises, the staff, the trading history and the contracts, translated where they are not in English and certified where the Department's practice requires. It shows the purpose, with the plan or the contract, and shows why the business cannot do what it needs to do without the sponsorship, which is usually self-evident for an establishment and needs explaining for a contract. It shows that there is no adverse information about the business or the people who run it that makes approval inappropriate, which for an overseas business the Department reads against whatever it can verify, and that the business is able to meet the sponsorship obligations, including the obligation to pay the worker the nominated salary in Australia, to keep records in a form the Department can inspect, and to cooperate with monitoring from abroad. A sponsorship approved on the overseas criteria is approved for a term in the ordinary way, and the Department's practice on the term for an overseas sponsor is read at the time of applying.

The 482 it can nominate

An approved overseas business sponsor nominates a position for the 482 as any sponsor does: an occupation on the relevant list, a position that is genuine and full-time, a salary at the annual market rate and above the income threshold, the testing done or exempt, and a nominated period within the stream's maximum. The worker is the overseas business's own employee, identified in the nomination, and the position is in Australia with the overseas business, to establish the operation or deliver the contract; a nomination that in substance places the worker with an Australian company to work under its direction is not a nomination the overseas sponsor can make, and the Department reads the contract and the plan for who the worker will actually work for. The worker, once granted the 482, holds the ordinary visa with the ordinary conditions, works only for the sponsor in the nominated occupation, and can bring family; the worker's own criteria, English, skills and experience, health and character, are the same, and the step-by-step guide sets out the three stages.

The permanent visas it cannot

The 186 and the 494 require the nominating employer to be actively and lawfully operating a business in Australia, and an overseas business sponsor, by the criteria it was approved under, is not; it cannot nominate for either, in any stream, and a worker brought to Australia by an overseas sponsor has no pathway to permanent residence through that sponsor however long they stay. The pathway opens when an Australian entity exists and is approved as a sponsor in its own right and nominates the worker, and whether the worker's time with the overseas sponsor counts toward the two years the 186 transition stream requires is a question about the employer and the nomination that is read against the current rules with care rather than assumed; a worker who wants permanent residence, and an overseas business that wants to keep the person it sent, plan the subsidiary and its approval from the start. The 186 pathway guide sets out the two years and the approved-sponsor rule.

Testing, salary and the genuine position

Labour market testing applies to an overseas business sponsor's nomination as to any other, in the ordinary case: the position is advertised in Australia, in the required way, for the required period, within the required time before the nomination, and the advertisements and the outcome are evidenced, unless an exemption applies. The exemptions include those under Australia's international trade obligations, which cover intra-corporate transferees of certain nationalities being moved by their employer, and for an overseas business sending its own senior staff the exemption is often the one that applies and is read first; the exemptions guide sets them out. The annual market salary rate and the income threshold apply, so the worker is paid what an Australian would be paid for the position in Australia and not less than the threshold, in Australian dollars and in Australia, however the business pays its staff elsewhere; the genuine position requirement applies, and for an establishment the Department asks whether the position exists for the operation or for the visa; and the position must be full-time, which the part-time guide covers.

The levy on an overseas turnover

The Skilling Australians Fund levy is payable on the overseas sponsor's nomination at lodgement, for each year of the nominated period, at the rate set by the business's annual turnover read with its associated entities, which for an overseas business is its worldwide turnover in the most recent financial year converted to Australian dollars; most overseas businesses using this route are over the A$10 million threshold and pay A$1,800 a year, so a four-year nomination is A$7,200, with the nomination charge and the sponsorship charge on top, and the worker's own visa charge separately. The levy cannot be recovered from the worker by any route, and the refund cases are the narrow ones; the levy guide sets out both. An overseas business comparing the sponsorship with the 400 counts the levy as the main difference in government cost.

Obligations for a worker in a country you are not in

An overseas business sponsor takes on the sponsorship obligations in full, for a worker in Australia while the business is abroad: to pay the nominated salary and provide the nominated terms, which means payroll in Australia with Australian tax and superannuation, in the ordinary case through a registered arrangement or a payroll provider; to ensure the worker works only in the nominated occupation and for the sponsor; to keep the records and provide them on request; to notify the Department within 28 days of the worker ceasing, of a change in the business's details, and of the other notifiable events; to pay the worker's return travel costs on request; not to recover the sponsorship costs; and to cooperate with monitoring, which for an overseas sponsor is by correspondence and document request rather than site visit. The obligations run for the worker's time on the visa and for a period after, and a breach is sanctioned against the sponsor and is adverse information for any later application, including the Australian subsidiary's, since the people who run it are the same. The obligations guide sets them out, and the first-90-days guide covers payroll and records from the start.

The alternatives: the 400, the 408 and a local subsidiary

Three alternatives are read before the overseas sponsorship is chosen. The subclass 400 short stay specialist visa is for a person coming to do highly specialised work, non-ongoing, that an Australian cannot do, for up to three months in the ordinary case and six where the case is strong, with no sponsorship, no levy and no nomination, on the overseas employer's letter and the Australian counterparty's support; it is the right visa for commissioning, installation, a short project or a diagnostic visit, and the wrong one for anything that is in substance establishing an operation or staffing a year-long contract, and the 400 guide sets out where the line falls. The subclass 408 covers defined activities under defined arrangements, and the 408 guide covers whether one fits. And an Australian subsidiary, incorporated, registered and operating, can be approved as a standard business sponsor on the ordinary criteria as a new business, for a shorter term and on the new-business evidence that the new business guide sets out, and can then nominate for the 482 and in time the 186 and 494; it needs some months of operation and substance before it is approved, which is the gap the overseas sponsorship was designed to cover. A business that intends to stay commonly uses the 400 for the first visits, incorporates the subsidiary, and sponsors through it once it is operating, using the overseas sponsorship only where the timeline does not allow that; a business with a single contract and no intention to stay uses the overseas sponsorship or the 400 and nothing else.

When the Australian entity is set up

The Australian subsidiary is a different legal person from the overseas sponsor, and a sponsorship approval does not transfer between entities. When the subsidiary exists and is operating, it applies for its own approval as a standard business sponsor, on the ordinary criteria, as a new business, and once approved it nominates the worker in its own right for the 482 and the worker's visa is linked to the new nomination; until that is done the overseas sponsor remains the worker's sponsor, owes the obligations and is the only entity the worker may work for, so the worker does not move onto the subsidiary's payroll or start working under its direction before the new nomination is approved, which is the breach the Department finds in these cases. The sequence, incorporation, operation, approval, nomination, transfer, notification within 28 days by both entities, is planned so the worker is never without a sponsor and the business never in breach, and the restructure guide sets out the mechanics. From that point the permanent pathway is open through the subsidiary, and the overseas sponsorship, having done its job, is left to expire.

The overseas sponsor checklist

1. Name the purpose: establishing an operation with overseas connections, or fulfilling a contract. If it is neither, this route does not apply.
2. Decide the horizon: months, and the 400 may do; years, and the subsidiary is the destination, with the overseas sponsorship for the gap if the timeline needs it.
3. Assemble the overseas business's evidence: registration, financials, premises, staff, the plan or the contract, translated and certified.
4. Read the worker against the 482 criteria and the testing exemptions, especially the trade-agreement exemption for transferees.
5. Set up Australian payroll, superannuation and records before the worker arrives, because the obligations begin on day one.
6. Plan the subsidiary's approval and the transfer, so the permanent pathway is open before the worker wants it.

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. The sponsorship criteria for a business operating outside Australia in regulation 2.59 and the standard business sponsor provisions in Division 2.13, the nomination criteria in regulation 2.72, the labour market testing provisions and the exemptions under international trade obligations, the sponsorship obligations in Division 2.19, the subclass 186 and 494 nominator requirements, and the subclass 400 and 408 criteria, all in the Migration Regulations 1994 as in force at the date above, with the Department’s practice on overseas business sponsors; charge and levy figures are indicative and the Department’s current price list governs. 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.