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Sponsor obligations and record-keeping checklist

Tick what your business already does. The list follows the obligations Home Affairs publishes for standard business sponsors, read 13 November 2026. Nothing you tick is stored or sent.

Keshab Chapagain, registered migration agent MARN 1576536

Keshab Chapagain · MARN 1576536 · Registered since 2015

Employment Each sponsored worker has a written contract of employment with the sponsoring business. Each sponsored worker works only in the occupation they were nominated for. No sponsored worker is supplied or hired out to another business (other than an associated entity, or an exempt occupation). Each worker’s annual earnings are at least what the approved nomination stated. Each worker’s conditions are no less favourable than an equivalent Australian worker’s.

Costs The business has paid the sponsorship and nomination charges and the migration agent costs for those applications itself. The business has paid the recruitment costs itself (advertising, recruitment agent fees, screening and interviews). None of those costs has been charged to, deducted from or recovered from a worker or their family. Any written request for return travel costs has been paid within 30 days.

Notifications (within 28 days) A worker’s employment ended or is expected to end: notified. A worker’s duties changed: notified. A worker did not start: notified. A new director was appointed (companies), or a new partner joined (partnerships): notified. A change to the legal name, trading name, registration, structure, owners, address or contact: notified. Return travel costs were paid: notified. Insolvency, administration, liquidation, or the business ceasing to exist: notified.

Records kept The written contract of employment for each sponsored worker. Earnings paid to each sponsored worker. Money applied or dealt with on a worker’s behalf or at their direction. Non-monetary benefits: the agreed value and when or over what period they were provided. The tasks each worker performed in the nominated occupation, and where. The terms and conditions of an equivalent worker, if there is one, and the period they applied. Each notifiable event: the date, the method and where the notification was sent. Written requests for travel costs (and when received), and how, when, how much and to whom they were paid. How the business recruited the worker without discriminating on visa or citizenship status. How the business is meeting any training obligation attached to its sponsorship. Records are in a reproducible format and can be produced when a departmental officer asks.

How long each obligation lasts

Keeping records, providing records, notifying events, and not passing on costs: until two years after the sponsorship (or work agreement) has ended and the business no longer employs a sponsored visa holder.
Cooperating with inspectors: until five years after the sponsorship ends or the worker stops working for the business.
Return travel costs: paid once, within 30 days of a written request from the worker or the Department.
Costs of locating and removing a worker who becomes unlawful: up to A$10,000, less any travel costs already paid; the Department can ask for up to five years after the person leaves Australia.

What a monitoring officer looks at

Home Affairs can write asking for records, visit the business with or without notice, and exchange information with the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Australian Taxation Office. In practice the comparison is between three things: what the approved nomination said (occupation, duties, earnings, location), what the contract says, and what the payroll and task records show. A gap between any two is where questions start.

The practical trap

Most businesses keep payslips and contracts because Fair Work requires them. The records that are usually missing are the migration-specific ones: a dated copy of each notification and where it was sent, a record of the tasks the worker actually performs, and evidence of what an equivalent Australian worker is paid. Those are the ones on the Home Affairs list that ordinary payroll does not produce.

Worked example (illustrative)

A café group sponsors a chef. Eight months in, the chef moves to a role that is mostly rostering and ordering, and gets a pay rise. The pay rise is fine. The change in duties is a notifiable event with a 28-day clock, and if the new role is a different occupation it needs a new nomination and, for a 482 or 494 holder, a new visa. The group's payroll shows the higher pay; nothing shows the duties, the date they changed, or a notification. That is three unticked boxes on this list from one ordinary staffing decision.

If an obligation is not met

Home Affairs lists the actions it can take: a bar on sponsoring for a set time, cancellation of sponsorship approvals, a compliance notice, an enforceable undertaking, an infringement notice (it states up to A$15,840 for an individual and A$79,200 for a body corporate for each breach), or a civil penalty order through a court (up to A$396,000 for a corporation). Sanctioned sponsors are published. See what an employer does after a sanction notice.

Frequently asked questions

What records must a standard business sponsor keep?

Home Affairs lists them: the written employment contract, earnings paid, money dealt with on the worker’s behalf, non-monetary benefits and their agreed value, the tasks performed and where, an equivalent worker’s terms and conditions, every notifiable event and how it was notified, travel-cost requests and payments, and how any training obligation is being met. Records must be in a reproducible format.

How long must a sponsor keep the records?

The record-keeping obligation ends two years after both of these are true: the sponsorship (or work agreement) has ended, and the business no longer employs a sponsored visa holder. Other laws, such as the Fair Work record-keeping rules, have their own periods.

How long can Home Affairs monitor a sponsor?

While the business is a sponsor and for up to five years after the sponsorship ends. Inspectors can visit the business premises with or without notice, and the obligation to cooperate with inspectors runs for five years after the sponsorship ends or the worker stops working for the business.

What are the penalties for breaching a sponsorship obligation?

Home Affairs can bar the sponsor, cancel sponsorship approvals, issue a compliance notice or seek an enforceable undertaking. It states infringement notices of up to A$15,840 for an individual and A$79,200 for a body corporate for each breach, and civil penalty orders through a court of up to A$396,000 for a corporation.

Do the pay and conditions records apply to highly paid workers?

The earnings, benefits and equivalent-worker records are not required where the sponsored worker earns A$250,000 or more a year. The other records still apply.

Does ticking every box mean the business is compliant?

No. The checklist covers the obligations Home Affairs publishes for standard business sponsors. It cannot check what your records actually show, the terms of a labour agreement, or Fair Work and tax obligations. Whether an obligation has been met is decided on the evidence.

Unticked boxes, or a monitoring letter

Read the full guide to sponsor obligations and monitoring and the list of what to report within 28 days. In a sponsor consultation Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536, registered since 2015) goes through your gaps and what to fix first. 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).

By Keshab Chapagain, registered migration agent (MARN 1576536). Reviewed on 13 November 2026 · Check the OMARA register. Source: Home Affairs: sponsorship obligations for standard business sponsors.