Sponsorship Obligations, Monitoring and Renewal — What Sponsors Must Do

MARN 1576536

The obligations

The sponsorship obligations are in the Migration Regulations and apply from the date of approval. In summary, a Standard Business Sponsor must:

• Cooperate with inspectors and with the Department’s monitoring, including providing information and access.
• Ensure equivalent terms and conditions of employment: the sponsored worker is paid and treated no less favourably than an Australian in the same role, and at least the amount in the nomination.
• Ensure the worker works only in the nominated occupation, for the sponsor or an associated entity, and not for another employer (with limited exceptions such as some medical practitioners and executives).
• Keep records that show compliance, in a reproducible form, and provide records and information when the Department asks.
• Notify the Department of certain events within 28 days: the worker ceasing employment, changes to the business, insolvency, changes to the duties or location of the role.
• Not recover, transfer or charge costs of sponsorship or migration to the worker, including the Skilling Australians Fund levy, nomination charges and agent fees for the sponsorship and nomination.
• Pay reasonable return travel costs of the worker and their family when requested in writing, within 30 days.
• Pay the cost of locating and removing an unlawful non-citizen the sponsor sponsored, if asked.
• Not engage in discriminatory recruitment practices.

Some obligations end when the worker leaves or moves to another sponsor; the records and return-travel obligations continue for a period afterwards. The sponsor is responsible for knowing which obligations are still live for each worker.

Notifications within 28 days

The 28-day notification obligation is the one most often breached, because it is triggered by ordinary business events: a sponsored worker resigns, is made redundant or is dismissed; the business changes its name, ownership or structure; a role changes duties or moves to a different location; the business enters administration or ceases to operate. Each has to be notified through the Department’s online form within 28 days of the event. A late or missing notification is a breach on its own, regardless of whether the underlying event was anyone’s fault.

Records the Department expects to see

• Employment contracts, position descriptions and any variations, for the sponsored worker and for an equivalent Australian employee where one exists.
• Payroll records, payslips and superannuation records showing the salary paid against the nominated salary and the market rate.
• Evidence of the worker’s duties and work location: rosters, timesheets, project records.
• Copies of notifications made to the Department and when.
• Records of any money received from the worker and what it was for.
• Written requests for return travel and evidence of payment.

Monitoring and site visits

The Department monitors sponsors by requesting information and documents in writing, by matching its data against the Australian Taxation Office and other agencies, and by site visits, announced or unannounced, where inspectors speak to the sponsored worker and others, inspect records and the workplace, and may take copies. A monitoring letter sets a period for the response; the quality and completeness of what is produced decides whether the matter closes or escalates. Sponsors should treat the first letter as the main event and respond with organised records and a covering explanation of anything that needs explaining.

Sanctions

Where a breach is found the Department can issue a formal warning, bar the sponsor from sponsoring further workers or from making new nominations for a period, cancel the sponsorship approval, issue infringement notices, seek civil penalties in court, or publish the sponsor’s name. The Fair Work Ombudsman may act separately on underpayment. For a business that depends on sponsored workers, a bar is the sanction that matters: existing workers’ visas are affected and no new nominations can be made until it ends. The response to a notice of intention to take action is where the outcome is usually decided.

Renewing sponsorship

Standard Business Sponsorship is approved for five years (accredited sponsors also for five years). A nomination cannot be approved for a sponsor whose approval has expired, so the renewal application has to be lodged before the expiry date, allowing for processing. Renewal is assessed afresh: the business’s lawful operation, its compliance history, and its training and recruitment practices. A sponsor with unresolved monitoring issues should expect them to be raised at renewal.

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. 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.