Verifying TSS visa employer obligations
At the rate the overall business environment in Australia is going, the local labor market is getting more hard-pressed to supply the needed skilled workers for the various industries. The number of Australian citizens and permanent residents equipped to take on the jobs required by a booming economy is easily lapped up by the expanding companies.
The logical step for the business owners and company managers to do then is to look overseas for talent. For many of them, it’s the only option left to do.
If you are one of those on the hunt for skilled foreign workers, you know that employing foreign nationals as your employees may be the easy way out of a rather tight situation, but it’s not as easy as many of us think. It entails varied and critical responsibilities.
Various obligations of TSS visa sponsors
Your obligations as a TSS visa sponsor are two-pronged; one, you have obligations towards the Australian government; and two, you have certain responsibilities towards your employees.
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Towards the Australian government
Your very first major responsibility as a visa sponsor involves your obligation towards the Commonwealth government of Australia, and that is to employ legal workers. By legal workers, it refers to the people in Australia who have valid visas that allow them to work.
It’s important to point out here that not everyone with a valid Australian visa is allowed to work in the country. There are visa types that do not allow non-citizens to work while they are here.
If you are caught employing holders of visa that do not have work rights, you are liable for fines. And the amount is nothing to sneeze at: it could go as high as 200,000 plus AUD per illegal worker. Worse, you may even be imprisoned.
The unfortunate situation is this: You may be held accountable even if you don’t have any idea that the workers you hired are illegal ones. The dictum “Ignorance of the law excuses no one” very well applies here.
Secondly, you need to cooperate with government inspectors. The Migration Act 1958 appoints inspectors to monitor whether your obligations as a visa sponsor have been complied with, whether the workers you hired are legal or not, whether the individuals you have sponsored undertake the occupation for which they are nominated, or to check other circumstances related to your role as a TSS visa sponsor.
In this case, you must be willing to provide access to the inspectors to your premises including the permission to allow them to interview your staff. You are likewise obliged to furnish documents within the prescribed timeline.
Thirdly, you must keep records and be ready to show them to the proper authorities that you are compliant with the obligations of your sponsorship.
The foregoing are just a few of a long list of duties and responsibilities that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) imposes on you should you employ non-citizens in your company.
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Towards your employees
While you are obliged to follow certain conditions from the Commonwealth government of Australia, you also need to comply with some obligations to your sponsored employees.
First off, you are legally bound to pay correct wages to your workers. This includes providing pay slips, reimbursing them for work-related costs, forwarding their tax installments to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), making correct payment under the Superannuation Guarantee law, and other similar payment.
You are also directed to provide a safe working environment for your staff. On top of this, you need to see to it that they are covered by workers compensation insurance, and not subject them to situations that may harm their reputation and cause mental distress and humiliation.
Moreover, there is a provision of the country’s labor law wherein you are required to offer equivalent terms and conditions of employment to your foreign workers. In more concrete terms, this means that the annual earnings of your sponsored employees, as well as their employment conditions, must not be less favorable compared to the ones received by an equivalent Australian citizen or permanent resident.
The travel costs of the workers and their families when they leave the country are also on you. They must write you a letter asking for it, or the concerned government agency can do it on their behalf.
Just like your responsibilities towards the government, your obligations and responsibilities towards your employees as discussed above are just a few examples of the many that you must assume as a visa sponsor. There are still more, and it’s crucial that you become familiar with all of them.
An issue with time and workload
You may be willing to study your obligations as a visa sponsor yourself, but given your workload and the time required in running your business, you may not be able to familiarize with all of them. There simply are too many items to take note of and so little time to do it.
On the other hand, you don’t want to have a brush with the authorities by failing to follow immigration and labor rules and regulations. It’s not only embarrassing; it can be costly as we have found out earlier in our discussion.
Is there a way out of your situation? Of course, there is.
The solution comes in the form of our company, Nowak Migration. Currently, we are one of the top migration agencies in the country today, and we are here to provide solutions to your problem.
How? We can serve as your consultant on matters pertaining to your responsibilities as a visa sponsor. On top of that, we will liaise with the concerned government agencies if you have issues related to that role. Further, we will update you whenever there are changes and developments issued by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and other related government departments.
That’s right: Nowak Migration does not only do Australian visas. We provide various other services for the betterment of your business.
Name your need and we will assist you with it. We are able to undertake other non-immigration tasks for you because we are maintaining a first-rate network of professionals and experts from other fields. That way, you don’t have to source out the services that you need yourselves. The moment you keep in touch with us, you’ll find answers to your business-related concerns.
We work with talents from such diverse industries as real estate, business law, accounting and auditing, insurance, transportation, education, and others.
Should you decide to avail of our services, you will no longer worry about breaking some rules as to your responsibilities as a visa sponsor. You will have more time then to focus on the operations of your business and other concerns. That would be a lot of work being unloaded from your shoulders.
With Nowak Migration, you and your company/organization remain protected from the possibility that you could break immigration laws by not doing your obligations as a visa sponsor.
So, stay safe and lawful – hire us.
We urge you then to pick up your phone now and call us for booking or consultation. Our contact information can be found anywhere on our website. Just choose the most convenient means through which to communicate with us.
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