Can employer cancel my visa?

I’ve been asked this question a few times. The simple answer is no – employer can not cancel your visa, it is Department of Immigration who is managing your visa status and only they can cancel your visa, but – your employer may have an obligation to inform them if you’ll no longer be working for him, and subsequently department may make a decision to cancel your visa, dependent of the type of visa you are holding, of course. Below some clarification for different types of visas.

457 visa

457 is a temporary visa. It is a condition of a 457 visa to work for an employer who has sponsored you. If you will no longer be working for a 457 visa sponsor (doesn’t matter if you left them or they made you redundant), they have an obligation to inform Department of Immigration about the fact. Then you’ll have some time to find a new sponsor for 457 visa, apply for another visa or leave Australia. If you’ll not be able to sort out your visa status within a prescribed period of time Department of Immigration very likely will send you notification that they are going to cancel your 457 visa or will cancel it straight away. You may find some more information about changing your 457 to PR here.

Student Visa

Student visa is a temporary visa. One of the conditions of the visa is that you are allowed to work only 40 hours per fortnight while studying and full time only during breaks and holidays. You can work for whoever you want. If you’ll work more than you are allowed to and it will come to the attention of Department of Immigration, whether they would be informed by somebody or checking your payslips or getting information from ATO, you’ll breach a condition of your visa and your visa might be cancelled. It could be your employer or some of your work-mates who’d report you, so make sure you’ll stick to your visa conditions.

Working Holiday and Work and Holiday visas

Working Holiday and Work and Holiday visas are temporary. You can work for whoever you want. Please note that in general, you can work for the same employer no longer than 6 months. Working for longer is a breach of visa condition and your visa might be cancelled if it will come to the attention of the department of immigration

ENS visa

ENS visa is permanent. Although your employer who has sponsored you made an obligation to the department of Immigration they will keep your position and employ you for at least another 2 years, this obligation is not reciprocal. In theory, you can leave them the next day after your ENS visa would be granted. I’d suggest not to dump them. It’s the worst way to show your employer, who gave you this opportunity to live in Australia indefinitely, how much you don’t care about them.

RSMS visa

RSMS visa is permanent. Although your employer who has sponsored you made an obligation to the department of Immigration they will keep your position and employ you for at least another 2 years, this obligation is not reciprocal. In theory, you can leave them the next day after your ENS visa would be granted. I’d suggest not to dump them. It’s the worst way to show your employer, who gave you this opportunity to leave in Australia indefinitely, how much you don’t care about them. But there is a catch – one of RSMS visa conditions is that you will leave and work in Regional Australia for another 2 years after visa grant, so if you’ll move to the big city your visa might be cancelled.

If you have been impacted by any issues described above or would like to discuss your visa status please do not hesitate to book a consultation or contact us.

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