In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of international workers in Australia, and there also has been the routing of Employer-Sponsored Visa Documents required. Though it is debatable as to how much Australian businesses are taking advantage of subclass 457 visa workers or employing illegal workers.
Employers who make the mistake of employing illegal workers should know that the Australian government has implemented various vital measures to control the number of people working illegally in Australia. In this guide, you will learn some of the ways to avoid penalties for having illegal workers.
How Will the New Employer Sanctions Legislation Affect Australian Businesses That Hire Overseas Workers?
Not many business owners, directors, or company officials are aware of the New Employer Sanctions Legislation. But there are reputed and financial consequences if a company is found in breach. There will be infringement notices of $15300 or more up to $76500 imposed on Australian businesses for every employee who is found working illegally in the country.
The Australian government has also warned that it will name and shame the businesses caught hiring illegal workers. There is nothing new, and it has always been unlawful to employ international workers who do not hold work rights or appropriate visas in Australia. But in the past, it has been hard for the government to take action and also provide evidence against businesses that have been known to hire illegal workers.
Due to the new legislation, the Australian government has more power to impose infringement notices on businesses that hire illegal employees without providing any kind of proof. These were the businesses that were deemed to be negligent in their compliance.
Who Will Take Responsibility if an Australian Business is Found to Have Illegal Workers in the Country?
The employers, officers, company directors, and recruitment firms will be directly liable for every individual employed or referred without appropriate work rights or visas. Employers do not have to deal with this strain if they use the right systems to comply and avoid any infringement notices.
How Can a Business Be Able to Keep Compliant?
Experts do not advise employers to employ illegal workers in the country. There are only some Australian businesses who only check the visa status of new employees during the time of recruitment. Most of them are unaware of the changing nature of people on temporary Australian visas.
Though an international employee might have the appropriate visa and work visa with them initially, their status could change throughout the employment period. They might not even notify their employers regarding the visa changes.
What Are Some Things to Think About?
Some of the things that you might opt to think about are as follows:
- The student visa holders of Australia will only be allowed to work for 40 hours a fortnight.
- Though Bridging visas may Allow Visa holders to work in Australia, one thing to keep in mind is that the status of these visas can change based on the processing of visa applications. If the visa application of workers is refused, they have around a month to leave the country.
- Employees can also look to change from one visa to another during their employment tenure and not even inform their employers. For instance, there can be a change from a visa with full work rights to a visa that has limited or no work rights.
- Australian visas can also be canceled at any given time if any breach is found in the visa conditions. You must think about what will happen if the employee does not notify their employer.
What Was the Old Way?
It is evident that businesses must implement regular practices to ensure that their international employees hold the appropriate visa and work rights throughout their employment. One way to achieve this would be the resource and time-wasting practice of manually entering every detail of an employee into the relevant online visa-checking system.
It is also important to remember that you must print a copy of every check performed to form an auditable paper trial. This indicates that to collect the passport details of every employee and enter them each time, their visa status must be checked to ensure they follow the new legislation.
What is the Smart Way?
A much more efficient and productive practice would be for businesses to use Visual. It is an all-in-one Australian Immigration Compliance tool and is a cloud-based software that can help ensure businesses will follow the new legislation by providing automated visa checks and reports on all temporary resident employees who are entered into the system.
All that the businesses must do is ensure that they enter their employees’ details into the system once. After that, VSure will do all the work behind the scenes till the duration of the employment. It will also be able to automatically create an auditable paper trail for businesses via automated reports and storage.
Australian employers may have to pay an illegal workers penalty if they mistakenly hire illegal workers in their company. Before you use Vsure, you must know if there are changes to the visa status of employees who are entered into the system. vSure can help provide alerts and simple instructions on ways to fix the problem so that top businesses in Australia can keep compliant with the government’s legislation.
Why Should an Australian Employer Never Hire Any Illegal International Worker?
Today, Australian laws have become much more strict, and many bills have been passed regarding Australian companies’ unlawful use of immigrants. Today, there are immigration inspectors who are conducting raids on employment places that have unknowingly hired illegal overseas workers into their companies. If an employer has been found to have hired illegal overseas workers into their company, they may have to face huge penalties such as fines.
In such cases, it is best to hire the services of an immigration lawyer who can extensively cover various Australian visas that are required to enter the country. These visas can also help provide numerous rights to the holders, including workers’ rights. A lawyer can also inform you about the various changes that have been made to top Australian visas.
For employers to avoid hiring illegal workers, they must be aware of the current law and also choose to hire experts who can help employ international workers in their company. If you are one of the top employers in Australia and want to ensure that the reputation of your company remains intact, you must look not to hire unlawful overseas workers in your company.
How Will the Employers Get Affected?
Any individual or company who is looking to hire employees should look to do lawfully. The workers must be made to work based on the relevant immigration and visa laws in the country. If an employer is found hiring illegal workers, they have to pay specific penalties, and the workers will be in trouble too.
Final words
If you are an Australian employer and do not want to pay an illegal workers penalty, you must ensure not to hire illegal workers in your company. You can take the help of reputed visa lawyers who can guide you about the latest immigration laws and ensure you know how to hire legal overseas workers.
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