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MARA Registered: 0852408 · Information is general only.
Becoming an approved sponsor is just the beginning. Your obligations are ongoing — and the penalties for non-compliance are severe.
Approved Australian sponsors must meet ongoing obligations including paying the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR), keeping accurate records, cooperating with monitoring, and notifying the Department of Home Affairs of changes. Sponsor obligations apply for five years (longer for 186 nominations) and breaching them can lead to fines, sanctions, or cancellation of sponsorship.
When the Department of Home Affairs approves your Standard Business Sponsorship, you take on a set of legally binding obligations that apply for the full duration of each worker's visa. These are not one-off requirements — they are continuous.
Failure to meet sponsor obligations can result in civil penalties up to $93,900 per breach, cancellation of your sponsorship approval, and public naming as a non-compliant sponsor. The Department actively monitors compliance through audits, data matching, and worker complaints.
Understanding and managing these obligations from day one is the difference between a successful sponsorship and a costly compliance failure.
Every approved sponsor must comply with all of the following for the duration of each sponsored worker's visa.
You must always pay the sponsored worker at or above the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR) — the equivalent salary you would pay an Australian employee in the same role. This obligation applies even if the worker agrees to a lower rate.
It is illegal to pass on the SAF levy, sponsorship application fee, or nomination fee to the sponsored worker — directly or indirectly. This includes salary deductions, repayment agreements, or any other mechanism.
You must keep specific records for at least 2 years after the sponsorship obligation ceases. Records must be available for inspection at any time by the Department of Home Affairs.
You must allow authorised Department inspectors access to your premises, records, and personnel. Obstructing or hindering an inspection is itself a serious breach of sponsor obligations.
You must notify the Department within 28 days if a sponsored worker ceases employment, your business changes structure, or certain other events occur. Delayed or missed notifications are a common compliance issue.
The sponsored worker must only perform duties consistent with the nominated occupation. Assigning work outside the nominated role — even temporarily — can constitute a breach of sponsorship obligations.
If a sponsored worker requests it and the relevant conditions are met, you may be required to pay the worker's return airfares to their home country when their visa or employment ceases.
You must not take adverse action against a worker for exercising their workplace rights. Sponsored workers retain full Fair Work Act protections. Sponsor obligations and employment law obligations apply simultaneously.
Records must allow the Department to verify compliance at any time. They must be kept for at least 2 years after the sponsorship obligation ceases — not just for the visa duration.
All payslips showing gross salary, superannuation, allowances, and deductions. Must demonstrate AMSR compliance across the full visa period.
Original employment contract and any subsequent variations. The contract must be consistent with the nominated occupation and salary rate submitted to the Department.
Evidence of the duties actually performed — position descriptions, performance reviews, project records. Must align with the nominated ANZSCO occupation classification.
Copies of the SBS approval, nomination lodgement confirmation, visa grant notice, and all related Departmental correspondence for each sponsored worker.
Evidence of any workplace training provided to sponsored and Australian workers. Required to demonstrate compliance with training benchmark obligations where applicable.
Records must be retained for at least 2 years after the relevant obligation ceases — even if the worker has left your employment, the visa has expired, or the SBS approval has lapsed.
These events must be reported to the Department of Home Affairs within 28 days of them occurring. Late or missed notifications are a common source of sponsor sanctions.
If a sponsored worker stops working for you for any reason — resignation, termination, redundancy — you must notify the Department within 28 days.
Notify within 28 daysChanges to your business structure — mergers, acquisitions, change of directors, change of legal entity — must be reported. The new entity may need fresh SBS approval.
Notify within 28 daysIf your business permanently closes or ceases to trade in the nominated industry, you must notify the Department immediately and comply with residual obligations to sponsored workers.
Notify immediatelyIf the worker's duties change significantly from the nominated occupation — different tasks, different location, or different employer entity — you may need to lodge a fresh nomination before the change occurs.
Prior approval requiredThe Department of Home Affairs actively enforces sponsor obligations. Penalties are significant and apply per breach, not per audit.
Each individual obligation breach carries its own civil penalty. A single compliance audit can result in multiple penalties applied simultaneously — the cumulative total can be substantial.
For less serious breaches the Department may issue infringement notices as an alternative to full court proceedings. These are still financial penalties and create a compliance record.
The Department can cancel or suspend your SBS approval, immediately preventing you from lodging new nominations and potentially affecting your existing sponsored workers' visa status.
Serious or repeated non-compliance can result in a sponsorship bar — a prohibition on applying for SBS approval for a specified period, preventing your business from sponsoring overseas workers entirely.
The Department publishes the names of sponsors found to have breached their obligations. Public naming can significantly damage your business reputation and your ability to attract staff.
If your SBS is cancelled, your sponsored workers' visas may be subject to cancellation. The workers are not at fault — but they bear the consequences of your non-compliance.
Sponsor obligations don't end at visa grant. Visa Advisor provides practical, ongoing compliance guidance to keep your business audit-ready. See our guide on how to prepare for a sponsorship audit.
Quick answers to the most common compliance and obligations questions from sponsors.
The Department uses multiple monitoring mechanisms simultaneously:
The Department distinguishes between inadvertent breaches and deliberate non-compliance, but both can attract penalties. If you discover a potential breach, you should:
Early, proactive disclosure typically results in better outcomes than a breach discovered during an audit.
No — not below the AMSR. Even if the worker agrees to a pay reduction, paying below the AMSR is a breach of sponsor obligations regardless of the worker's consent.
If market conditions change and you believe the AMSR for the role has decreased, you must obtain a new AMSR assessment before reducing the salary. Seek MARA advice before making any changes to a sponsored worker's remuneration.
Additional hours within the same nominated occupation are generally acceptable, provided the worker is paid appropriately (including overtime where applicable under the relevant award or enterprise agreement).
What is not permitted is assigning duties outside the nominated occupation — even temporarily. If you need the worker to perform a different role, a new nomination may be required before those duties commence.
Generally yes — sponsor obligations continue while the worker holds their visa and remains employed by you, even during periods of unpaid leave. The obligation to maintain the employment relationship and not take adverse action continues.
Extended unpaid leave arrangements should be reviewed with a MARA agent, particularly if they affect the worker's ability to demonstrate genuine employment for PR pathway purposes.
A business acquisition or merger can significantly affect sponsored workers. The outcome depends on the structure of the transaction:
Always seek MARA advice before a transaction completes — not after. The sponsored workers' visa status depends on it.
Compliance is ongoing — not a one-off checkbox. Speak directly with a MARA-registered migration agent for practical, audit-ready sponsor compliance support.