What are a sponsor's obligations in Australia in 2026 and when must you notify Home Affairs?

What Australian sponsors must do under sponsorship obligations, the two triggers for notifying Home Affairs, and the sanctions that apply.

Published: 10 October 2026

Under the Department of Home Affairs "Sponsor responsibilities" page, a sponsor must tell the Department when its business circumstances change, or when there is a change relating to the person it is sponsoring. Those are the two triggers. The Department lists two channels for doing this: an email to sponsor.notifications@abf.gov.au, or the sponsor changes form in ImmiAccount. Meeting the obligations themselves and reporting changes on time are separate duties, and both attach to the business rather than to any single nomination.

This article is general information about how the rules are framed, not personalised advice for your business; the current wording on the official pages and any professional advice you obtain should govern your decisions.

What do sponsorship obligations cover for a standard business sponsor?

Obligations are not identical across sponsor types. The Department separates them for standard business sponsors, temporary activities sponsors and accredited sponsors, and each has its own obligations page. If you hold standard business sponsorship and are preparing nominations for a Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) or a Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494), you fall in the first group.

Standard business sponsorship runs for five years from the date the Department approves it, and accreditation status — if you hold it — stays in force across that period. Accredited sponsors carry the same obligations as standard business sponsors, plus one extra option: they may provide a character reference for subclass 482 applicants they nominate, which the Department generally relies on instead of overseas police certificates.

Accredited status is available across six categories: Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies; Australian Trusted Traders; low-volume sponsors with a high proportion of Australian workers; high-volume sponsors with a medium proportion; major investors in Australia; and STEM start-ups backed by early-stage venture capital. Accreditation adds priority processing for associated visa applications, but it does not reduce what you must report.

When does the duty to notify actually start?

The duty starts when one of the two changes occurs. The Department's language is broad rather than exhaustive: a change in your business circumstances, or a change relating to the sponsored person. A worker resigning, moving role or changing pay is a change relating to the sponsored person; a restructure, sale or change in how the business operates is a change in business circumstances.

The Sponsor responsibilities page describes the trigger but does not set out a list of reportable events or a numeric deadline. The Department maintains a separate "change in situation" page for the detail, and any prescribed period for a given event should be confirmed against the official wording currently published, since these requirements are amended from time to time.

Practically, the useful test is whether a change would alter what the Department approved when it granted sponsorship or the visa. If it would, treat it as reportable rather than waiting to see whether the Department asks.

Why is notification a precondition for your next nomination?

Because the sanctions for failing to meet sponsorship obligations strike directly at your ability to nominate. The Department lists cancellation of approval as a sponsor, being banned from sponsoring other workers, and being banned from making future applications for approval as a sponsor. A sponsor that loses approval, or is barred from future applications, cannot put forward the next 482 or 494 nomination it was planning — regardless of how strong that nomination would otherwise be.

That is why notification sits more naturally on the pre-nomination checklist than in the compliance folder. A change that goes unreported does not simply age into history; it remains a live breach that can surface during monitoring or during assessment of a later application, when the cost is measured in lost nominations rather than in paperwork.

What can a sanction cost?

Sanctions are not limited to one measure. The Department states that more than one sanction can be imposed for the same failure.

Sanction	What the Department specifies
Infringement notice	$79,200 for a body corporate, $15,840 for an individual, for each failure
Civil penalty imposed by a court	Up to $396,000 for a body corporate, $79,200 for an individual, for each failure
Compliance notice	A notice requiring the sponsor to address alleged breaches
Enforceable Undertaking	A legally binding written agreement between the sponsor and the Department / Australian Border Force
Approval consequences	Cancellation of approval; bans on sponsoring workers or on future approval applications

Infringement notices can be paid using BPAY. The amounts above are per failure, so a series of unreported events is not treated as a single breach.

Which conduct is treated as migrant worker exploitation?

Separate from sponsorship obligations, the Migration Act 1958 creates offences for using a person's immigration status to exploit them at work. The Department's employer and labour hire page lists conduct that is unlawful regardless of whether the worker holds a valid visa, has broken visa conditions, or is in unpaid training: keeping a worker's passport, threatening visa cancellation, threatening to report a worker to immigration authorities, pressuring someone to work more hours than their visa allows, threatening future visa applications, forcing unsafe or overcrowded housing as part of the job, sexual harassment, underpayment, and asking a worker to repay sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs or to pay for sponsorship.

Four specific employer behaviours are also called out as reportable: forcing a sponsored worker to work too many hours, paying less than the salary agreed when the visa was granted, deducting sponsorship, recruitment or migration agent costs from pay, and making the worker do a different job from the one approved. Penalties for serious, deliberate or repeated breaches reach up to five years' imprisonment and fines of up to $131,040 (360 penalty units).

Being penalised can also have a public dimension: a sponsor's business or personal name may be published on the register of sanctioned sponsors, and an employer designated as a prohibited employer has its name published on the Australian Border Force website. Prohibition lengths depend on the finding — no maximum for human trafficking and modern slavery, up to 10 years for other criminal offences, and up to 5 years for other migrant worker sanctions. Workers already employed at the time of a prohibited employer declaration may continue working for that employer; only new hiring of temporary visa holders stops.

What else should an employing business be doing at the same time?

Two checks belong alongside notification discipline. First, verifying work rights: it is unlawful to hire a non-citizen without a valid visa, to hire someone to do work that contradicts their visa conditions, or to pressure someone without a valid visa into working. The Department points employers to VEVO for checking visa conditions, with the visa holder's permission. Second, understanding workplace law: under the Fair Work Act 2009, visa holders and migrant workers have the same workplace rights as other employees regardless of migration status. Using a labour hire organisation does not transfer these obligations away from the host business.

How does accreditation affect your reporting position?

Accreditation does not lighten the notification duty — accredited sponsors have the same obligations as standard business sponsors. What it adds is exposure on references. An accredited sponsor reference must be on company letterhead, name the sponsor and the person signing, and include the visa applicant's full name and date of birth.

Accreditation can be revoked if you stop meeting the characteristics for your category, or if you provided a character reference for a sponsored employee or family member and at least one of them has a criminal conviction from a country other than Australia. Revocation of accreditation does not by itself end your standard business sponsorship, which continues until the sponsorship approval expires unless it is separately suspended or cancelled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to notify if my sponsored worker resigns?

A resignation is a change relating to the person you are sponsoring, which is one of the two triggers the Department sets. The obligation is to report the change rather than to wait for the Department to notice it through monitoring or a later application.

Does selling or restructuring the business trigger a notification?

Yes, on the face of the Department's wording: a change in your business circumstances is a trigger in its own right. Corporate restructures are also relevant to accredited sponsors, because accreditation depends on continuing to meet the characteristics of your category.

Can more than one sanction apply to a single failure?

Yes. The Department states expressly that more than one sanction can be imposed, so a monetary penalty does not exclude a compliance notice, an Enforceable Undertaking, or action against your approval as a sponsor.

How much is an infringement notice?

The Department gives $79,200 for a body corporate and $15,840 for an individual for each failure, payable by BPAY. Court-imposed civil penalties are higher, at up to $396,000 for a body corporate and $79,200 for an individual for each failure.

Is notifying Home Affairs the same as meeting our obligations?

No. They are parallel duties. Reporting a change does not cure an underlying breach — for example, paying less than the salary agreed when the visa was granted remains a problem even if the change is reported.

Can our business name be published if we are sanctioned?

It can. A sponsor penalised for exploiting migrant workers may have its business or personal name listed on the register of sanctioned sponsors, and an employer declared a prohibited employer has its name published on the Australian Border Force website.