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Visa Holders and Migrant Workers

Employment Contracts

26 Feb 2026 (Last updated 26 Feb 2026)

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Hiring temporary foreign workers can be a practical decision if your business needs skills that are hard to find in Australia. However, before you can hire someone with a worker’s visa, there are many things you should consider. As an employer, you need to make sure anyone you are thinking of hiring has legal working rights in Australia. Different visa holders have different workers’ visas and working rights.

Why should you hire overseas employees?

The work environment has undergone rapid transformation in the past 4-5 years in Australia. The demand for skilled workers is increasing and there is a desperate need in industries like aged care, agriculture, healthcare, or construction. Most companies are now turning to foreign workers to fill these positions temporarily.

Some visitors to Australia are permitted to work provided they have the right visa. Different types of visas are issued by the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs depending on the circumstances.

Eligibility

Someone can work in Australia if they:

  • Are an Australian citizen, a permanent resident, or a New Zealand citizen on a special category of visa.
  • Hold a valid visa with permission to work.

Employers can employ or sponsor skilled migrants with overseas passports already in Australia and have a visa to work, or sponsor someone already in Australia on another visa that doesn’t allow them to work provided they have the right skillset. Alternatively, you can sponsor skilled workers to come to Australia to work in your business.

Visa holders who are already in Australia may have restrictions on their visas. For example, they may only be allowed to work for one employer for a limited time, or perhaps only work a certain number of hours per week, in a certain place, or doing a particular job. International students for example may be able to get a visa type that allows them to do workplace training subject to restrictions e.g. the visa may only allow them to work a limited number of hours per fortnight.

Only Australian citizens, permanent residents, and New Zealand citizens holding Special Category (subclass 444) visas generally have no conditions placed on working in Australia. Permanent residents and New Zealand Citizens may not be able to hold certain Federal Government positions.

Hiring overseas employees in Australia

As an employer, you have a legal obligation to make sure that any overseas employee you hire – whether they already live here, or you plan to bring skilled overseas workers into the country – has legal working rights in Australia.

If they already live here and are not Australian Citizens, they may be permanent residents or New Zealand Citizens on a special class of visa that allows them to remain in Australia indefinitely. Alternatively, they may have a temporary visa that allows them to work. You can check their visa conditions through the Department of Home Affairs’ online verification system Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO).

In all cases, a worker’s visa holder must have a valid visa the entire time that they are working for you.

Remember, all overseas employees you hire are entitled to the same minimum workplace rights and entitlements as Australian workers, including pay rates, overtime and penalty rates, superannuation, and more.

Employer-sponsored visas

If you can’t find anyone in Australia with the right skills and experience for a job, you may wish to employ a skilled worker currently living overseas by sponsoring them to come to Australia. You can sponsor workers temporarily or permanently, however, there are costs involved which are the employer’s responsibility. Skilled workers must generally be on the Skilled Occupations List, and visa holders can work only for you while you sponsor their visa.

When you sponsor migrant workers, you have certain obligations to them and the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs, for example, to keep your business details up to date and to make sure the employee is still on a valid visa. Some of these obligations might continue after the visa holder stops working for you.

There are several ways to sponsor a skilled migrant worker:

  • Sponsor a skilled worker for permanent migration through the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) or the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) if your business is in regional Australia.
  • Sponsor a worker on a temporary visa through the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), which allows overseas people to come to Australia to work for up to 4 years.
  • Take over the sponsorship of temporary migrants already in Australia on skilled work visas.
  • Enter a labour agreement that allows you to employ several overseas skilled workers on a permanent or temporary basis by entering a formal labour agreement with the Australian government if the job is not on the Skilled Occupations List.

On December 7 2024, the Skills in Demand (SID) visa replaced the Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa.

The purpose of these is to fill certain skill shortages in the labour market, help employers easily find and sponsor suitably skilled workers, and increase accountability for employers.

Visa conditions for some categories of sponsored skilled migration visas include an employer obligation to demonstrate they can’t find anyone in Australia suitable for the role. The Department of Home Affairs will be paying particular attention to make sure job opportunities for Australian workers are not impacted by migrant workers coming from overseas.

Check workplace rights of visa holders and conditions

Under the Migration Act 1958 and Migration Regulations 1994, employers have a legal obligation to ensure non-Australian citizens have a right to work in Australia.

Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) is a free-to-use online visa verification platform set up by the Department of Home Affairs. The platform lets visa holders, employers, education providers, and other organisations quickly and easily check the visa conditions of a non-Australian citizen.

Below are the following documents you can use to check the visa status of an applicant:

  • Document for Travel to Australia (DFTTA).
  • ImmiCard.
  • Passport.
  • PLO56 (now replaced with ImmiCard).
  • Refugee travel document (Titres de Voyage).

Keep in mind that VEVO can only provide information about people who have their details available in the VEVO system. A worker’s details may not be in the VEVO system if they migrated to Australia before 1990 and have not travelled outside the country since. When this happens, you can ask the candidate to apply for an electronic visa record before you hire them.

Minimum rights at work

All workers in Australia have the same rights and protections at work, regardless of citizenship or visa status.

Employers must comply with Australian immigration and workplace law, which for most employers is generally the Fair Work Act 2009, which contains the National Employment Standards and provisions for industrial instruments that set out minimum workplace rights and entitlements for employees.

Employers have an obligation to:

  • Pay employees the right rate for all time worked.
  • Provide employees with payslips, superannuation, and taxation documents.
  • Provide a safe workplace.
  • Provide employees with entitlements such as pay rates and leave.

Manage foreign employees with ease

Hiring foreign employees is a business decision that should be considered seriously. There are different options to hiring foreign employees and you can pick which alternative works best for you and your business. Peninsula has worked with thousands of businesses in Australia, supporting them with employment relations and workplace health and safety resources.

The information in the above article has been compiled on the basis of general information current at the time of publication. Please note that the contents of this article and website do not constitute legal advice and are not intended to be a substitute for legal or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. Your specific circumstances or changes in circumstances after publication may affect the completeness or accuracy of this information. You should seek legal advice or other professional advice in relation to any particular matters you or your organisation may have. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all liability for any errors or omissions contained in this information or any failure to update or correct this information. It is your responsibility to assess and verify the accuracy, completeness, currency and reliability of the information on this website, and to seek professional advice where necessary. Nothing contained on this website is to be interpreted as a recommendation to use any product, process or formulation or any information on this website. For clarity, Peninsula does not recommend any material, products or services of any third parties. 

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