Monitoring

With this in mind, it is important to note that the Department of Immigration & Border Protection (DIBP) is placing a particular emphasis on corporate compliance issues for existing sponsors and visa holders.  We are in an excellent position to help you with this. 

Companies that hold Standard Business Sponsorship (SBS) status are required to meet certain sponsorship obligations.  As a sponsor you must:

• cooperate with inspectors
  
• ensure equivalent terms and conditions of employment
  
• keep relevant records
  
• provide records and information to the Minister
  
• tell DIBP when certain events occur
  
• ensure  the visa holder  participates in the nominated occupation, program or activity
  
• not recover from, transfer or charge certain costs to another person
  
• pay travel costs to enable sponsored people to leave Australia
  
• pay costs to remove unlawful non-citizens
  
• provide training to Australians and permanent residents.

If you do not meet your obligations, DIBP could take one or more of the following actions:

• Issue an infringement notice of up to $10,200 for a body corporate and $2,040 for an individual for each failure.
  
• Apply to a court for a civil penalty order of up to $51,000 for a corporation and $10,200 for an individual for each failure.
  
• Bar you from sponsoring more people for a specified time or from applying for approval to be a sponsor. 
  
• Cancel all of your existing approvals as a sponsor. 

If a breach has occurred, it is in your best interest for DIBP to be notified by Visa Solutions Australia, as we may be able to arrange for DIBP to invite you to enter into an enforceable undertaking, rather than imposing one or more of the more serious penalties listed above.  Enforceable undertakings require you to promise to undertake to complete certain actions to demonstrate that the failures have been rectified and won’t happen again.