Employers — Do the Groundwork Before you DIY Your Sponsorship Visa
You need a skilled worker. You've found the right person. They're overseas, or they're here on a visa that won't cut it in the long term. So you figure — how hard can it be to sort the sponsorship yourself?
Harder than you think. And the mistakes are expensive.
I've seen employers come to me after the fact, and the damage ranges from delays and wasted money to outright refusals and, in some cases, compliance action. Here's what goes wrong when employers try to run this process without proper advice.
You don't realise there are two (sometimes three) separate applications
Employer sponsorship isn't one form you fill out. It's a process. First, you need to be approved as a Standard Business Sponsor. Then you nominate the position. Then your employee applies for the visa. Each stage has its own requirements, evidence, and timeframes. Miss something in stage one and the whole thing stalls — or falls over.
The labour market testing requirements catch people out.
For most employer-sponsored visas, you need to demonstrate that you genuinely tried to find an Australian worker first. That means advertising the role in the right places, for the right length of time, with the right ad content — and keeping the evidence. Many employers advertise, find no suitable local candidates, and then think that's enough. It often isn't—the ad content matters. The timing matters. And if you've already offered the job to your overseas candidate before completing the testing, you may have a problem.
The occupation has to match — exactly.
Your employee might be doing a job you'd call an Operations Manager. But what ANZSCO calls an Operations Manager might not match what they actually do. The nominated occupation must align with both the ANZSCO definition and the role's actual duties. If there's a mismatch, the nomination gets refused. Picking the closest-sounding title isn't enough.
Salary gets underestimated
You must pay sponsored workers at least the Annual Market Salary Rate — what an equivalent Australian worker would earn in that role, in that location. Underpaying — even unintentionally — is a compliance issue, not just an admin error. It can affect your sponsorship status and expose you to penalties.
The pathway matters more than people realise
If you're looking at a permanent outcome, the subclass 186 visa has different streams with different eligibility requirements — and not every employee or employer situation qualifies for every stream. If you're in a regional area, the subclass 494 is worth understanding properly: it opens different doors, but it also comes with regional and employment conditions that bind both you and your employee. Choosing the wrong pathway wastes time and money. Choosing the right one takes more than a quick read of the Department's website.
Sponsor obligations don't end at approval.
Once you're an approved sponsor, you take on ongoing obligations: keeping records, notifying the Department of certain changes, covering travel costs if required, and not recovering fees from sponsored workers. Most employers don't read the obligations document carefully. Some find out about them the hard way.
DIY means you don't know what you don't know
The Department's website is thorough, but it's written for people who already understand the system. It tells you what's required. It doesn't tell you what traps to avoid or how to put together a file that gives you the best chance of approval the first time. A refusal doesn't just cost you the application fees — it costs you time, and potentially the person you were trying to hire.
If you're serious about sponsoring someone, get proper advice before you start, not after something goes wrong. The groundwork matters.
Book a meeting with me here, and we can chat further.