Do I need a lawyer or a migration agent?

Many visa applications are lodged directly. A registered migration agent or immigration lawyer helps with complex or refused matters.

What is a Section 48 bar?

It limits the visas you can apply for while unlawfully in Australia after a refusal or cancellation. A professional can map your options.

Can I appeal a refused visa?

Often yes — the Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviews many decisions, but strict time limits apply.

Is it legal to charge a worker for visa sponsorship in Australia in 2026?

No — Australian law bars employers from taking money for visa sponsorship, and workers can report it without naming themselves.

No. An employer cannot lawfully ask a worker for money in exchange for visa sponsorship, and cannot lawfully ask a sponsored worker to repay sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs. According to the Department of Home Affairs' official page Information for employers and labour hire organisations, current as at October 2026, both appear on the Department's list of things it is against the law for employers to do, under the Migration Act 1958 (Migration Act).

For someone being asked to pay, that matters in a very practical way: the problem is the request. The Department's wording covers asking for money in exchange for sponsorship and asking a worker to repay those costs, so the conduct does not depend on whether cash has actually changed hands yet.

What exactly is banned when money changes hands for sponsorship?

The published position separates a few related requests, and they are all treated as unlawful or as grounds for a report.

What is asked of the worker	How the Department of Home Affairs describes it
Money paid in exchange for visa sponsorship	Against the law for employers to ask for
Repaying sponsorship, nomination and/or recruitment costs	Against the law for employers to ask for
Taking money from a sponsored worker's pay for sponsorship, recruitment or migration agent costs	Something an employer can be reported to Border Watch for
Paying the worker less than the salary agreed when the visa was granted	Something an employer can be reported to Border Watch for

The same page states that it is unlawful in Australia to use someone's immigration status to take advantage of them or to treat them badly at work.

Does it matter that you agreed to pay, or signed something?

The Department's material is written around what the employer asks for, not around whether a private arrangement was struck, so an agreement between the two of you is not presented as a defence. What the Department does address directly is the worker's own status: it states that exploiting a migrant worker is illegal even if the worker is doing paid or unpaid training, has broken their visa rules, or does not hold a valid Australian visa.

The Department's published case studies show the same pattern from the other side. They include a worker who raised an underpayment and was told his visa may be cancelled unless he stayed quiet, and a sponsored worker whose manager used a future permanent nomination as leverage. In both, using visa status as pressure is treated as part of the exploitation, not as a bargaining chip.

Is a deduction from your pay different from paying upfront?

Functionally, no — it is the same money, taken later. The Department lists taking money from a sponsored migrant worker's pay for sponsorship, recruitment or migration agent costs as one of the behaviours an employer can be reported to Border Watch for, alongside paying less than the salary agreed at visa grant, forcing excessive hours, and putting the worker into a different job from the approved one.

Because pay is involved, two different areas of law can be touched at once. Under the Fair Work Act 2009, all visa holders and migrant workers have the same workplace rights and protections as other employees in Australia, regardless of migration status.

What happens to an employer who does this?

Employers and labour hire organisations that exploit temporary migrant workers can face criminal charges and/or civil penalties, including large fines. The Department states that penalties for serious, deliberate or repeated breaches of the Migration Act include up to five years' jail and fines of up to $131,040 (360 penalty units).

There is also a prohibited employer scheme. Depending on the findings, a ban runs with no maximum length for human trafficking and modern slavery, up to 10 years for a criminal offence other than those, and up to five years for all other migrant worker sanctions. A designated prohibited employer cannot employ new temporary visa holders, though workers already employed at the time of the declaration may continue if they wish.

Separately, a sponsor who fails to meet sponsorship obligations may face sanctions, and more than one can be imposed. The Department of Home Affairs' Sponsor responsibilities page, current as at July 2026, lists these:

Sanction	Amount or effect
Infringement notice	$79,200 for a body corporate, $15,840 for an individual, per failure
Civil penalty imposed by the courts	Up to $396,000 for a body corporate, $79,200 for an individual, per failure
Cancellation of approval as a sponsor	Sponsorship approval ends
Ban on sponsoring other workers, or on future approval applications	Barred from sponsoring
Compliance notice or Enforceable Undertaking	Directed to fix or formally commit to fixing breaches

A sponsor penalised for exploiting migrant workers can also have its business name, or the individual's personal name, published on the register of sanctioned sponsors.

How can a worker report it, and does a report have to be named?

Two channels are described in the Department's guidance, and they cover different harms. Reports about pay and wages, leave and other entitlements, and discrimination are handled through the Fair Work Ombudsman. Border Watch takes reports about people who take migrants' passports, use a migrant's visa situation to threaten or force them to work, or force migrants to live in overcrowded and unsafe housing — and, for temporary sponsored skilled workers, the four behaviours listed above.

The Department states plainly that you do not need to give your name when you make a report. It also notes that a worker's concerns do not have to be raised alone: if something feels wrong about how someone is being treated at work, support is available through the organisations listed on the Department's Help page.

This article is general information about how the rules are publicly described and is not advice about any individual situation; anyone weighing a specific demand should check it against the official pages or seek professional advice.

What else counts as exploiting a sponsored worker?

The same list of unlawful employer conduct includes keeping a migrant worker's passport, threatening to cancel a visa, 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 crowded housing as part of the job, sexual harassment, underpayment, and asking for sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs back. The Department's Case studies page adds that coercing unwanted sexual acts, threatening visa cancellation and pressuring someone to surrender a passport all fall within the protections.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my employer ask me to pay for the nomination or the migration agent?

No. The Department of Home Affairs lists asking a migrant worker to repay sponsorship, nomination and/or recruitment costs as against the law, and lists taking money from a sponsored worker's pay for migration agent costs as a matter an employer can be reported to Border Watch for.

What if I have already paid — is that money recoverable?

The published material establishes that the request itself was unlawful, but it does not set out a recovery process for money already paid. Pay-related matters, including wages and entitlements, are the Fair Work Ombudsman's area under the Department's guidance, so that is where the wage side of a dispute is described as being handled.

Is a "repayment agreement" in my contract enforceable?

The Department's framing focuses on what the employer asked for rather than on whether a private deal was signed, so a contractual clause is not offered as a defence. It also states that exploiting migrant workers remains illegal even where a worker has broken visa rules or holds no valid visa.

Will making a report put my own visa at risk?

The Department states that you do not need to give your name when you make a report, and that exploitation is illegal even if the worker has broken their visa rules or has no valid visa. It does not describe how a report affects any particular person's visa, so that remains a question for official guidance or professional advice rather than something to assume either way.

Does this only apply to one visa subclass?

The Department's extra protections are written for workers sponsored on a temporary visa, including those on skilled visas such as the subclass 482, and the four reportable employer behaviours are described in those terms. The broader statement that it is unlawful to use someone's immigration status to exploit them at work is not limited by visa subclass.

Can an employer lose the ability to sponsor anyone at all?

Yes. The prohibited employer scheme bans employers found guilty of serious breaches of the Migration Act from hiring new temporary migrant workers, with the length of the ban depending on the findings. Separately, a sponsor who fails sponsorship obligations can have its approval cancelled and be barred from sponsoring again.

Do these protections apply if I am on a labour hire arrangement?

Yes. The Department states that using a labour hire organisation does not free a business from its obligations to migrant workers, and that the business must still know and follow the law and ensure workers are treated fairly. Labour hire organisations themselves can face criminal charges and civil penalties under the Migration Act.