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.

What can I do if my Australian employer uses my visa status to exploit me in 2026?

How Australian law treats visa-based workplace exploitation, what counts as illegal, and how to report it anonymously.

If your employer is using your visa as leverage, that conduct is against the law — not just bad management. Under the Migration Act 1958, it is unlawful in Australia to use someone's immigration status to take advantage of them or to treat them badly at work, and employers and labour hire organisations can face criminal charges and civil penalties, including large fines. According to the Department of Home Affairs' "Information for employers and labour hire organisations" page (as at October 2026), reports about this kind of exploitation can be made without giving your name.

This is general information about how the law works, not advice about your own circumstances; what applies to you will depend on your visa, your pay records and what actually happened, so treat official information and professional advice as the final word.

What does "using my visa status to exploit me" actually mean?

The law targets the link between your immigration position and the pressure being put on you. It is not limited to pay disputes. The Department's page lists conduct that is against the law for employers, including:

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 migrant workers to live in unsafe, dirty or crowded housing as part of their job
sexually harassing a migrant worker
underpaying a migrant worker
asking a migrant worker to repay sponsorship, nomination and/or recruitment costs
asking a migrant worker for money in exchange for visa sponsorship

Under the Migration Act, employers also cannot take a passport, pressure a worker to break their visa work conditions, make threats about their visa or future visa applications, ask for money in exchange for sponsorship, or force them to live in unsafe, dirty or crowded housing as part of the job.

Does it still count if I broke my visa rules or have no valid visa?

Yes. The Department states directly that it is illegal to exploit migrant workers even if they are doing paid or unpaid training, have broken their visa rules, or do not hold a valid Australian visa. Your employer's conduct does not become lawful because of your own immigration position.

The Department's published case studies make the point. In one, a labour hire company sent a worker whose tourist visa had expired to horticulture jobs, underpaid her, and then threatened to report her if she kept complaining — the company was already breaking the law by allowing her to work without a valid visa and by underpaying her, and could face additional criminal charges under the exploitation offences. In another, a sponsored IT worker who complained about sexual harassment was told she would have no chance of being nominated for a permanent visa; her boss could face additional criminal charges for using her visa status to exploit her.

A third example involves an international student who was rostered past the hours his student visa allowed, was underpaid, and was then told his visa might be cancelled if he did not stay quiet. Underpaying someone and allowing them to work in breach of their visa conditions were already unlawful; pressuring the worker to break those conditions added a further breach.

Do I have the same workplace rights as Australian workers?

You do. 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. That covers pay and wages, leave and other entitlements, and discrimination. The Fair Work Ombudsman's visa holders and migrants material is the place those rights are explained.

Your visa conditions still matter for a separate reason: they can limit the hours you may work or the work you may do. Conditions can be checked through VEVO, the Department's free online visa entitlement check.

What extra protections apply if I am on a sponsored skilled visa?

Temporary sponsored skilled workers have protections on top of general workplace rights. The Department says employers can be reported to Border Watch if they:

force a temporary migrant worker to work too many hours
pay the sponsored worker less than the salary agreed when the visa was granted
take money from a sponsored worker's pay for sponsorship, recruitment, or migration agent costs
make the sponsored worker do a different job from the one approved when the visa was granted

Sponsors also carry sponsorship obligations, and failing to meet them can lead to sanctions — cancellation of approval as a sponsor, a ban on sponsoring other workers, infringement notices, civil penalties imposed by the courts, compliance notices, or an enforceable undertaking.

How can I report it without giving my name?

Two reporting channels are described on the Department's page, and which one fits depends on what happened.

Pay, leave, entitlements and discrimination: the Fair Work Ombudsman handles free advice and education about workplace rights, and reports about employers not following workplace laws.
Passports, visa threats, forced work and housing: Border Watch handles 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.

The Department states plainly: you do not need to give your name when you make a report. The Department's Help page also lists organisations that provide support to workers in this position.

If you decide to report, the practical order is:

Write down what happened, with dates.
Note the amounts underpaid and the hours worked.
Save your payslips, rosters, messages and bank records.
Decide which issues you are reporting — wages, threats, passport or housing.
Choose the channel that matches those issues.
Leave your name out if you want the report to be anonymous.

What happens to an employer who is caught?

Penalties for serious, deliberate or repeated breaches of the Migration Act include up to 5 years' jail and fines of up to $131,040 (360 penalty units). Breaching a prohibition can lead to criminal prosecution and up to 5 years' jail, and/or a fine of up to $131,040, or both.

Employers found guilty of serious breaches can also be declared a "prohibited employer" by the Minister for Immigration, which bans them from hiring new temporary visa holders and publishes the business name on the Australian Border Force website.

Finding against the employer	Maximum prohibition period
Human trafficking and modern slavery	No maximum length
A criminal offence other than those above	Up to 10 years
All other migrant worker sanctions	Up to 5 years

Existing temporary visa holders who were already working for the employer at the time of the declaration may continue if they wish; the ban applies to hiring new temporary visa holders.

Sponsors face a separate penalty scale for sponsorship obligation failures. An infringement notice can impose a specified financial penalty — for example, $79,200 for a body corporate or $15,840 for an individual for each failure — and courts can impose civil penalties of up to $396,000 for a body corporate and $79,200 for an individual for each failure. Sponsors penalised for exploiting migrant workers can have their business or personal name published on the register of sanctioned sponsors.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it illegal for my employer to threaten to cancel my visa?

Yes. Threatening to cancel a visa, threatening to report a worker to immigration authorities, and threatening future visa applications are all listed by the Department as unlawful conduct by employers. Using your immigration status to pressure you at work is itself the breach.

Can I report my employer anonymously?

The Department states that you do not need to give your name when you make a report. Border Watch handles reports about passports, visa threats, forced work and unsafe housing, while the Fair Work Ombudsman handles pay, leave, entitlements and discrimination.

My visa has expired or I have broken a work condition — can I still report the exploitation?

Yes. The Department says it is illegal to exploit migrant workers even if they have broken their visa rules or do not hold a valid Australian visa. Your employer's conduct is assessed on its own, not excused by your immigration position.

Can my employer make me live in housing they provide?

They cannot force you to live in unsafe, dirty or crowded housing as part of your job. That is listed as unlawful conduct under both the general exploitation rules and the specific Migration Act prohibitions.

My employer deducts sponsorship or agent costs from my pay. Is that allowed?

No. Taking money from a sponsored migrant worker's pay for sponsorship, recruitment, or migration agent costs is unlawful, as is asking a worker to repay sponsorship, nomination and/or recruitment costs, or asking for money in exchange for visa sponsorship.

Do I keep my workplace rights if I am a temporary visa holder?

Yes. 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.