Macrossans Lawyers Brisbane law firm

Macrossans Lawyers Monitor - Autumn 2006

Increasingly, more companies in Australia are hiring employees from offshore because of difficulty in attracting resident job seekers and the need to fill key skill gaps.

While an employer should always check an employee's visa status, to date this has not been enforced, resulting in large numbers of illegal workers.  However, this will soon change with the Federal Government’s Migration Amendment (Employer Sanctions) Bill 2006, which will place the onus on employers and recruitment agencies to ensure their workers have valid work visas.

Employers and recruitment companies could face hefty penalties of up to two years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $66,000 if they are found guilty of the following offences:

• Allowing an unlawful non citizen to work;
• Allowing a non citizen to work in breach of his/her visa conditions; and
• Referring someone for work if he/she is an unlawful non citizen or a non citizen who would be in breach of visa conditions if he/she were to work.

"Work" includes any work, whether for reward or otherwise and heavier penalties can be imposed for aggravated offences.

On 30 March 2006, the Senate referred the Bill to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee for inquiry, with a report due this month.

If you would like more information, or assistance in checking an employee’s visa status, please contact Emma Swenson on (07) 3292 9726 or This Email address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .