With more and more nurses, midwives and personal carers from overseas joining the Victorian healthcare workforce, ANMF (Vic Branch) has been receiving an increasing number of enquiries about visa issues.
Common concerns have included frustrations with employers not providing all the required information and/or members not being aware of various options available to them to change visas.
The Branch has prepared some common questions and answers.
Does my employer have to pay for my visa-related travel costs?
Yes. Your employer must pay for pre-agreed costs that are related to attracting you as a potential primary sponsored person, such as paying for airfares to Australia, visa application costs and moving assistance.
If I resign or my employment is terminated, can my employer deduct visa-related costs from my pay?
No. If your employment with your sponsor ends at any point, not only do you not have to repay any of the money your employer spent on your sponsorship, but your employer cannot deduct costs from your pay.
If you cease employment with your sponsor, you have 60 days to find a new sponsor and a new nomination must be lodged by the new employer. Once this nomination is approved, it can be linked to your 482 visa.
But what if I already signed a contract agreeing to have visa-related costs deducted from my wage?
The Migration Act 1958 and Migration Regulations 1994 set out rules your employer must legally follow. Regulation 2.87 outlines an obligation for a person who is an approved work sponsor (your employer) to not take any action to transfer or charge visa-related costs to you.
So your employer must pay these costs, even if you previously agreed to paying them. For example, if you signed a contract agreeing to pay visa-related costs and these are deducted from your final wage, your employer has failed to comply with migration laws.
If this has happened to you, please contact ANMF as soon as possible. Visit Member Assistance, scroll to the bottom of the page and fill out the member assistance form.
Case study
When a member sponsored by a large private hospital on a Temporary Skill Shortage visa (TSS) (subclass 482) resigned, her employer sought to withhold over $2,500 from her final pay, claiming she was contractually required to repay accommodation and relocation costs associated with her visa.
ANMF wrote to the member’s employer on her behalf contending the employer had breached migration regulation requirements that prohibited them from charging these costs to our member. The employer agreed to cease the action they were taking to have our member repay costs and she was able to move on to start her new job without having to repay any costs.
