The Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Centrelink, and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) have been sharing and matching data of visa holders since 2009. The ATO collects data from DHA on active and newly granted visas and matches it against ATO’s records to ensure visa holders, sponsoring employers, and even migration agents, meet their tax and super obligations and visa compliance requirements.
The data matching program aims to strengthen the integrity of Australia’s temporary skilled visa program, protect foreign workers from exploitation by business sponsors, and protect and maintain the integrity of the Australian labour market. This data-sharing program helps ATO and DHA identify:
- Temporary skilled visa holders who are not working in the occupation in which they were sponsored;
- Sponsors who are breaching their sponsorship obligations including incorrectly paying temporary skilled visa holders;
- Fraudulent and bogus information provided, such as address, travel, employment and employment history of the visa holders and their sponsors;
- Locating ‘illegal non-citizens’ and visa holders without the relevant work rights; and
- Risks and trends of the visa population.
The program also helps improve risk detection and profiling models, and trend analysis for both ATO and DHA, and triggers or alerts both bodies to compliance issues and identifies candidates for administrative action. This can also trigger wider immigration compliance audits from the Australian Border Force (ABF).
With the integration of automation and AI technology to improve the data matching and analysis programs, DHA can obtain automatic “real-time” alerts/triggers when a sponsored visa holder is not receiving the correct nominated salary amount or when their employment ceases and is removed from the sponsored employer’s payroll. This can lead to swift actions from the DHA or the ABF to investigate the sponsoring employer’s compliance with sponsorship obligations.
For more information on the data-sharing programs, please see the ATO and DHA’s websites:
- ATO & Department of Home Affairs visa – 2017-18 to 2025-26 data-matching program protocol
- ATO – Visa Data
- ATO – How we undertake data matching
- DHA – Privacy
- DHA – The temporary skilled visas data matching program with the ATO
In the recent FY2025 federal budget, $1.9 million has been allocated to conduct a pilot between ATO and DHA on income and employment data, and $100 million has been allocated to support ABF, including their immigration compliance programs. As such, we expect to see an increased focus on compliance and use of the data matching program from both ATO, Centrelink and DHA.
Therefore, it is more important than ever that employers understand their sponsorship obligations and comply with them, especially the notification and visa compliance requirements. It is imperative that employers maintain detailed and clear employee records to demonstrate ongoing compliance, as it is more likely now than ever that DHA and ABF would conduct investigations and audits on employers due to the increased sophistication of the data sharing and matching programs and technology.
Some of the most common sponsorship obligations that could be easily missed include that the sponsoring employer is obligated to notify the Department within 28 calendar days of the following events taking effect:
- Employment cessation of the sponsored person;
- Changes to the sponsored person’s duties (e.g. change of job description, promotion, etc);
- If the business has become insolvent, under liquidation, or administration;
- Changes to the owners, directors, principals or partners
- Changes to the business structure;
- Changes to a business address.
Subclass 482 visa holders are restricted from working in their nominated occupation. If there are any changes to the sponsored person’s role, even if it is a promotion, the employer must ensure that the role remains aligned with their nominated occupation and notify the Department of the new role. Otherwise, it may be a breach of their visa conditions and the employer’s sponsorship obligations. This is also one of the key events noted by ATO and DHA that their data-sharing program will help identify, so we can expect stronger scrutiny and prompt actions from DHA and ABF when they are alerted to these events. As such, it is important to ensure that employee records are kept up-to-date and compliant.
For more information on sponsorship obligations, please visit DHA’s website below:
- General information on Sponsorship Obligations
- Sponsorship Obligations for Standard Business Sponsors
- Sponsorship Obligations for Temporary Activities Sponsors
Consequences of Non-Compliance
Failing to comply with sponsorship obligations, as well as failing to ensure visa compliance of employees, could lead to adverse consequences and penalties for the business, ranging in severity from warnings to criminal proceedings.
Sanctions by the ABF may include:
- Warning notices;
- Civil penalties – infringement notices and fines;
- Barring the business from further sponsorship for a specified period;
- Cancellation of the business’s sponsorship approvals;
- Cancellation of the sponsored visas of employees, and their accompanying family members;
- Criminal proceedings and penalties.
Remember: Records of non-compliance will also stay in the business’s record with the DHA and will need to be declared in future sponsorship and nomination applications lodged by the business and its associated/related entities.
Gilton Valeo can answer your questions about Australia’s immigration system
In light of the data sharing programs and strengthened focus on immigration compliance, if there are upcoming changes to the sponsored person’s role, please reach out to us before the changes take effect so we can advise accordingly and make the necessary notifications to the Department.
As experts in Australian immigration, Gilton Valeo can guide you in identifying the best immigration pathways to bring people over to start your Australian office, provide you with strategic consulting along the way, and connect you with our partners to make sure everything goes smoothly.
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