Sanctions for Failing to Satisfy Sponsorship Obligations

If the sponsor fails to satisfy a sponsorship obligation, one or more of the following actions may be taken.

Administrative:

• bar the sponsor, for a specified period, from sponsoring more people under the terms of one or more existing approvals as a sponsor for different kinds of visas;
• bar the sponsor, for a specified period, from making future applications for approval as a sponsor in relation to one or more classes of sponsor; or
• cancelling one or all of the sponsor’s existing approvals as a sponsor.

Civil:

• apply to a Court for a civil penalty order of up to AUD33 000 for a corporation and AUD6600 for an individual for each failure; or
• issue an infringement notice of up to AUD6600 for a body corporate and AUD1320 for an individual for each failure.

Other circumstances in which administrative action may be taken

There are a number of other circumstances (besides failure to satisfy a sponsorship obligation) in which the administrative actions described in the dot points above may be taken.

The circumstances in which administrative action may be taken will differ according to the class of sponsor the applicant belongs to, but include:

• provision of false or misleading information to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship or the Migration Review Tribunal
• the sponsor no longer satisfies the criteria for approval as a sponsor or for variation of a term of that approval
• the sponsor has been found by a court or competent authority to have contravened a Commonwealth, state or territory law
• a primary sponsored applicant is found to have contravened a law relating to the licensing, registration or membership required in order to work in the nominated occupation
• unapproved change to a special program
• failure to comply with certain terms of a special program agreement.

Before lodging an application, please read all related obligation requirements.
See: Other Obligations