Training and Research sponsor

To be approved as a training and research sponsor an academic needs to participate or observe in an Australian research project, an 'Australian organisation', that is a tertiary or research institution.

Who can apply to be a sponsor

To be eligible to apply for sponsorship, your organisation will need to meet the following requirements:

• an 'Australian organisation', that is a tertiary or research institution
• your organisation must be lawfully operating in Australia
• your organisation must have good business record and abide by Australian laws
• if you have previously sponsored workers from outside Australia to Australia, you must have a satisfactory record of complying with Australian laws
• the activities of your organisation or agency must be legal in Australia
• there must be nothing adverse known about your organisation or agency.

You must have capacity to comply with your sponsorship obligations.

Lawfully operating in Australia

Unless your organisation is a government agency or a foreign government agency, your organisation must be lawfully established and actively operating in Australia (that is, actively engaged in business activities).

An organisation can include a body corporate or unincorporated body (other than an individual or a sole trader).

A new organisation may be considered if there is clear evidence of intention to establish the business.

How to apply to be a sponsor

How to apply for approval as a sponsor

To apply for approval as a training and research sponsor, you will need to complete and lodge Form 1402S – Application for approval as a training and research sponsor or professional development sponsor.
See: Form 1402S – Application for approval as a training and research sponsor or a professional development sponsor (248KB PDF file)

Prepare your documents

The documents you must provide to support your application to sponsor someone for this visa are listed in the Document checklist for sponsors.
See: Sponsorship Document Checklist (116KB PDF file)

Some documents may take you several weeks to obtain. You should have all the required documents ready to lodge with your application to reduce any delays in processing.

Where to lodge your sponsor application

You must lodge the application with the Specialist Temporary Entry Centre - Tasmania.
See: Specialist Temporary Entry Centre - Tasmania

Sponsorship fee

There is a non-refundable fee for this application.
See: Visa Charges ( 84KB PDF file)

How long the sponsorship lasts

Your sponsorship will be valid for up to three years.

Report changes in your circumstances

You must contact your case officer to report any changes in circumstances that could affect the processing of your application.

When you write to the department, you must include:

• the name of your organisation
• your ABN or other identifier.

Providing all this information helps the department quickly locate your application.

Sponsorship decision

If your application to be sponsor is approved, the department will send you a letter with:

• the date your sponsorship ceases (include only if applicable)
• your sponsorship agreement number
• the obligations you have as a sponsor.

If this visa is not approved, the department will send you a letter stating:

• why your application was refused
• your rights (if any) to a merits review of the decision and relevant time limits.

Sponsor obligations

You must be able to comply with following sponsorship obligations.

• cooperate with inspectors
• keep records
• provide records and information
• provide information to the department when certain events occur
• not recover certain costs from a sponsored applicant
• pay costs incurred by the Commonwealth to locate and remove an unlawful non-citizen
• ensure sponsored applicant works or participates in nominated occupation, program or activity.

You are responsible for meeting all your obligations, even if you have someone else authorised to act on your behalf, including a migration agent.

Cooperate with inspectors

You must cooperate with inspectors appointed under the Migration Act 1958 in determining whether:

• a sponsorship obligation is being, or has been, complied with
• other circumstances, in which the department may take administrative action, exist or have existed (see below).

This obligation:

• starts on the day the sponsorship is approved
• ends five years after the day the approved sponsorship ceases.

Tell the department when certain events occur

You must tell the department in writing if:

• the information provided in the sponsor application regarding the sponsor's address or contact details has changed
• the legal status of the sponsor ceases to exist
• a primary sponsored person fails to participate in the activity which they were nominated to participate in
• if the primary sponsored person was nominated to perform in a film or television production and they have ceased their participation in that activity
• a primary sponsored person ceases participation, prior to the cessation date specified in the nomination, in an activity they were nominated to participate in
• the sponsor ceases to hold a license that they were required to hold for the nomination to be approved.

You must tell the department in writing by registered post or email, to a specified address and within 10 working days of the event occurring.

This obligation:

• starts on the day the sponsorship is approved
• ends when:
  • the approved sponsorship ceases; and
  • there are no sponsored applicants in relation to the sponsorship.

Keep records

You must keep records of your compliance with your obligations to tell the department if certain events occur. All records must be reproducible and some must be capable of verification by an independent person. This obligation starts on the day the sponsorship is approved.

This obligation ends two years after the following two events:

• the approved sponsorship ceases
• there are no sponsored applicants in relation to the sponsorship.

You do not need to keep any records for more than five years.

Provide records and information

On request, and in the manner and timeframe requested, you must provide records or information that:

• you are required to keep under a law of the Commonwealth or a state or territory
• are records you are required to keep under the obligation to keep records
• if the records or information relate to the administration of sponsorship.

This obligation:

• starts on the day the sponsorship is approved
• ends on of the following two events:
• the approved sponsorship ceases; and
• there are no sponsored applicants in relation to the sponsorship.

Not recover certain costs from a sponsored applicant

You must not recover, or seek to recover, from the person you have sponsored for this visa, all or part of the costs (including migration agent costs):

• of recruiting the person you sponsored for the position
• of becoming or being a sponsor or former approved sponsor
• of providing financial support to the person you have sponsored while they are in Australia.

This obligation:

• starts on the day the sponsorship is approved
• ends on of the following two events:
  • the approved sponsorship ceases; and
  • there are no sponsored applicants in relation to the sponsorship.

Pay costs incurred by the Commonwealth to locate and remove an unlawful non-citizen

If you asked to in writing, you must pay costs incurred by the Commonwealth in locating or removing someone you have sponsored from Australia. You are liable to pay the Commonwealth the difference between the actual costs incurred by the Commonwealth (up to a maximum of AUD10 000) and any amount already paid under the obligation to pay travel costs to enable the sponsored applicant to leave Australia.

This obligation starts on the day on which the person you have sponsored becomes an unlawful non-citizen.

This obligation ends five years after the person you sponsored leaves Australia, but you are liable only for these costs while they are in Australia.

Ensure sponsored applicant works or participates in nominated occupation, program or activity

You must ensure that the person you have sponsored for this visa works only in the position for which you nominated them. If you want them to work in a different position, you must nominate them for that position and lodge a new nomination application.

This obligation starts on the day the person you have sponsored for the position is granted a visa. If they already hold a visa, your obligation starts on the day the nomination is approved.

This obligation ends on the day (whichever is earliest):

• on which another sponsor has their nomination application for the same person approved
• on which person you have sponsored is granted a further substantive visa of a different subclass to the one they last held, and their new visa does not require them to work for you
• the person you have sponsored has left Australia and the relevant visa (and any subsequent bridging visa) is no longer in effect.

Monitoring of sponsors and visa holders

You must comply with your obligations as a sponsor. The department monitors how well you are complying and whether the visa holders are keeping their visa conditions.

The department monitors you while you are a sponsor and for up to five years after you cease being a sponsor. The department does this monitoring routinely and in response to information provided to the department. It does this in three main ways:

• exchanging information with other Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies, including the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and the Australian Taxation Office
• writing to you to ask for information in accordance with the obligation to provide records and information – the department will write to you directly unless you have authorised someone else, including migration agents, to act and receive information on your behalf
• site visits usually to the sponsored business premises, with or without notice.

You may also be investigated by Commonwealth officers called inspectors. Inspectors have certain investigative powers under the Migration Act 1958. Failure to cooperate with inspectors is a breach of the sponsorship obligations and the department may take action against the sponsor, which can be in the form of sanctions.

Sanctions for failing to satisfy your sponsorship obligations

If you do not meet at least one of your obligations, one or more of the following actions may be taken.

Administrative

• you could be barred from sponsoring more people for a specified time
• you could be barred from applying for approval to be a sponsor, in relation to this visa or another one
• all of your existing approvals as a sponsor could be cancelled.

Civil

• the department can 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
• the department 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.

Definitions

Australian government agencies

A government agency includes an agency of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory government.

Foreign government agency

A foreign government agency includes the following:

• organisations conducted under the official auspices of a foreign national government and operating in Australia, including tourists from outside Australia, media bureaus, trade offices and other foreign government entities
• a foreign diplomatic or consular mission with a presence in Australia
• organisations conducted under the official auspices of a recognised international organisation, such as the United Nations.