Sponsor notification email address change

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Approved sponsors, and former approved sponsors, for a number of temporary visa programmes now have a new email address to notify the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). Previously, any sponsor was supposed to have notified the DIBP via an email address specific to which Australian state or territory the sponsor’s head office was located. This has now been centralised to the one address: Sponsor.notifications@border.gov.au. Of course, for sponsors who wish to notify the DIBP the old fashioned way, by registered mail, still can with postal addresses for every state or territory listed.

So just who is an approved sponsor? An approved sponsor is defined as the following classes of sponsor, with the corresponding current subclass of visa to which the sponsorship relates, also listed:

  • Standard business sponsors – Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visas
  • Professional development sponsors – Training and Research (subclass 402) visas under the Professional Development stream
  • Special program sponsors – Special Program (subclass 416) visas
  • Entertainment sponsors – Temporary Work (Entertainment) (subclass 420) visas
  • Superyacht crew sponsors – Superyacht Crew (subclass 488) visas
  • Long stay activity sponsors – Temporary Work (Long Stay Activity) (subclass 401) visa
  • Training and research sponsors – Training and Research (subclass 402) visas under either the Occupational Trainee or Research streams
  • A person (other than a Minister) subject to a work agreement – Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visas

Approved or former approved sponsors, as listed above, must notify the DIBP when certain events occur. This is just one of a number of sponsor obligations that must be complied with. What is, and what is not, a notifiable event is different for each type of approved sponsor, and may also depend on the visa subclass held by the overseas national they have sponsored. Employees and business owners who are charged with managing their overseas workforce should become very familiar with every sponsor obligation to ensure that their organisation is not at risk of breaching them, as sanctions can and usually do apply.

If you are unsure of your sponsor obligations, Peak Migration is there to assist.