Immigration Services for the Engineering & Resource Industry
482 Program Compliance Audit & Review of Visa Holder Population
The 482 visa program enables employers in the engineering and resource sector to source critical skills which cannot readily be found in the local labour market. This is particularly the case for project work where proprietary business knowledge may need to be sourced from overseas offices or contractors.
Hammond Taylor worked with a major player in the resource sector to conduct a critical compliance and audit review to ensure the business was meeting its obligations under the 457 visa program (now replaced with the TSS 482 visa program). Due to significant internal turnover in the Human Resources division, the business had lost critical business knowledge about how immigration compliance had been managed. We were engaged to assist with an audit of internal visa holders and to ensure all compliance obligations under the 457 visa program had been met and would continue to be met in future.
The initial 457 visa holder audit involved reconciliation of the business's own internal records with those held by the former migration agents. This enabled us to identify inconsistencies and potential issues. A list of potential issues were passed to our clients HR team for verification and investigation. After this review, the records were updated to prepare a definitive list of current visa holders. Hammond Taylor assisted to prepare records of information that was incomplete or inaccuracies to be reported to the Department of Home Affairs.
The second stage in the process was to review our client's systems and processes to identify systemic issues which may lead to a failure to record critical information for compliance purposes. After close liaison with the organisation's HR team, we were able to provide the business with a list of recommendations for process amendments to ensure future compliance.
An annual audit system was introduced to ensure that any discrepancies or compliance failures would be picked up and a continuous improvement process introduced to ensure any future failures would lead to amendment of the business's immigration management processes.
Finally, we provided training to critical stakeholders including line managers, HR staff, and senior executives to ensure that all responsible parties understood their responsibilities, potential personal and company liability, and key areas for consideration when making decisions regarding visa holders.
These steps enabled our client to ensure better continuity of internal knowledge, improved compliance management and organisational understanding of potential risks related to non-compliance.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
