Do Your Employees Have The Right To Work In Australia? (2025 Updated)

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Whether you are engaging with new employees or contractors, you have a positive obligation to ensure your worker has the right to work in Australia. Ensuring compliance not only protects your business from legal repercussions but also demonstrates your commitment to fair employment practices.

The Fair Work Commission and the Australian Border Force continue to monitor employer compliance rigorously. Non-compliance can not only damage your reputation but also lead to significant legal scrutiny.

Under the updated Migration Act 1958 (as amended in 2024 and enforced in 2025), employers who fail to verify a worker’s right to work can face fines starting at approximately $110,000, with aggravated breaches attracting penalties up to $275,000.

This article explains your current obligations, the potential consequences of non-compliance, and effective strategies to safeguard your business against hefty penalties.

What To Know

It is your responsibility as an employer to check whether your workers can legally work in Australia. This means verifying the work rights of every employee, contractor, and any worker you engage through labour hire arrangements or recruitment agencies.

This obligation applies to both paid and unpaid roles, and there’s no room for assumptions. For further insights on keeping your business compliant with current regulations, check out our What Regulations Affect Your Corporation article.

But how do you know if someone is illegally working in Australia? Put simply, a person does not have the right to work if they fall into one of two categories.

First, those who are in Australia unlawfully. These individuals are known as “unlawful non-citizens” – foreign citizens residing without a valid visa.

Second, those “lawful non-citizens” who hold a valid visa but are subject to work-related restrictions, limiting the type or number of hours they may work.

If you’re not well-versed in the myriad visa categories and their conditions – don’t fret! You can use the Australian Government’s Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) tool to check the specific work conditions attached to each visa.

Remember, you need the worker’s permission to access their VEVO details, so ensure you obtain this approval as part of your onboarding process.

What Happens If You Don’t Comply?

As an employer in 2025, you could face severe penalties for employing someone without valid work rights in Australia. Even if the oversight was unintentional, the law requires absolute diligence in verifying every worker’s legal status.

Current regulations impose fines starting at roughly $110,000 for a standard breach, with more serious and aggravated cases attracting penalties up to $275,000. Recent amendments have also increased personal accountability, meaning executive officers can be held liable if they were aware of the breach, influenced the decision, or failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it.

The updated law reinforces your positive obligation to actively verify work rights—not just at the point of hire, but throughout the duration of employment. Keeping accurate records is essential for demonstrating compliance should an investigation occur.

What To Do

The last thing you want is the headache of an investigation and substantial fines impacting your business. Under the updated Migration Act, employers must take “reasonable steps” to verify the work status of their employees and contractors.

This means keeping comprehensive records of your employees’ working status and making timely enquiries whenever necessary. For instance, if you operate as a sole trader, you can benefit from streamlined record-keeping processes – details on which you can find in our guide on Operating as a Sole Trader.

Do not ignore any suspicion that a worker might not have the requisite visa status. If you employ someone on a temporary work visa, you are obligated to continually check their work rights until their employment contract concludes.

So, how can employees prove their right to work in Australia? They can provide one or more of the following documents:

Australian birth certificate and a photo ID
Australian citizenship certificate
Australian passport
New Zealand passport
New Zealand birth certificate and a photo ID
Certificate of evidence of resident status
Valid visa with relevant work rights

To avoid penalties, it’s wise to proactively check your employees’ work rights from the very beginning. You might consider measures such as:

Posting job advertisements that clearly state the requirement for valid work rights in Australia
Implementing employee screening processes that include compulsory reviews of work rights at the start and at regular intervals during employment
Reviewing contracts with labour hire or recruitment agencies to ensure they are also verifying the work rights of the candidates they recommend, as highlighted in our article on What to Know About Hire Agreements

If you have employees on temporary visas, schedule regular check-ups of their visa and work rights status. For a broader perspective on compliance and legal best practices, you might also find our How Do Small Businesses and Startups Do Legal? article helpful.

If you have further questions regarding the employment or sponsorship of visa-holders, the Department of Home Affairs provides an informative resource here.

For any inquiries about other legal obligations when taking on a new employee, you can view a comprehensive checklist here.

What To Take Away…

The obligation to check whether your workers have the right to work in Australia is something that should never be overlooked. Even when employing someone in good faith, it is essential by law to take reasonable steps to verify their work status.

Staying proactive is crucial because “not knowing” is no longer an acceptable defence. Outdated records or assumptions can lead to expensive investigations and heavy fines that can impact your business significantly.

Furthermore, maintaining a robust compliance system not only protects you financially but also fosters a positive workplace culture. Regular audits, clear policies, and employee training on legal obligations are key strategies to protect your operations in Australia’s competitive market in 2025.

Still have questions?

We’re here to help – you can get in touch with our friendly team at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au. Our experienced legal professionals can assist you in setting up effective procedures to ensure compliance and protect your business.

Regie Anne Gardoce

Regie is the Legal Transformation Lead at Sprintlaw, with a law degree from UNSW. Regie has previous experience working across law firms and tech startups, and has brought these passions together in her work at Sprintlaw.

Tomoyuki Hachigo

Tomo is the co-founder of Sprintlaw and a commercial lawyer with a broad range of legal experience. Before starting Sprintlaw, he was an M&A lawyer at a top-tier law firm advising businesses of all sizes from large corporates to startups.