Checking work rights before someone starts: a guide for employers and hosts

In September 2026 the Australian Border Force announced a $158,400 infringement notice against a Queensland freight company, which it described as the largest immigration compliance infringement notice its Queensland field operations team had issued. The ABF said it had identified one worker with no lawful status and another working in breach of visa conditions. Freight and warehousing is our world, so it got our attention, and it's a useful reminder for all of us rather than a reason to point fingers. "Can this person legally work here, and on what terms?" has to be answered properly before the first shift.

This article covers what the law expects of employers and host businesses. It is not about visas themselves. Who gets a visa, and on what conditions, is a decision for the government, and questions about an individual's visa belong with the Department of Home Affairs or a registered migration agent.

The basic rule

The Department of Home Affairs puts it simply: a person can legally work in Australia if they are an Australian citizen, or they hold a valid visa with permission to work. People who can prove they are a citizen or a permanent resident can work without restriction. For visa holders it varies. In the Department's words, some "can work unrestricted, others can work a limited amount, while some cannot work at all."

The Department also says employers must check they are employing someone who can legally work in Australia. That gives two questions for every new starter:

1. Does this person have the right to work at all?
2. If so, are there conditions on that work, and does the job we're offering fit inside them?

How a VEVO check works

Visa Entitlement Verification Online, or VEVO, is the Department's online system for checking visa details and conditions. A few practical points:

• It's free. The Department calls it a free online system.
• Organisations need to register. A business sets up an ImmiAccount first and then registers to use VEVO.
• You need the worker's permission. An organisation checks a person's details with the visa holder's consent.
• It shows current information. VEVO reports the visa a person holds now and the conditions attached to it.

Because VEVO shows a point in time, a check done at induction tells you nothing about six months later. The sensible practice, and what we think any employer or provider should do, is to record the visa end date at the first check and re-check before that date and at regular intervals in between. Keep a dated copy of each result. That is good practice rather than a step spelled out in the legislation, but it is the simplest way to show you took reasonable care.

Who has to check when labour hire is involved?

This is a common question, and the honest answer is: don't assume it's only the agency.

In a labour hire arrangement the agency is the employer. It recruits, onboards and pays the worker, so the first check naturally sits there. But the offences in the Migration Act 1958 are drafted more widely than "the employer". Home Affairs summarises them this way: it is a criminal offence to "employ, refer, coerce or contract" a non-citizen who does not have the right to work in Australia. There are separate provisions for allowing someone to work and for referring someone for work, each covering both people with no lawful status and people working in breach of a visa condition.

The Department's penalties page is direct about it: "All penalties are for each worker", and that "includes workers that recruitment or labour hire companies source."

So a host that lets a person work on its site should not treat itself as out of the picture. Home Affairs' own advice to businesses using labour hire is to consider a contract clause requiring the provider to use VEVO to check the visa conditions of potential workers and to make sure its migrant workers are paid correctly and treated fairly.

In practice, a host should:

• Ask the provider how and when it checks, including how it handles re-checks for visas with an end date.
• Put it in the contract, as Home Affairs suggests.
• Ask for confirmation that checks are current for the people on your site.
• Tell the provider when the job changes. If hours go up or a short assignment becomes a long one, the provider needs to know so it can confirm the work still fits each person's conditions.

The same logic applies to contractors and subcontracted crews. If you're engaging people on an ABN, read our piece on sham contracting as well. And in states with a licensing scheme, checking the provider's licence is a separate step, covered in our guide to labour hire licensing.

Visa work conditions in plain terms

VEVO is the authority on any individual's conditions, so we won't list visa subclasses here. For rostering, a worker generally falls into one of three groups:

• Unrestricted. They can work any hours in any role, the same as a citizen.
• Limited. They can work, with conditions attached. The conditions shown on the VEVO result are what you have to roster within.
• No work rights. They hold a visa, but it doesn't permit work.

The middle group is where well-meaning businesses get caught, usually in peak season. A supervisor offers extra shifts and nobody goes back to the conditions. Home Affairs lists "pressure someone to work more hours than their visa allows" among the things an employer must not do, and allowing a lawful non-citizen to work in breach of a work condition is an offence in its own right. If you're planning for peak, make sure whoever builds the roster knows which workers have conditions.

The penalties framework

The work-related provisions sit in the Migration Act 1958 and were strengthened by the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Act 2024, which commenced on 1 July 2024. Home Affairs publishes the penalties in a table. The figures below are from that table, which uses a penalty unit of $364 as at 1 July 2026.

For allowing a person to work, or referring a person for work, without work rights or in breach of a work condition, there are three tiers:

• Infringement notice: 48 penalty units ($17,472) for an individual, 240 penalty units ($87,360) for a body corporate.
• Civil penalty: 240 penalty units ($87,360) for an individual, 1,200 penalty units ($436,800) for a body corporate.
• Criminal offence: 2 years' imprisonment or 360 penalty units ($131,040), or both, for an individual, with 1,800 penalty units ($655,200) listed for a body corporate.

Aggravated offences carry up to 5 years' imprisonment and higher fines. Every figure is per worker.

Money isn't the only consequence. A business can be issued a compliance notice, and not complying with one attracts its own penalty. A business can also be declared a prohibited employer, which stops it hiring additional temporary visa holders for a period. Home Affairs says prohibited employers have their name and ABN published on the ABF website while the declaration lasts.

Work rights and workplace rights are two separate things

A work rights check is not a licence to treat visa holders differently once they start. The Fair Work Ombudsman is clear that visa holders and migrant workers have the same workplace rights and protections as all other employees in Australia, and that those protections apply regardless of migration status.

Home Affairs lists conduct that is off limits, including underpaying a migrant worker, holding onto their passport, and threatening to cancel a visa or report someone to immigration authorities. As the Department notes, employers cannot cancel visas.

Once someone can lawfully do the job, the award, the roster rules and the safety duties apply to them exactly as they do to everyone else on site.

Need the people, not just the theory?

If you want to talk through how work rights checks should fit into a labour hire arrangement for your warehouse or distribution centre, get in touch. We aim to reply within two business hours.

This is general information, not legal or migration advice. Obligations and penalty amounts change, so confirm the current position with the Department of Home Affairs, the Fair Work Ombudsman or a qualified adviser.