How to Sponsor an Overseas Worker: Becoming a Standard Business Sponsor

The hardest part of hiring is often not finding the right candidate. It is realising the right candidate lives overseas, and then working out how to legally bring them on.

For most Australian businesses, the answer is Standard Business Sponsorship, the approval that lets you sponsor a skilled worker from overseas. This guide explains how Standard Business Sponsorship works, who qualifies, how to apply, and what comes next once your approval is in place. It is written for business owners, HR managers and anyone in the business responsible for hiring.

What is a Standard Business Sponsorship?

A Standard Business Sponsorship, often shortened to SBS, is the approval that allows an Australian business to sponsor a skilled overseas worker for a temporary employer-sponsored visa. The most common visas it supports are the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and the regional 494 visa.

It is a one-off approval for the business, not a per-worker approval. Once your business is an approved sponsor, you can nominate eligible workers as roles arise. The sponsorship is valid for a set period and can be renewed when it expires.

Why your business needs Standard Business Sponsorship

If you want to hire someone from overseas for a skilled role, Standard Business Sponsorship is usually the first step. Without it, you cannot lodge a nomination for the Skills in Demand visa or the 494 visa. Sponsorship sits at the top of the employer-sponsored visa system, and the visa application sits below it.

There are some alternatives. Businesses with a labour agreement in place with the Australian Government can sponsor workers under that agreement, and some highly accredited sponsors operate under priority arrangements. But for most Australian businesses hiring an overseas worker, the path begins with becoming a Standard Business Sponsor.

Who can become a Standard Business Sponsor?

The Department of Home Affairs has clear criteria for what a Standard Business Sponsor looks like.

In broad terms, a business will need to:

• be a lawfully operating business in Australia, or in some cases an overseas business looking to establish a presence here
• have no adverse information held against the business or its directors, or have any adverse information explained in a way the Department accepts
• demonstrate that it operates legitimately, with proper records, tax compliance and a clear commercial purpose
• be willing to take on the obligations that come with sponsorship, which apply for as long as the sponsorship is active

Larger businesses, sole traders, small companies and start-ups can all become Standard Business Sponsors, as long as the underlying business is genuine and meeting the obligations is realistic. Refusals are more often about evidence than about size.

How to become a Standard Business Sponsor

The application is structured. The biggest determinant of approval is preparation, not luck.

1. Confirm your business meets the requirements

Before lodging, the business should confirm that it is operating, that its records are in order, and that there is no adverse information that has not been addressed. Skipping this step is one of the most common reasons applications come back with questions or get refused.

2. Prepare the supporting evidence

The Department wants to see who the business is, what it does, and why it is in a position to take on a sponsored worker. That usually means recent financial statements and business activity statements, evidence of staff and structure, ASIC documents, and a clear description of the business’s operations and its training and HR practices.

3. Lodge the application with the Department of Home Affairs

The application is lodged online through ImmiAccount, with the application fee paid at the time of lodgement. The form asks for business details, declarations about the business’s compliance history, and the supporting documents prepared in step two.

4. Maintain your sponsorship status

Approval is the start of the relationship, not the end. Sponsorship obligations apply from the date of approval and continue for the life of the sponsorship. Treating those obligations as a live workflow, rather than a once-off task, is what keeps sponsors in good standing.

How long does Standard Business Sponsorship last?

A Standard Business Sponsorship is generally approved for a set period of years, after which it can be renewed if the business wants to continue sponsoring. The exact length and the renewal arrangements depend on the type of sponsorship granted.

There is a separate, more demanding category sometimes called Accredited Sponsorship, available to businesses that meet additional criteria around scale, compliance record and HR practices. Accredited Sponsors typically receive priority processing on nominations and visa applications, which can be valuable for businesses sponsoring frequently.

What does it cost to sponsor an overseas worker?

There are three main cost categories to plan for when sponsoring an overseas worker:

• The Standard Business Sponsorship application fee, paid once when the business applies for sponsorship.
• Nomination costs, paid each time the business nominates a position. This includes the nomination application fee and the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy, a training contribution charged at the nomination stage.
• The visa application fee, usually paid by the worker, though some sponsors choose to cover it as part of the offer.

Specific figures change with annual indexation and policy updates. The only safe approach is to confirm current fees at the time you plan to lodge.

There are also costs the sponsor cannot pass on to the worker. The SBS application fee, the nomination fee and the SAF levy must be paid by the sponsor and cannot be recovered from the sponsored worker, whether directly or through wage deductions.

After SBS approval: nominating a worker

Standard Business Sponsorship is step one. The next step is nomination: telling the Department which role you are filling, and which worker is filling it. The nomination has its own evidence requirements, including a genuine need for the role, the salary on offer and labour market testing showing the position could not be filled by an Australian worker.

Once the nomination is approved, the worker applies for the visa itself, whether that is the Skills in Demand visa for a position in any location, or the 494 visa for a position in regional Australia. Many sponsors find it useful to align all three stages, sponsorship, nomination and visa, from the start, so the timing works for the role.

The obligations that come with sponsorship

Becoming a Standard Business Sponsor commits the business to a set of ongoing sponsorship obligations. These include keeping records, notifying the Department of certain events, paying the worker at the correct rate and meeting the training contribution levy.

The obligations are not difficult to meet for a business that runs cleanly. They are not optional either. Breaches can lead to sanctions, including the loss of sponsor status, which makes future hiring very difficult.

For a one-page summary you can share with your HR team or keep on file, download our Sponsorship Obligations factsheet.