A new law means the Australian Government can now publish a public register of every employer who sponsors visa holders, including your name, your ABN and the roles you sponsor. If your screening process is not where it should be, it is about to become a lot more visible.
What Changed
On 8 April 2026, the Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Act 2026 became law. It gives the Department of Home Affairs the power to publish details about approved work sponsors on a public register. That includes your organisation’s name, ABN, postcode, how many workers you have sponsored, and in what occupations.
The register will be live no later than October 2026.
This is not a full rewrite of sponsorship law. It is a targeted transparency measure. But in practice, it means anyone, including unions, journalists, regulators and advocacy groups, will be able to look up which employers are active in the sponsorship system and how they are using it.
If your organisation sponsors visa holders and your screening and compliance practices are solid, this changes very little. If they are not, this changes everything.
Why This Matters
Until now, employer sponsorship activity has not been publicly visible. That era is ending. A public register creates accountability that did not previously exist. If your organisation appears on that register and something goes wrong, whether it is an underpayment claim, a compliance issue or a worker complaint, the connection is now easy for anyone to draw.
This sits within a broader shift that has been building for years. Since July 2024, it has been illegal to coerce a temporary visa holder into breaching their work conditions or to use someone’s visa status to exploit them. The 2026 Federal Budget reinforced the direction with $167.4 million to strengthen migration system integrity and $27 million for migrant worker protection programs.
The message from government is consistent: if you sponsor workers, you are expected to meet your obligations, and now everyone will be able to see whether you do.
Who Needs to Pay Attention
Any organisation that sponsors workers on employer sponsored visas is affected. That includes the Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482), the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) and related pathways. The sectors most heavily represented include hospitality, agriculture, healthcare, aged care, construction, IT and professional services.
What You Should Do Now
The good news is that the underlying obligations have been in place for years. The register does not create new rules. It just makes it much easier to see who is following them and who is not.
Verify right to work systematically.
Every non-citizen needs their visa status verified through VEVO before they start and at regular intervals. If you are not doing this consistently, fix it now.
Screen sponsored workers properly.
A national police verification, qualification verification and reference verification should be standard for every sponsored worker. These are not extras. They are baseline due diligence.
Keep your records in one place.
When your organisation is on a public register, you need to be able to show your compliance quickly, not spend a week pulling files together from different systems.
Monitor visa conditions proactively.
A sponsored worker whose visa expires or whose conditions change while they are still employed creates immediate risk for the employer. Build automated reminders into your process.
How Kinatico CVCheck Can Help
Kinatico CVCheck gives you one platform for all of your verification needs: right to work, police verifications, qualification verifications, reference verifications, and identity verification. Everything sits together, so when scrutiny comes, you can show exactly what you have done and when.
The register is coming. The question is whether your screening process is ready for the visibility that comes with it. If you are not sure, now is the time to find out.
Get started at cvcheck.com/employment-services and see how simple it is to get your screening in order.
References
1. Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Act 2026 (Cth), Act No. 39 of 2026. Royal Assent 8 April 2026. Available at: legislation.gov.au
2. Department of Home Affairs, migrant worker protections. Work related offences commenced 1 July 2024. Available at: immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
3. Australian Government, Budget 2026–27. $167.4 million for migration system integrity. Available at: budget.gov.au
