The Federal Budget just committed $85.2 million to get overseas tradespeople into the Australian workforce faster. That is good news for an industry desperate for skilled workers. But if your organisation is hiring them, the verification obligations are about to scale up fast.
What Just Happened
On 12 May 2026, the Federal Government put serious money behind fixing Australia’s skills shortage in the trades. The $85.2 million package overhauls how migrant workers get their qualifications recognised, with $75.1 million going to a new skills assessment system through Trades Recognition Australia and pilot programs to fast track electricians, plumbers and other priority trades from assessment to licensing.
The goal is to get an additional 4,000 skilled trades workers into jobs each year and cut the time from arrival to employment by up to six months.
If you run a construction, manufacturing, or trades business, that pipeline is exactly what you have been asking for. But every one of those workers comes with verification obligations your organisation needs to meet before they start.
What This Means for You
Every migrant worker your organisation employs needs their right to work verified through the Department of Home Affairs’ VEVO system before they start, and at regular intervals after that. That is not a suggestion. It is a legal requirement under the Migration Act.
But right to work is just the starting point. You also need to confirm their qualifications are genuine and recognised in Australia, that their trade licence is valid for the state they are working in, and that their criminal history has been assessed.
If you are doing this manually today, one lookup at a time, it works when you are hiring a handful of people. When that pipeline grows to dozens or hundreds of workers across multiple sites, visa types and qualification backgrounds, manual processes stop being inconvenient and start being a real risk.
The Consequences Are Real
Employing someone without valid work rights carries civil penalties under the Migration Act. In serious cases, criminal penalties apply.
And the regulatory environment is only getting tighter. The Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Act 2026, which became law on 8 April this year, now allows the Department of Home Affairs to publish a public register of approved work sponsors, including your organisation’s name, ABN and the occupations you sponsor. If your verification processes have gaps, those gaps will be far more visible than they used to be.
What You Should Do Now
If your organisation hires migrant workers, or is about to as the skills pipeline opens up, focus on these four things.
Verify right to work before day one.
Every non-citizen needs a VEVO verification before they start. Do not rely on a passport stamp or someone’s word. Use the official system and keep the record.
Re-verify regularly.
Visa conditions change. Someone who had valid work rights six months ago may not have them today. Build re-verification into your ongoing process, not just onboarding.
Verify qualifications at source.
Faster skills recognition is positive. But it does not remove your obligation to confirm qualifications are genuine and current.
Run police verifications.
A national police verification is not optional, particularly for people working on sensitive sites or in regulated industries.
How Kinatico CVCheck Can Help
This is exactly the kind of problem Kinatico CVCheck was built for. Instead of chasing verifications across spreadsheets, emails and disconnected systems, you get one platform where right to work, police verifications, qualification verifications and reference verifications all sit together. Results come back fast, records are stored securely, and nothing falls through the cracks.
When your workforce is growing and the regulatory environment is tightening, the difference between a manual process and a platform built for scale is the difference between knowing your people are verified and hoping they are.
Get started today at cvcheck.com/employment-services or find the right screening package for your organisation.
References
1. Australian Government, Budget 2026–27: $85.2 million for skills assessments and occupational licensing. Available at: budget.gov.au
2. Migration Act 1958 (Cth), employer obligations for verifying work rights.
3. Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Act 2026 (Cth). Royal Assent 8 April 2026. Available at: legislation.gov.au
