Question & AnswerQ&A (POEA ADVISORY NO. 30, Series of 2007)
The primary purpose is to weed out undesirable employers and recruiters and improve their compliance with the terms of employment of foreign workers recruited under Australia's Visa 457 scheme.
A business cannot be approved as a Standard Business Sponsor if it proposes to hire out the service of a Subclass 457 visa holder to an unrelated business, and a Standard Business Sponsor cannot nominate activities involving hiring out the visa holder's services to another unrelated business.
No, such an application cannot be approved after October 1, 2007, unless the nomination was approved before that date.
The nominated activity must relate to direct employment by the sponsor in a position within the sponsor's own business and not be hired out or supplied to other unrelated businesses.
Concerns included workers' lack of awareness of their rights, fear of visa cancellation when complaining against employers, and allegations of employers avoiding responsibilities to migrant workers.
The government clarified that migrant workers under the Visa 457 scheme have the same rights and protections as any other Australian worker and are free to complain about their employment conditions.
Filipino migrant workers are advised to seek assistance from the Philippine Embassy or Consulates should they encounter problems related to their employment in Australia.
The amendments took effect on October 1, 2007.
A Standard Business Sponsor is a business approved to sponsor foreign workers under the Subclass 457 visa, but under the amendments, they cannot sponsor workers if the business involves hiring out services to unrelated businesses.
The POEA disseminated information and advisories, such as the one cited, to inform Filipino migrant workers about changes in the Visa 457 scheme and to guide them in case of employment issues abroad.