An Up-to-Date Guide to Work Rights Checks in Australia

Imagine hiring a top candidate only to find out later they lack the legal right to work in Australia. This scenario is not uncommon, and it can result in significant penalties for businesses. This guide will help employers navigate the essentials of work rights checks in Australia and how to automate the process for enhanced compliance without administrative burden.

What do you need to know about Work Right Checks as an Employer?

Legal Requirements for Employers

In Australia, it's a legal obligation for employers to verify the work rights of all employees—both current and prospective. To legally employ someone, you must check their citizenship status or visa details in line with Australian employment law.

As an employer, you must:

Verify work rights of all prospective employees before hiring
Use VEVO or HR tech to check visa details and work restrictions for non-citizens
Re-check visa statuses regularly as they can change
Keep records of work rights documents

As advised by The Department of Home Affairs, you should ask for one of these documents to prove citizenship, permanent residence, or visa conditions stating the restriction on work and the expiry date:

Australian or New Zealand passport
Australian birth certificate and photo identification
Australian citizenship evidence and photo identification
Certificate of Status for New Zealand Citizens in Australia and photo identification
An overseas passport and a check from Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) system showing that they are a permanent resident or if they have a visa with work rights

Consequences for Failing to Conduct Regular Work Rights Check

Employers face significant penalties for hiring someone without a legal right to work even if the illegal worker situation was not intentional. This includes fines of up to $469,500 per offence against the company and potential imprisonment for up to 2 years. It is critical for you to ensure everyone has the right to work before and after onboarding an employee. Work rights checks should not be treated as a "set and forget" task. Regular re-checks are necessary, especially for non-Australian citizens, as visa conditions and restrictions can change.

What are the Common Challenges in Maintaining Visa Compliance?

Many employers, despite their best efforts, often overlook crucial aspects of work rights checks. This can include failing to re-check the status of temporary visa holders, mismanaging document storage, and missing out on important updates regarding visa conditions. Here are some common things employers often neglect when conducting Australian citizenship and work rights checks, along with ways to avoid these pitfalls:

Relying on insufficient documentation:

Not every document is valid to prove work rights. You should only accept approved (and authentic) documents like Australian/New Zealand passports, citizenship certificates with photo ID, or birth certificates with photo ID for citizens.

Treating work rights checks as a one-time task:

Are you only focusing on new hires and forgetting to verify or re-check existing staff? For non-citizens, the visa conditions could change. Implement procedures, or utilise tech solutions, to schedule and conduct regular VEVO re-checks based on visa type/expiry as regular audits of your entire workforce.

Not understanding visa conditions and restrictions:

Non-compliance could happen when failing to comprehend specific work restrictions like maximum hours, employer limitations, occupation requirements and even location restrictions for different visa types. Thoroughly review and understand the conditions and restrictions of each visa type and ensure your HR staff are aware of them.

Not obtaining proper consent for ongoing checks:

Did you get written consent from visa holders for regular VEVO checks throughout their employment? Employers can update employment contracts to include consent for ongoing work rights checks and prepare standardised consent forms, or adopt a tech system to conduct re-checks automatically.

Not maintaining proper documentation of work rights checks and results:

The materials and results of Citizenship and Work Rights Check usually contain sensitive personal information. Employers should not only maintain clear records of all checks, consent, and documentation as proof of compliance efforts but also keep privacy and data security in mind. Ensure all relevant documents are securely stored while easily retrievable for audits.

Automate Your Citizenship & Work Rights Check with HR Tech

Having an ad-hoc approach instead of streamlined procedures for document collection, VEVO checks, record-keeping etc. can put your organisation at risk. It’s highly recommended to leverage technology solutions and accredited providers to systematise and automate work rights verification processes.

Here is a list of features to help you evaluate if you’re adopting the right technology that (really) simplifies your Work Rights Check management:

Security and Reliability: Does the solution integrate with VEVO? Is it an authorised Document Verification Service (DVS) Gateway Service Provider that will help you verify identity documents? Is the system safe enough to protect your sensitive information? There’s nothing more important than accuracy and reliability when it comes to automating the work rights check process.
Centralised Document Management: Does it allow you to store all necessary documents and keep them readily accessible at all times? As an employer, you are responsible for keeping a clear audit trail for all relevant documents.
Bulk Processing Capabilities: Can you perform bulk or batch uploads to conduct checks on the entire workforce with a single click? This will significantly save time and reduce manual errors.
Automated Recurring Checks and Compliance Alerts: Are you able to get regular re-checks? Are the notifications configurable to set up re-checks and reminders to suit your needs for different roles or sites? Receive automatic notifications for the check status and visa expirations to ensure ongoing compliance without manual tracking.
Integration with Existing ATS/HRIS Systems: Does the system integrate with your current HR software or databases? Does it take major system revamps for the integration? With a seamlessly integrated solution, it will make your job at hiring and shortlisting candidates easier than ever.

By considering these key features, businesses can select a VEVO automation solution that streamlines the work rights verification process, ensures continuous compliance, reduces manual effort, and mitigates risks associated with employing someone illegally.

Benefits of Using WorkPro’s Automated VEVO Check Over Manual Checks

Conducting Work Rights Checks through WorkPro is fast and secure - WorkPro integrates directly with VEVO as a Document Verification Service (DVS) Gateway Service Provider, automating the verification process and providing reliable results instantly. Request work rights checks individually or in bulk from the WorkPro dashboard and instantly receive official results that help you hire with confidence.

Streamlining Australian Citizenship and Right to Work Checks using WorkPro

Automate and streamline the checking process eliminating the need for repeated manual data entry and reducing administrative burdens.
WorkPro is fully integrated with VEVO and DVS services to ensure accuracy and minimise the risk of data entry mistakes. Only accept correct documents outlined by Home Affairs as proof of citizenship/work rights and have instant, validated data without worrying about the accuracy of check results.
Automated re-checks ensure ongoing compliance as you’ll never miss visa expiries.

Employees can self-upload their documents and details through the WorkPro platform anytime from any device following your requests, reducing the administrative load on HR teams.
Stay ahead of compliance issues with proactive alerts and reminders. Supervise your task status and visa expirations with WorkPro’s powerful Insights and Reporting features.
Maintain auditable records of all checks conducted within the WorkPro platform, providing proof of compliance efforts and protecting your business from potential legal repercussions.
Integrate seamlessly with your ATS/HRIS Systems - no need to juggle between systems to manage your workforce compliance. Our integration is simple without the major system overhauls to adopt the solution.
Streamline everything compliance by bundling citizenship and work rights checks with police checks, reference checks, eLearning, and licence management in one system. WorkPro takes charge of all your essential compliance requirements so you can manage everything in one place.

Send a bulk request to all your candidates to automate the process without the need to enter the VEVO system yourself and manually undergo the steps one by one.

Get Started with WorkPro

Ensuring your employees are legally permitted to work in Australia is crucial for maintaining compliance and protecting your business. With WorkPro, you can simplify this process, reduce administrative burdens, and ensure ongoing compliance with ease. WorkPro simplifies this entire screening and onboarding process through a smart, integrated and user-friendly platform.

Contact us today to learn more about how your organisation can conduct seamless and efficient work rights checks with WorkPro.