Employers urged to check visas for harvest workers online
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Fruit and vegetable growers hiring harvest workers this season are being urged to use internet services to ensure that overseas employees hold valid visas to work in Australia.
'Checking work entitlements makes good business sense,' the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said today.
'During peak harvest time, the last thing a grower wants is loss of productivity due to the disruption caused by the sudden removal of a picker. I also remind growers that it is now a criminal offence for employers and labour hire companies to hire illegal workers or refer them for jobs.
'Employers who engage illegal workers undercut the vast majority of employers who do the right thing.'
Growers convicted under the employer sanctions laws for employing illegal workers face fines of up to $13 200 or two years' imprisonment per illegal worker. Companies face fines of up to $66 000 per illegal worker.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship's Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) service allows employers to provide relevant identification details of prospective employees with their consent to quickly confirm that they are eligible to work in Australia.
Senator Evans said the Australian Government was aware of the labour shortages in regional areas – particularly the agricultural sector – and it was imperative that all employers abided by the law.
'Working holiday makers already provide significant support to the primary sector, particularly agriculture,' Senator Evans said.
'More than 145 000 Working Holiday visas will be issued in 2007-08, including more than 10 000 second working holiday visas for overseas citizens who have already worked in the primary sector.'
Senator Evans said the department was currently negotiating with a number of countries to expand the reciprocal Working Holiday visa program for young people.
The Minister said that the primary industry sector in particular would benefit from an expansion of the scheme as the pool of young people coming to Australia on working holidays grew.
Growers can register for VEVO on the department's website. Once registered, growers can check a visa holder's work entitlements at any time free of charge. Growers can also use DIAC's toll-free faxback service to check visa holders' work entitlements.
See: Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) for Organisations
For more information about the employer sanctions legislation, VEVO or the faxback service, call DIAC's employers' immigration hotline from 8.30am-4.30pm Monday to Friday.
Telephone: 1800 040 070
Further Information is also available on the department's website.
See: www.immi.gov.au/managing-australias-borders/compliance/employer-obligations/index.htm
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au
/media/media-releases/2008/ce08027.htm
Last update: 13 August 2008 at 17:14 AEST