Its critical to have the right team following the right processes in order to have any chance of getting immigration compliance right.

Employers are subject to an increasing array of complex challenges in the work environment, from new areas of legal obligation, the prospect of civil and criminal charges for compliance breaches, and damage to corporate reputation and brand. In this environment, choosing the right tool to solve the problem is critical.

Immigration laws are complex and subject to frequent change. Implementing internal systems and processes to effectively manage these obligations can be time consuming and costly. 

There are three separate compliance frameworks in the Migration Act 1958, each of which prescribes separate obligations for organisations:

• • • Work Rights Verification Obligations: organisations must ensure they only employ temporary visa holders who have the right to work in Australia and that they and the employee abide by all visa conditions.
    • Charging for a Migration Outcome: these laws require organizations to guarantee that no one in the organisation asks for or receives an unlawful benefit in exchange for visa sponsorship.
    • Sponsorship Obligations: these laws require registered business sponsors to their visa holder populations and notify the Department of Home Affairs where certain changes occur.

Any violation of these laws may result in administrative, civil, and even criminal penalties, including prison sentences for directors of the organisation where there is a failure to take reasonable steps.

In addition, where breaches of immigration law become public, they can have severe and long-lasting damage to organisational reputation. Recent history has shown that failure to comply with immigration laws or to ensure that visa holders receive their due can have serious consequences for brand and social license. 

But, these risks can be managed through effective processes and compliance systems.

Here comes the question: who can help with immigration compliance in real-time?

Immigration lawyers and migration agents are well positioned to assist. But lawyers and agents’ fees are typically based on their time. This means that complex areas such as compliance can cost a small fortune to manage and control.

Other organisations try to manage compliance internally through spreadsheets. These systems are only as good as the time you put into them, have no alerts or alarms and are just a risk waiting to happen.

Our alternative is Complize, a one-stop-shop for all immigration compliance needs. Designed by some of the best immigration lawyers in Australia, Complize is a cloud-based immigration compliance toolkit that integrates with Home Affairs’ ImmiAccount systems to ensure organisations can meet their immigration law obligations in real-time. Complize represents a new generation of ‘regulatory technology’ or RegTech software systems that deliver real-time online compliance services through Workforce Management, Online Training, and Knowledge Base tools. By integrating with Home Affairs’ online systems, we enable organisations to take back control of their immigration data and compliance activities. Through the power of automated workflows, employers can onboard temporary visa holders, understand their immigration law obligations, conduct audits and notify the Department of Home Affairs to fulfil compliance obligations.

The Complize platform provides three core modules:

Workforce: provides record management for temporary visa holders including employee onboarding, offboarding, automated work rights verification, automated compliance notifications to Home Affairs, and guided self-audit function. Allows your business to take a holistic view of your visa holder population to manage risk and workforce planning.

Knowledge: resources to enable HR and other business stakeholders to access up to date immigration information. The immigration guides are maintained in real time as a reliable information source by immigration lawyers. The product also provides templates and checklists with ‘smart document’ functionality to enable the organisation to manage employer sponsored immigration matters with greater clarity and security.

Training: provides access to ten compliance certification modules for employees and contractors of the organisation. These modules are designed to be completed on an annual basis and targeted to different staff profiles, including visa holders, line managers, and HR.

The Complize platform enables employers to ensure end-to-end immigration compliance to protect their brand, improve workforce planning, and mitigate risk for a fraction of the price of what it would cost to engage external lawyers or agents.

Contact us now to arrange a free demonstration.