July 12th, 2024 at 03:46 pm

Australia’s New 408 Visas: Workplace Justice Stream Added from 1 July 2024

A new Workplace Justice Stream will be added to the Subclass 408 Temporary Activities Visa as of July 1, 2024. The purpose of this visa is to assist temporary visa holders in combating workplace exploitation. This blog post discusses the Workplace Justice Visa’s objectives, duration, eligibility conditions, application requirements, safeguards against cancelation, pilot program, and future review.

A new Workplace Justice Stream has been introduced under the Subclass 408 Temporary Activities Visa, effective July 1, 2024. This visa seeks to assist temporary visa holders in confronting workplace exploitation without having to worry about having their visa revoked. Notably, applying for this visa doesn’t cost anything.

Purpose and Duration of the Workplace Justice Stream

With the Workplace Justice Visa, bereaved temporary visa holders and their relatives can continue to work in Australia while they pursue legal action against employers who exploited their workers. This visa is approved for a six- or twelve-month initial duration.

Application Requirements for Workplace Justice Stream

The Workplace Justice Visa requires applicants to be in Australia to be submitted. Although sponsorship is not required, a certificate from a qualified individual, organization, or government agency is. This certificate needs to provide Prima Fasia with proof of workplace abuse.

Eligibility Criteria for Workplace Justice Stream

Candidates need to be active in the workplace. Participating in legal processes as a victim, complaint, or party about workplace exploitation falls under the category of justice activities. To prevent pointless applications, these procedures must have already started.

Protections Against Visa Cancellation

For temporary migrant workers who are being exploited, the new legislation offers more safeguards against visa cancellation. If the employee has a certificate attesting to workplace exploitation—a breach of work-related visa conditions brought on by exploitation that was written down to be compliant with future visa requirements—the visa cannot be revoked.

With a two-year trial period, the Workplace Justice Stream seeks to give temporary visa holders a safe way to pursue justice without jeopardizing their immigration status. This program is a big step in the direction of protecting vulnerable workers in Australia, especially when combined with the Migration Amendment Improving Employer Compliance Act 2024.

Purpose of the Workplace Justice Visa

To combat workplace abuse and safeguard vulnerable temporary workers, this new Visa program is a critical step. It assists those who are seeking justice by encouraging the reporting of labor regulation infractions and easing their fear of having their visas withdrawn.

The need that the applicant have lawfully completed complaint proceedings before filing the visa application raises questions about how many applicants will be prepared to begin such processes without any assurance of immigration support.

The Department’s recent trigger-happy approach to rejections for a variety of Visa categories has left applicants unhappy, so they will be particularly concerned about these crucial characteristics and certification criteria.

The Workplace Justice Visa allows temporary migrants who have been victims of industrial exploitation to remain in Australia for six to twelve months while working and taking part in activities that are meant to obtain justice, such as filing complaints against workplace exploitation or engaging in legal proceedings. The visa is available for extensions of up to four years.

Candidates for this visa who are impacted by workplace exploitation must present certification from a recognized person, group, or government body attesting to their experience. This certification is required for the application process and ensures that the claims are legitimate.

Please refer to the Migration Amendment Workplace Justice Visa regulations 2024 for a complete list of certification requirements.

What are the Key Eligibility Criteria?

The primary qualifying requirements for the recently announced Workplace Justice Visa are as follows:

• Although it doesn’t appear that a candidate must have held a qualifying visa, some visas—such as those for international relations and transit special purpose permanent visas—are barred.
• Candidates must already be involved in workplace justice actions, such as submitting complaints or testifying in court in cases involving exploitation, to apply.
• Nothing indicates that acts conducted at work before July 1, 2024, wouldn’t be sufficient to fulfill the conditions for a visa.
• Applications may include secondary applicants, and those who do must fall into a category of people specified in a legal document the minister creates that permits amendments in the future.
• The processing of a valid visa application is free of charge.

Even though the application must be submitted onshore, the applicant can still enter Australia if they were out of the country when the visa was issued.

Impact on Employers and Migrants

The Workplace Justice Visa demonstrates the importance of protecting the rights of migrant workers and confirms the Australian government’s commitment to upholding human rights and moral workplace conduct. Employers must abide by employment laws and ethical standards to avoid legal issues.

The Workplace Justice Stream, which is now regarded as a pilot project, will run for two years while being closely monitored. Temporary migrant employees usually face obstacles when trying to report worker exploitation, and if they break any of the terms of their work-related visas, they run the possibility of having their visas revoked.

Therefore, further protections were included to prevent the revocation of visas for temporary migrant workers who had been the victims of workplace exploitation. The most recent modifications were made per the new guidelines set forth by the Migration Amendment Act of 2024.