If you search for what a sponsorship breach costs in Australia, you will find a lot of confident dollar figures. Many of them are out of date, including the ones on the Department’s own obligations page. The reason is simple. The Migration Act 1958 does not set penalties in dollars. It sets them in penalty units, and the value of a penalty unit changes.
This article gives the figures the way the legislation gives them, then converts them, so you can check the arithmetic yourself when the rate moves again.
Why every dollar figure you read has a shelf life
A Commonwealth penalty unit is set under section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914 and is indexed on a three yearly cycle. It rose again on 1 July 2026.
That single change makes every dollar figure published before that date too low. Home Affairs’ own sponsorship obligations page was last updated in January 2025, and the amounts shown there were calculated at the previous rate. That is not a criticism of the Department. It is a reason to work from units.
One important qualification before the numbers. Penalties attach to when the contravention happened, not when the matter is decided. A breach that occurred before 1 July 2026 is calculated at the older rate even if the Department acts on it now.
The civil penalty for breaching a sponsorship obligation
This sits in section 140Q of the Migration Act 1958, and it contains a distinction almost nobody reproduces correctly.
Under section 140Q(1), where the regulations impose a sponsorship obligation and the person fails to satisfy it in the prescribed manner or within the prescribed period, the civil penalty is:
- 240 penalty units if the person is an approved work sponsor
- 60 penalty units in any other case
Section 140Q(2) deals with a party to a work agreement whose agreement varies or imposes a sponsorship obligation. That carries 240 penalty units.
So the exposure is not one number. An approved standard business sponsor faces four times the unit penalty that a non-sponsor faces for the same kind of failure, which is the point of being approved in the first place.
Note also that this is per failure. Obligations are assessed separately, so a sponsor who has not kept records, has not responded to a request, and has not notified an event has not committed one breach.
What that means in dollars
| Provision | Penalty units | Who |
|---|---|---|
| s 140Q(1)(a) failing a sponsorship obligation | 240 | Approved work sponsor |
| s 140Q(1)(b) failing a sponsorship obligation | 60 | Any other case |
| s 140Q(2) failing a work agreement obligation | 240 | Party to a work agreement |
| s 245AYL allowing additional workers while prohibited | 360, or 2 years imprisonment, or both | Criminal |
| s 245AYL, civil penalty alternative | 240 | Civil |
| s 245AYN former prohibited employer failing to report | 48 | Civil |
Multiply by the current penalty unit value to get the dollar figure. At the rate that applied from 1 July 2026, 240 units is a little over eighty seven thousand dollars for an individual sponsor.
For a body corporate the maximum is higher. Home Affairs publishes a maximum civil penalty order figure for corporations that is five times its individual figure, and publishes infringement notice amounts that are lower again. Because those published amounts predate the July 2026 change, confirm the current penalty unit value and recalculate rather than quoting the page.
The sanctions that are not fines
Employers tend to focus on the money. In practice the administrative consequences bite harder and arrive sooner.
Barring and cancellation. Under section 140M the Minister may cancel a sponsor’s approval for a class or for all classes, and may bar a sponsor for a specified period from sponsoring more people or from making further applications for approval. A bar does not care about your recruitment pipeline.
Compliance notices. Under section 140RB an authorised officer who reasonably believes a sponsor has contravened section 140Q(1) or (2) may give a compliance notice specifying action the person must take, or stop taking, within a specified reasonable time.
Enforceable undertakings. Section 140RA makes the sponsorship obligation provision enforceable under Part 6 of the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014, which is the mechanism behind a written undertaking to fix what went wrong.
Publication. The Australian Border Force keeps a publicly available register of sponsors who have breached their sponsorship obligations. For a business that recruits internationally, appearing on it is often the most expensive outcome on this page, and it is the one you cannot pay off.
The prohibited employer regime
Since the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Act 2024, an employer who seriously, deliberately or repeatedly breaks the law can be declared a prohibited employer.
The practical effect is narrower than most people assume, and worth understanding precisely. Under section 245AYL, a prohibited employer contravenes the section by allowing an additional non-citizen to begin work. Existing sponsored employees are not swept out of the business. What stops is new hiring of migrant workers.
The penalty for contravening it is imprisonment for 2 years or 360 penalty units, or both, with a civil penalty alternative of 240 penalty units. If you have seen a claim that this carries five years imprisonment, that figure does not match section 245AYL.
There is also a tail. Under section 245AYN, once the prohibition period has ended, a former prohibited employer still has reporting duties, and failing them carries 48 penalty units.
How breaches actually come to light
Very few sponsors are caught by a dramatic raid. Home Affairs monitors compliance while you are a sponsor and for up to five years afterwards, and the usual sequence is a written request for records, then a site visit if the answers do not reconcile, then information exchange with other agencies including the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Australian Taxation Office.
If you want the detail of what you are actually required to do, we have set out every sponsorship obligation and how long each one lasts, and separately what a sponsorship audit involves.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the fine for breaching sponsorship obligations in Australia?
The Migration Act 1958 sets it in penalty units, not dollars. Under section 140Q(1) an approved work sponsor faces up to 240 penalty units per failure, and 60 penalty units applies in any other case. Multiply by the current penalty unit value, which changed on 1 July 2026, to get the dollar amount.
Is the penalty per breach or per employee?
Per failure. Each obligation is assessed on its own, so several unmet obligations can produce several contraventions rather than one.
Can Home Affairs fine us for something that happened years ago?
Possibly. Most sponsorship obligations continue for two years after the sponsorship ends, the duty to cooperate with inspectors runs for five years, and the Department states that it monitors compliance for up to five years after a sponsorship ends.
Will our business be named publicly?
It may be. The Australian Border Force maintains a public register of sponsors who have breached their sponsorship obligations, and publication is part of the sanctions framework rather than an incidental consequence.
Does a prohibited employer have to dismiss its existing sponsored staff?
No. Section 245AYL is directed at allowing an additional non-citizen to begin work. It does not require existing sponsored employees to be removed, though other obligations continue to apply to them.
What is the difference between an infringement notice and a civil penalty order?
An infringement notice is issued administratively and is for a lower amount. A civil penalty order is made by a court and carries the higher maximum. Both are calculated from penalty units.
A realistic next step
The pattern we see is rarely deliberate wrongdoing. It is a sponsor who changed payroll systems, or promoted someone, or lost the person who used to handle notifications, and only discovered the gap when a request for records arrived. If any of that sounds familiar, a review before the Department asks is considerably cheaper than one afterwards. Our team advises Australian businesses on employer sponsorship and compliance, and you can speak to our migration lawyers about where your obligations currently sit.
About the author: Tina Nematian is the Principal Lawyer at One Planet Migration Law. She is an Australian Legal Practitioner and a Registered Migration Agent (MARN), and has guided clients through partner, skilled, employer-sponsored, student, and humanitarian visa applications across Australia.
This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or migration advice. Visa rules change frequently and outcomes depend on individual circumstances. Speak with a registered migration lawyer or agent before making any application. Figures were current as of August 2026; always check immi.homeaffairs.gov.au before lodging.
