Farm Sponsorship Visa Australia

Does your farm or agricultural business need overseas workers to help with seasonal demands? Or are you wanting to come to Australia to do farm work? In June 2021, the Government first announced it would introduce a dedicated Agriculture Visa to allow migrants from certain countries to come to Australia for agricultural work that cannot be filled locally. The visa is designed to alleviate labour shortages impacting the agricultural industry, which have reportedly worsened during the pandemic. Here’s what you should know about Australia’s Agriculture Visa and how the Government is establishing the visa in various stages.

In late 2021, the Government announced further details and clarified that the program would gradually be made available in stages– with only approved employers and a small number of workers permitted to use the program in Phase 1. Here are the details announced about the two phases:

• In Phase 1, a small number of agriculture worker arrivals can enter between December 2021 and March 2022, depending on border settings, country readiness and quarantine availability. This will be open only to a small number of existing Approved Employers who are already accredited and experienced with the existing Pacific Area Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme. The number of people that can arrive under the visa in Phase 1 is still being considered.
• In Phase 2, from April 2022, the program will open more broadly to employers. There will also be an increase in the number of workers able to participate, and in addition, the number of countries participating will expand.

On 1 October 2021, Agriculture Minister, David Littleproud announced the below details about the new Agriculture Visa:

• The visa will be available to the fisheries, forestry, meat processing and agricultural processing sectors and will target seasonal workers, skilled and semiskilled workers.
• The Government has amended the Migration Regulations 1994 with Migration Amendment (Australian Agriculture Workers) Regulations 2021 to allow for a new Agriculture Worker Stream in the Subclass (Temporary Work (International Relations) Visa. The new visa stream came into effect on 30 September 2021.
• The new Agriculture Visa stream will allow overseas workers from countries with a bilateral agreement in place to enter Australia and temporarily stay for work across the primary industries sectors.
• The visa will be operated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which is similar to the Pacific Labour Scheme, with operational support from the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
• The Government will undertake an independent review of the program after two years.
• Workers will be able to move between employers in the agriculture industry.

The Government has stated that the first arrival of workers under the Agriculture Visa will occur in late 2021 – however, this is subject to quarantine arrangements and the finalisation of bilateral agreements with partner countries. The final program design continues to be developed in consultation with the industry.

The Government is also still finalising details such as how to participate in the program as an employer or worker. You may wish to contact us around mid-2022 to discuss options for this visa once further information becomes available.

Given that details will still need to be finalised, the Government intends for the Pacific Labour Program to remain the key pathway to access workers for the 2021/2022 summer peak harvest season and has doubled the number of Pacific workers to come to Australia by March 2022. That means at this stage, the seasonal worker program is only open to workers who are citizens of and residents in Timor-Leste, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu or Vanuatu.

An extra 12,500 workers will be able to work in Australia under the Pacific Labour Program from August 2021 to March 2022.