VEVO Check: Why Check Employees’ Right to Work in Australia?
Verifying an employee’s right to work in Australia is a critical HR responsibility. Find out how to streamline the process with automated VEVO checks.
According to the Migration Amendment Act 2013, “only Australian citizens and permanent residents and certain New Zealand citizens have unrestricted rights to employment.” That means if you’re a visa holder, you must have the legal right to work in Australia. Thus, as a business engaging new employees, you must check the person’s right to work in Australia and whether those work rights have any restrictions.
But it’s not just about ensuring that visa holders have the right to work in Australia when they’re first employed. Regular Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) checks are an ongoing process that your business should embrace to avoid any compliance issues by checking employee visa status regularly even after they’re onboarded. This will help you identify potential visa breaches before they occur so that you can take action sooner rather than later.
What Is VEVO Checking?
VEVO checking for businesses is a regular process of confirming whether your staff members hold valid visas. But that’s not all; the check also involves verifying that the visa’s conditions allow them to work with your organisation. This is done by running their visa details against the Department of Home Affairs’ databases.
Vevo checking helps employers comply with the Migration Amendment Act 2013. These laws require employers to be vigilant and proactive in identifying visa violations, lest they face civil or criminal charges.
How Does VEVO Checking Work?
The frequency of VEVO checks required for you to remain compliant varies depending on what type of visa your employee holds. If you have an employee on a temporary visa, you need to verify their right to work in Australia information once every three months. And in case VEVO shows the visa expiry date, you should make a habit of rechecking around the expiry date.
The key thing to remember here is that you should not wait until an employee has worked for six months or one year to start doing VEVO checks. You need to check their visa status when hiring and make it an ongoing process.
Here’s a slight catch, though; VEVO checking your employees through the government website is overly laborious and time-consuming, primarily due to the manual data entry required to do just one VEVO check. So, while you may think that it’s worth the effort, you might want to consider automating the process instead.
Why Automating VEVO Checks Makes Sense
There are several reasons why automating VEVO checks makes sense for businesses like yours. Here are a few:
- The service is easy to use. Most providers use simple user interfaces that allow you to easily upload documents and export data. They also have built-in reporting tools to see detailed results and generate reports.
- It’s reliable. With automated VEVO checks, there’s no risk of human error. The software does everything automatically, leaving nothing to chance.
- It saves time. An automated VEVO check saves you time because you avoid repeated data entry for each VEVO check every few months. Doing these every three months can become extremely cumbersome for hundreds or thousands of employees.
- It’s convenient. With automated VEVO checks, employees can self-serve the process, by scanning and uploading their documentation. You only have to act on the reports and alert functionality provided by the software.
- It allows for bulk ongoing checks. As mentioned earlier, VEVO checking is a continuing process that requires you to go back now and then to check whether your employees’ visas are still valid. But by automating the process, you’ll be able to keep tabs on all of your employees at once.
Why Should Your Business Check Right To Work In Australia?
At its core, the right to work in Australia regulation requires companies only to employ visa holders eligible to work in the country. If you fail to comply, both your business and the illegal worker could face punitive measures such as hefty fines or even imprisonment. In particular, if you’re an individual engaging such worker, you could be issued a warning, get fined up to $13,200, or serve a two-year time per worker. As for companies or businesses, you could be warned or incur penalties of up to $66,000 per illegal worker.
We make it easy to comply with the requirements and regulations by managing the compliance for you.
Benefits to Your Business
- Bulk Uploads and Checks
When you outsource VEVO checks, you can upload multiple employee documentation files online. This saves you the hassle of going back and forth between different departments to enter data manually.
You can also use automated tools to create reports based on the uploaded documents and send them directly to your HR department.
- Reduced Risk of Visa Fraud
One of the biggest risks of employing foreign workers is visa fraud. When you hire someone who doesn’t have the right to work in Australia, you risk hefty fines or even jail time.
With VEVO checking, you won’t face these penalties because it will be much easier to remain compliant and be alerted when an employee loses the right to work for you.
- Better Visibility
The best way to keep track of your employees is by keeping tabs on their visa statuses. But when you’re working with hundreds of employees, it becomes difficult to monitor each one individually.
However, by outsourcing VEVO checks, you can easily access all the necessary information about your workforce within seconds.
- Automated Work Right Reports
With automated VEVO checks from a reputable provider like CheckWorkRights, you get summary reports showing your workforce’s right to work status. For instance, the report indicates which employee’s visa will be expiring in the next 30, 60, and 90 days.
Furthermore, if an employee changes their visa details, automated VEVO reporting will inform you of the changes. Plus, it’ll share information regarding any restrictions linked to the changes.
- Seamless Integration into Your Existing Software
You won’t need to worry about making any changes or revamps to your human resources or payroll software. Most providers have ensured that their applications integrate seamlessly with your existing systems, becoming part of your day-to-day business operations.
And the best part? If there’s no current integration, the best provider will work with you to build a custom-made solution that matches your business-specific needs.
Automate VEVO Checking with CheckWorkRights
The bottom line is that VEVO checking should be part of any company’s HR policy. It’s a simple yet effective way to ensure compliance with Australian laws and regulations. If you want to automate your VEVO checking, we recommend using CheckWorkRights. With our software-based solution, you can easily set up ongoing automated checks for all your employees. You can also customise your checks for each employee to match their specific needs.
Please fill out our contact form here to request a demo of CheckWorkRights today.
