The regulations for the Agriculture Workers visa, which has its own stream under the subclass 403 - Temporary Work (International Relations) visa was registered and came into effect yesterday. Employers and potential visa applicants who expect a free-for-all of low-skilled labour and access to a permanent visa will be disappointed. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), as with the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) stream and Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) stream, will take a hands-on approach to approved sponsors and workers.

This visa’s purpose is for temporary work across a number of industries including: horticulture, meat processing, dairy, wool, grains, fisheries, and forestry.

Agriculture Worker stream regulations

Regulations for this visa are brief. As the seventh stream of the 403 visa, this is not surprising as the framework and criteria to be an approved sponsor and common criteria visa requirements already exist.

Any applicant for this visa must be outside Australia at the time of applying unless they already hold a 403 visa under the Agriculture Worker stream or whose last substantive visa was this visa and stream and they applied within 28 days of it ceasing. They also must be outside of Australia at the time the visa is granted unless they hold, or their last substantive held, was a 403 visa under the Agriculture Worker stream.

Both the worker and sponsor must be participating in the Australian Agriculture Worker Program (AAWP). The worker must satisfy health criteria and sign an Australian values statement, which applies to many other visas. The sponsor must be temporary activities sponsor with no adverse information known about them or someone associated with them unless it is reasonable to disregard this information.

Visa holders will be subject to some standard visa conditions: not become involved with disruptive activities, maintain relevant health insurance, and a new visa condition 8611 which restricts them to only work for their sponsor or another if endorsed by Foreign Affairs and cannot engage in work on their own account. This visa condition is designed to transfer a visa holder to another employer in cases of worker exploitation without the need for a new visa, such as is necessary for subclass 482 – Temporary Skill Shortage visas and subclass 494 – Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visas. There may also be some discretionary visa conditions that also apply.

The visa will be granted for a period of up to 4 years with multiple entries allowed.

There are no applicant eligibility criteria such as any minimum age, skills, experience, or English requirements. This will be at the discretion of DFAT and detailed below.

DFAT to administer Australian Agriculture Worker Program

The key clauses in the regulations point to DFAT having plenty of oversight in the program. This will include:

• negotiating bilateral agreements with foreign countries,

• stipulating requirements for each worker,

• manage the accreditation of employers and their participation, and

• approve the arrangements in Australia between the employer and the worker.

Employers keen to participate will need to:

• Undertake labour market testing to ensure job opportunities for Australian citizens or permanent residents are not adversely impacted,

• Provide or secure affordable accommodation and living arrangements for visa holders,

• Facilitate introductions of their sponsored workers to local communities, including local diaspora communities,

• Provide education on financial literacy including banking, taxation and superannuation,

• Provide pastoral care services while in Australia and post-departure, and

• Assist in managing matters relating to serious ill health, accident or death with other stakeholders.

The regulations should be read in conjunction with the associated factsheet, with key takeaways including:

• A small number of countries will be initially tested with further bilateral agreements concluded in the future,

• Applicant eligibility has yet to be established and will be done through consultation with the sector,

• The final program has yet to be finalised, but the arrival of initial workers under Phase 1 of this scheme is planned to occur from December 2021 to March 2022 and subject to quarantine arrangements. Phase 1 will be open to existing approved sponsors,

• Phase 2 will begin in April 2022 with additional agreements, more approved sponsors and see an increase in the number of workers arriving, and

• A pathway to a permanent visa will be announced late 2021 or early 2022.

With so much of the program still vague, it seems the government wanted to keep its promise of the visa being available in September but with any visa grants not likely until at least a couple of months from now. Employers will not appreciate the uncertainty, though.