emylou78

hope somebody can give us some advice, we are here on a 457 visa my parnters employer is our sponsor. Today my partner was told there was no work available until late next week and was told he would be paid holidays until the work was available.
Well today is payday and my partners pay was 1 day short so a quick telephone call to his employer has confirmed that he is not going to pay anything at all ! ( god knows how we are going to survive )
Just want to know if it is legal for his employer to do this as we thought he had to get paid a minimum of 38 hours a week.
can somebody please enlighten us thanks

khansha

I think u r right. you can consult the immigration about it.
then talk to ur employer about it.

abhibytes

Your emplloyer is being supportive for the fact that employer is not notifying immigration else ur 457 visa wud hv been suspended and u guys wud hv to leave the country within 28 working days.
If their is no work and he is sending u on unpaid leave, employer understands ur visa status. I would say bear for while till things stabilize...
In recent employers have been left with no choice but to terminate visas....lucky u..he has kept u on employment...though not paid..

emylou78

Yeah i understand what you are saying, however we would not have to leave if we submitted an application for a new visa you have 28 days to do this from the date your employer alerts immigration that you are no longer working for them.
i just wanted to know if he is allowed to keep my partner employed without pay as i believe it is the sponsors obligations of the 457 visa to pay a minimum of 38 hours a week.
Should we speak to immigration about this ? or wait for the employer to tell them

khansha

actually there is a pro and contro of telling immigration about ur situation.
If you can get new sponsor first, then it is ok to tell immigration.
which visa are u thinking of applying?

Pollyana

Your best course of action would be to contact a registered agent (several post on here) and get advice from them as soon as possible - before talking to DIAC.

Safin

One weeks unpaid leave is hardly terminating employment! But otherwise I agree with you.

Only get to stay on bridging visa after applying for new visa IF it is one that can be GRANTED ONSHORE. So 175, 176, 475 aren't the ones that offer bridging visas.

Deutschmaster

I'm wondering whether as long as your employer pays you more than the statutory minimum for the 457 (think it's around the mid $40,000s), then it's legal.

emylou78

thanks for the advice, was going to submit application for pr later this year but might do it sooner now. I thoght we could still apply for a 175 or 176 onshore and would be informed by immigration when to leave australia for a week or so for it to be granted.

Could anybody tell me who the migration agents are on this site so i can contact them for some advice
thanks

Pollyana

There are a lot which use the site, but the most often recommended are George Lombard, Alan Collett and Welsh Tony

goldchoccycoin

You can apply onshore - but there are no bridging visas attached to offshore visas so unless you remained on the 457 or got another sunstantive visa you would have to leave Australia at the end of the current visa.

Norman S

As tking says, if you apply for a 175/176 onshore, you can only stay here while you have another visa to tie you over. If you apply for a 175, then lose the 457, you would have to get a new 457/student visa or wait offshore until the visa is granted.

It is not the case that you can lose the 457 and stay here without a substantive visa until the 175 is ready to be granted.

CrystalBall

You actually have 2 issues.

The first issue is that you need a sponsor (and employment) to maintain your temporary work visa.

The second issue is an employment contract issue. What is the basis of your employment and does your employer have the right to put you on forced leave if there is no work. Many employers for instance require their employees to take leave at Xmas when the business closes down, but in general leave must be mutually negotiated. Some industries have stand-down clauses in their awards its too hard to say if they are acting legally or not.

If you are owed paid leave then regardless of your visa status they have a contractual responsibility to pay you, otherwise they are in breach of their employment obligations.

Your employer must be following the employment laws of Australia as a condition of sponsorship and breaches to that are serious on their behalf.

Employer will contact DIAC within 5 days of terminating you.

emylou78

thanks everybody for all your advice, hopefully my partner has found another job with an employer willing to sponsor him we find out early next week so with a bit of luck we will be submitting a new application for a 457, but we are also going to lodge our PR as i dont want to find ourselves in this situation again and if we have both applications lodged we will not need to leave.
i have spoken to an agent and have been told that it is a very grey area with regards to the employers obligations as there is no way of enforcing them but i will be contacting diac soon to clarify this as my partner has not been recieving payslips even though he has repeatedly asked for them ( boss cant work the payroll system ). His boss has given him a payroll summary showing how much wages, hols etc he has had but the amounts are far more than what has been paid into our bank account so we are not sure whats been going on !!!