Are practitioners expected to advise applicants only or are they also expected to advise applicants' sponsors?
Sponsorship of a visa application carries with it some obligations which practitioners should consider advising sponsors about. Otherwise, sponsors might end up being liable for costs they did not anticipate and might seek to recoup those costs from practitioners. Of course, in some circumstances it will not be possible to advise a sponsor due to a conflict of interest, but this article does not discuss any potential conflicts.
From 16 November 2019, a new legislative instrument will introduce the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (Class PS), subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional (Provisional)) visa.
As expected, that new instrument adds provisions to Schedules 1 and 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) containing the requirements for the new subclasses.
But the instrument also contains obligations which sponsors will be liable for, as we discuss below.