RIGHT-TO-WORK VERIFICATION ESSENTIALS

^{Australia & New Zealand}

Verify correctly. Maintain evidence. Reduce compliance risk.

^{Course Overview}

Employers need reliable processes to ensure that workers are legally entitled to perform the work for which they are engaged.

The Right-to-Work Verification Essentials (Australia & New Zealand) course provides participants with practical guidance on verifying work rights during recruitment and throughout employment.

In Australia, the Department of Home Affairs states that employers must check that a person can legally work in Australia. For visa holders, Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) provides current visa information, including work entitlements and applicable conditions.

In New Zealand, Immigration New Zealand VisaView enables registered employers to check whether prospective and current employees hold a valid visa, applicable conditions and the visa expiry date.

Using practical scenarios, participants learn how to conduct and document defensible right-to-work checks and recognise when further verification is required.

^{What You Will Learn}

Participants will develop an understanding of:

Why right-to-work verification is an important employer responsibility
Australian and New Zealand work-entitlement requirements
Acceptable evidence of work entitlement
The difference between citizenship, residence and temporary visa status
How to use Australia's VEVO system
How to use New Zealand's VisaView system
How to identify and interpret visa conditions and work restrictions
Why simply sighting a visa is not always sufficient
Obtaining worker consent before conducting electronic checks
Verifying that the person presenting documents is the person entitled to work
Checking expiry dates and time-limited work rights
Establishing processes for ongoing visa monitoring and re-checks
Maintaining appropriate verification records
Common compliance mistakes and warning signs
Managing right-to-work verification consistently and fairly
Escalating unclear or complex work-entitlement situations

In Australia, Department of Home Affairs advises that Medicare cards, tax file numbers and driver's licences are not sufficient evidence by themselves that a non-citizen has the right to work.

For Australian bridging visa holders where VEVO does not show an expiry date, Home Affairs recommends checking VEVO every three months to confirm continuing work rights.

^{Practical Workplace Scenarios}

Participants can work through examples such as:

Australia: A meat-processing business recruits a temporary visa holder. The participant completes a VEVO check, reviews the worker's conditions, determines whether the proposed role complies with those conditions and identifies when another check should occur.

New Zealand: A processing facility proposes employing an overseas worker. Participants use the VisaView process to consider whether the worker holds a valid visa, whether they can work for that employer and any conditions applying to their employment. Immigration New Zealand confirms that VisaView displays the current visa, expiry date and associated conditions.

^{Who Should Enrol?}

This course is particularly suitable for:

HR and People & Culture teams
Recruitment personnel
Payroll and administration staff
Managers and supervisors
Labour hire providers
Host employers
Compliance and quality personnel
Farm and processing-site managers
Businesses employing migrant or temporary workers
Organisations operating across Australia and New Zealand

^{No Prerequisites}

There are no prerequisites for this course.

^{Why This Course Matters}

Right-to-work verification should not be treated as a one-off document check during onboarding.

Employers need systems that establish who the worker is, whether they are entitled to work, whether restrictions apply, when their work rights may expire and when another verification is necessary.

For New Zealand employers, Immigration New Zealand specifically notes that VisaView enquiry records can provide evidence of compliance with the Immigration Act 2009.