Work Rights Eligibility
Definition of an illegal Worker
An illegal worker is a non-citizen who is working without a valid visa or working in breach of a visa condition. Not everyone who comes to Australia on a visa has permission to work.
Definition of a legal Worker
Australian citizens, New Zealand citizens and Australian permanent residents are legal workers and have unlimited permission to work in Australia.
Some Australian visas have work limitations that could include not being able to work at all or only being able to work with a certain employer or a specific number of hours.
An Australian visa holder who is not in breach of their visa conditions is also a legal worker.
Proof of Citizenship or Permanent Resident Status
A single check confirming citizenship or permanent resident status at the time of employment is all that is required.
To confirm Australian or New Zealand citizenship we can sight:
• Australian or New Zealand passport
• Australian birth certificate and a form of photo identification
• Evidence of Australian citizenship and form of photo identification
• Certificate of Status for New Zealand citizens in Australia and a form of photo identification.
To confirm permanent resident status, we can sight:
• Certificate of permanent resident status and a form of photo identification
• A passport issued by the government of another country along with a check using
In the absence of a form of government-issued photo identification, we might choose to sight as many of the following supporting documents considered necessary to confirm identity:
• in Australian state or federal elections
• Medicare card
• driver’s licence / taxi license
• tax file number
• references from previous employers
• tenancy agreements or home ownership details
• tertiary qualifications certificate
• trade certificate
• change of name certificates (if applicable).
Note: The above documents do not provide evidence of permission to work.
We keep copies of any sighted documents securely in your employee record
Checking if a non-citizen has permission to work
We take reasonable steps, at reasonable times, to confirm that a non-citizen is allowed to work.
If we have reason to believe a you are a non-citizen, we must check your non-citizen’s visa does not have work restrictions.
Our preferred method of checking visa details is to use the free online service Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO)
