Purpose

A Visa Check (Australian Work Rights) verifies that a candidate, employee, or volunteer holds a valid visa granting them the legal right to work in Australia. This check is underpinned by the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and enforced via the Department of Home Affairs' Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) system. Employers who fail to verify work rights face significant penalties, including fines of up to $99,000 per illegal worker under the Migration Act.

This playbook ensures first-time-right submissions by combining clear candidate guidance, optimised platform configuration, and AI-assisted verification. The goal is to reduce your time-to-fill by eliminating the preventable change requests that account for the majority of delays in this check.

Biggest Reasons for Slow Time to Compliance and Recommendations

Key insight: The fastest-performing customer achieves less than 1 day submission-to-approval with only a 6% change request rate and an average of 1 change request per affected submission. They use a streamlined single-check setup with Application + Policy + Required rules, 12 fields, monitored validity, and auto-approval with AI handover. This proves that the right configuration can virtually eliminate processing delays.

Here's what's driving the most delays across Visa Checks and specific changes that will have the most impact on your time to compliance. Each recommendation is based on what the best-performing configurations are already doing.

Rejection Reason	Frequency	Impact on Time to Fill	Platform Configuration	Why This Reduces Time to Fill
Illegible or poor quality visa evidence (blurry photos, screenshots with cut-off text, glare)	🔴 High	Each change request can cause delays as candidates must retake and re-upload their evidence.	Include in the candidate-facing description; "Your scan/photo must be high-resolution and free of glare or shadows."	Poor quality is one of the top rejection reasons. Catching it before submission prevents any delays.
Name mismatch between visa document and application	🔴 High	Requires candidates to provide additional documentation or correct their application details, adding a least a day pf delays.	Inform candidates to provide additional documents for change of name documents. Allow candidates to upload multiple files in a single submission.	All top-performing configurations have multiple documents enabled. It reduces friction and helps avoid incomplete submissions.
Student visa uploaded without work condition details/rights	🟠 Medium	Requires manual review and often a follow-up change request to confirm work hours and conditions	Communicate what is needed "If you hold a student visa, you must also upload proof of your work conditions (e.g. Condition 8104/8105) check your visa grant notice or VEVO result" "Maximum hours permitted per fortnight" so candidates explicitly confirm their work limits/rights.	Candidates provide work condition details upfront in a single submission instead of compliance having to request it separately. Eliminates the follow-up change request loop.

Platform Configuration — Recommended Settings

Configure your system to verify work rights thoroughly while minimising candidate friction.

Setting	Recommended Value	Rationale
Number of checks	1 (mandatory)	A single, consolidated check simplifies the candidate experience and reviewer workflow. The best-performing customers use exactly one check.
Rules	Application Policy Required	Application triggers the check at hire. Policy enforces ongoing visa monitoring and re-checks upon expiry. Required ensures no candidate bypasses the check.
Validity	Renewed Based on expiry date	Automatically triggers re-checks when visas approach expiry. For bridging visas without expiry dates, the platform sets a 3-month re-check. Monitoring provides proactive alerts.
Multiple documents	Enabled	All top-performing customers have this enabled. Reduces rejection rates from candidates struggling to combine multiple documents into one file.
AI Features	Autofill Recommendations Auto-rejection Auto-approve AI handover	AI enables instant processing for candidates with full work rights. Only exceptions (student visas, restricted visas, bridging visas) require human review.

💡 Interested in upgrading the AI Pack for your check? Reach out to your Account Manager.

VEVO Authentication

For customers who have purchased the authenticate or monitor service level packages, VEVO checks can be conducted to authenticate visa status directly with the Department of Home Affairs. Key notes on VEVO:

A VEVO re-check is executed within one business day of the candidate providing satisfactory evidence.
For policy-triggered re-checks, the VEVO re-check occurs on the first business day after the current visa expires.
The result and evidence of the VEVO re-check is uploaded to the Australian Work Rights requirement automatically.
Where an employee is on a bridging visa with no expiry date, the platform automatically sets the re-check date to three months from the last check.
Where an employee is on a visa without an expiry date (other than a bridging visa), no automatic re-check is scheduled. Customers will be consulted on planned improvements to this solution.

Recommended Candidate-Facing Description

Use the following standardised text at the point of upload. Adjust as needed for your organisation.

Please upload ONE of these documents and ensure you upload a clear photo or scan, include every page of the document and your name matches your application. If it differs, upload a name-change document.

I am an Australian citizen

Australian Passport (not expired)
Australian Birth Certificate (not an extract or birth card)
Australian Citizenship Certificate

I am NOT an Australian citizen

Foreign Passport

Note: If you are on a student visa, also include: Confirmation of Enrollment (COE). If you are a secondary student visa holder, the COE should be from the primary visa holder.

Visual Guidance

To support the candidate instructions, below is a passport sample showing how to upload evidence correctly and what to avoid. This sample is automatically enabled.

Troubleshooting & Edge Cases

Scenario A: Candidate is on a bridging visa with no expiry date

Situation: The candidate holds a bridging visa that does not have a listed expiry date, making it unclear when to schedule a re-check.

Solution: The platform automatically sets a 3-month re-check cycle for bridging visas without expiry dates. This ensures ongoing monitoring without manual intervention. If the bridging visa has work rights, it can be approved with the 3-month re-check noted. If work rights are unclear or restricted, route to Customer Review for the employer's assessment.

Scenario B: Student visa holder applies for a full-time role

Situation: A candidate on a Student Visa (subclass 500) applies for a position that may exceed their work hour limitations (typically 48 hours per fortnight during term time).

Solution: This should always route to Customer Review. The employer must confirm that the role's hours are compatible with the candidate's visa conditions. Include a note to the hiring manager about the specific work hour limitations. Do not approve or reject, this is an employer decision.

Scenario C: Visa has been renewed but old evidence was uploaded

Situation: A candidate's visa was recently renewed, but they uploaded the old (expired) visa grant notice instead of the new one.

Solution: The auto-rejection rule should catch expired evidence. Ensure the change request message clearly states: "The visa evidence you uploaded has expired. Please upload your most recent visa grant notification letter showing your current visa and expiry date."

Scenario D: Name on visa differs from application (e.g. maiden name vs married name)

Situation: The name on the candidate's visa document does not match the name on their application due to a name change.

Solution: Route to Customer Review. The reviewer should request supporting documentation (marriage certificate, deed poll, or other legal name change evidence) before approving.

Visa Check Playbook