In short: When a business trades through a trust, the trustee applies to sponsor, quoting the trust ABN. The $420 approval then sits with that trustee in that capacity. A change of trustee is a sponsorship event before it is a tax event.
The family trust that employs the workforce
Many of the Victorian businesses we act for trade through a discretionary trust with a corporate trustee. It works well until the business needs to sponsor an overseas worker. Then three documents arrive with three different names. The lease names the trustee company. The payslips carry the trust's ABN. The draft employment contract names a trading name, which is not a legal person at all.
Our commercial practice reads the trust deed. The migration team reads it for a different reason. It needs to know who the employer is, because the sponsor must be the employer. A trust cannot be either. It is a relationship, not a person. The trustee holds the assets, signs the contracts and employs the staff.
Who the sponsor is when a trust trades
Home Affairs answers this directly. Where the business is party to a trust arrangement, the application goes in the trustee's name. The name is taken as written on the deed, with the trust name and trust ABN. The applicant provides the signature page of the deed and the pages that list the parties. Approval requires a legally established and currently operating business. The ABN certificate is the usual proof. Our note on becoming a standard business sponsor covers the rest of the application.
The practical rule follows. The sponsor is the trustee, acting as trustee for the trust. The nomination comes from the same name. A standard business sponsor must employ under a written contract, and that contract names the same employer. Payroll runs under the trust ABN quoted in the application. One name, four documents.
Whose name is on your sponsored worker's employment contract?
Three trust set-ups, three different files
The common case. A proprietary company with no assets of its own acts as trustee of a discretionary trust. Its directors are the people the Department checks for adverse information. A new director is notifiable within 28 calendar days. The company needs at least 1 director who ordinarily resides in Australia. The deed, the ASIC extract and the ABN lookup should name the same company, spelt the same way.
Two family members hold the business as trustees personally. Each carries the sponsor obligations personally. A trustee who retires, dies or moves overseas changes the sponsor. We usually recommend a corporate trustee before the first application.
Two or more families hold fixed units in a trading trust. The trustee company still applies as trustee. The unit holders are the owners for notification purposes. A transfer of units is reported like a transfer of shares.
Changing the trustee
Trustees change for ordinary reasons. A director retires, a marriage ends, or a dispute calls for a clean trustee company. Each deed of retirement and appointment replaces the legal person that employs the sponsored staff. The trust and its business carry on. The sponsor may not.
Home Affairs lists changes to legal name, registration details, structure, owners and directors as reportable events. The route is the sponsor changes form in ImmiAccount. It goes further where a structural change creates a new legal entity. The new entity must become a standard business sponsor and lodge new nominations for every sponsored worker. If it does not, the workers breach their visa conditions and the Department may cancel their visas.
We plan a trustee change assuming the new trustee may need its own approval and fresh nominations. We ask the Department to confirm the position in writing before anyone relies on continuity. The ABR has its own clock. Registered ABN details must be updated within 28 days of becoming aware of a change. The accountant confirms whether the trust's ABN carries across.
- Before the deed is signed The commercial team drafts the deed of retirement and appointment. The migration team lists every sponsored worker, nomination and visa expiry under the outgoing trustee.
- Signing day The new trustee is appointed. The business, the clients and the staff do not move. The employer named on the contracts has changed.
- Within 28 days The ABR is updated with the new trustee. Employment contracts are novated or varied to the incoming trustee, as trustee for the trust.
- Within 28 calendar days The sponsor changes form is lodged in ImmiAccount. Any new sponsorship and nominations go in at the same time. No worker is left employed by an entity that holds nothing.
Distributions, salary and the sponsored beneficiary
Sponsored workers sometimes become beneficiaries. A long serving manager marries into the family, or the deed names employees as a class. A distribution is not salary. A sponsor must pay annual earnings at least equal to those on the approved nomination. The Core Skills threshold of $79,423 is a figure in money under the contract. A year end distribution cannot stand in for any of it.
Two further limits apply. The sponsorship charge, the nomination charge and the levy stay with the business. They cannot be transferred or charged to the visa holder or their family. A distribution cut back to recover them is exactly that. Where a temporary resident is a potential beneficiary, Victorian land duty can treat the trust as a foreign trust. Our note on business structures for founders on temporary visas explains the deed exclusion we use.
The lease, the payslip and the deed must tell one story
Monitoring requests test the file for consistency. Sponsors must keep the written contract and records of earnings and benefits paid. If the lease names the trustee company alone, we add the trust deed. The delegate can then follow the chain. Our note on commercial leases as sponsorship evidence covers the premises side.
What the trustee pays
| Charge | Amount | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Standard business sponsorship, 5 years | $420 | The trustee, as trustee |
| 482 nomination | $330 each | The trustee |
| Skilling Australians Fund levy, per year of each 482 nomination | $1,200 under $10 million turnover, $1,800 above | The trustee |
| 186 nomination later | $540 | The trustee |
| 482 and 186 visa charges | $4,015 and $6,140, main applicant | Usually the worker |
The trustee pays from trust funds under its right of indemnity. If the deed limits that right, read the clause before the levy is committed.
Before the trustee lodges
Our commercial practice reads the deed, drafts the trustee documents and settles the employer name on every contract. The migration team lodges the sponsorship and nominations in the name the deed supports. If your business trades through a trust and an overseas hire is in view, speak to us first.
Figures verified against Home Affairs visa pricing as at 1 July 2026. Trustee naming, structural change and notification rules from the Home Affairs sponsor pages, read 8 October 2026. ABN update rule from the Australian Business Register, read the same day.
Frequently asked questions
Can a family trust sponsor a worker for a 482 visa?
The trustee can, in its capacity as trustee. Home Affairs asks for the application in the trustee's name as written on the deed, plus the trust ABN.
Our trustee company is being replaced. Does the sponsorship move to the new trustee?
Do not assume it does. The trustee is the legal person that holds the approval. We plan for a fresh approval and new nominations, and ask the Department to confirm in writing.
Which ABN goes on the sponsorship application, the trust's or the trustee company's?
The trust's. The application specifies the trust name and the trust ABN, and the payslips should quote the same number.
Can we pay part of a sponsored worker's package as a trust distribution?
Not as part of the nominated salary. Annual earnings must be at least those on the approved nomination, paid in money under the contract. A distribution sits outside that.
Do we tell Home Affairs when a new director joins the trustee company?
Yes. A company sponsor reports a new director within 28 calendar days through the sponsor changes form in ImmiAccount.
General information as at 8 October 2026. Not legal advice. Trust deeds, sponsorship approvals and visa conditions turn on your own documents and facts. Obtain advice before you appoint a trustee, lodge a sponsorship or vary a contract.