ADL LawyersSponsored work and protection.
Different worlds, same rigour.
Two streams that share almost nothing except the standard of preparation they demand. Employer sponsorship is a compliance exercise with three separately assessed stages, where nominations usually fail on the employer’s side rather than the applicant’s. Protection is a credibility exercise where the account you give at the start is the one you are held to for years.
Sponsored by an employer, or seeking protection
If you are an employer looking to sponsor, start on the first tab — the obligations sit largely with you. If you are seeking protection, the second tab is written for you, and everything you tell us is confidential.
Sponsored work visas and permanent nomination
Sponsored pathways don’t use a points score, which makes them the realistic route for people who can’t reach a competitive skilled score — including applicants over 45, where limited exemptions apply. The trade-off is that your employer carries obligations, and their compliance decides your outcome.
Who this suits
- Subclass 482 — Skills in Demand, the main sponsored work visa, with streams set by occupation and skill level.
- Subclass 186 — Employer Nomination Scheme, permanent, via direct entry or temporary residence transition.
- Subclass 494 — skilled employer sponsored regional, provisional for five years, with a defined route to permanence.
- Subclass 191 — permanent residence for regional provisional visa holders who meet the residence and income requirements.
- Employers seeking standard business sponsorship, or already sponsoring and facing a monitoring or compliance issue.
What we do on these matters
- Standard business sponsorship applications, including for first-time sponsors with no track record.
- Nomination applications built around labour market testing and the applicable income threshold, documented properly.
- Occupation and stream selection — which list the role sits on decides duration and permanent-residence access.
- Sponsor obligation advice, monitoring responses and compliance issues handled before they become sanctions.
- Nomination and visa refusals taken to the Administrative Review Tribunal.
Advertising that doesn’t meet the requirements in wording, duration or placement is the single most common nomination failure. It is entirely avoidable and entirely fatal.
The applicable income threshold is indexed and the nominated salary must meet it as well as the market rate for the role. Employers price the role first and check the threshold second.
Roles written to fit a visa rather than a business need do not survive scrutiny. The position description, the business size and the org structure have to tell a consistent story.
We confirm which occupation list the role sits on and which stream gives the best duration and permanent-residence access.
Standard business sponsorship applied for, or an existing approval checked for currency and compliance.
Labour market testing run correctly, salary benchmarked against the threshold and the market rate, position documented.
Visa application lodged, then the transition to 186 or 191 planned from the start rather than at expiry.
Protection visas and humanitarian claims
Protection claims turn on a detailed, consistent account of what happened to you and why you cannot safely return, tested against country information. Inconsistencies introduced early — often by people trying to help — are very difficult to repair later. Everything you tell us is confidential and covered by legal professional privilege.
Who this suits
- Subclass 866 — permanent protection for people in Australia owed obligations under the Refugee Convention or complementary protection.
- Subclass 200 to 204 — offshore refugee and humanitarian programs, including Global Special Humanitarian, which requires a proposer in Australia.
- People currently on a bridging visa while a protection claim is assessed.
- People whose protection claim has been refused and who still hold review rights.
- People without a valid visa who need confidential advice about what is still available.
What we do on these matters
- Statement preparation done properly — the account taken carefully, once, in a way that holds up under questioning.
- Country information research and submissions that connect your circumstances to the legal test.
- Bridging visa applications and work rights, so you are lawful and able to support yourself while you wait.
- Tribunal review of protection refusals, including hearing preparation and representation.
- Ministerial Intervention requests and judicial review where tribunal rights have been exhausted.
Details that shift between the first statement, the application and the hearing are treated as credibility problems even when the change is innocent. Getting the account right once matters more than getting it fast.
Grounds not raised early are harder to raise later. A claim that was never put cannot be assessed, and adding it at hearing invites scepticism.
Protection refusals carry short statutory review windows that generally cannot be extended. People lose the right to review while waiting for advice.
We take your account carefully and privately, before anything is written down for the department.
Your circumstances tested against the legal criteria and current country information, honestly.
Statement and submissions prepared, with bridging visa and work rights sorted alongside.
Tribunal application filed within time, hearing prepared for, and further options assessed if it goes against you.
For sponsors, thirty minutes will tell you whether your role and your advertising will survive a nomination assessment. For protection claims, it costs nothing and everything said is confidential.
Awrangajeb Habib Raj
Awrangajeb practises exclusively in immigration law, with a focus on protection and human rights matters alongside sponsored migration, and on Ministerial and tribunal appeals. Protection matters are handled personally and confidentially throughout.
Sponsored and protection clients
We had our first nomination refused on labour market testing. They rebuilt the advertising properly, re-lodged, and it was approved without a query.
He sat with me for hours getting my statement right before anything was submitted. At the hearing the member had no questions I hadn't already answered.
I was over 45 and had given up on permanent residence. The employer sponsored route was explained to me clearly for the first time.
Sponsorship and protection questions we answer most
Can't see your question? A 30-minute consultation costs less than a wrong lodgement.
Book a consultationWhat are the three stages of employer sponsorship?
I’m over 45. Is employer sponsorship still possible?
What does labour market testing actually require?
Is everything I tell you about my protection claim confidential?
What happens if my protection visa is refused?
Can I work while my protection claim is being assessed?
Other matters we handle
Skilled & Student Visas
Points-tested permanent residence, state and regional nomination, student visas and post-study work rights.
Partner & Family Visas
Partner, parent, child and remaining relative applications, and the relationship evidence that decides them.
Appeals & Judicial Review
Tribunal review, Ministerial Intervention, character matters under s501 and judicial review.
Sponsors and applicants both start with one conversation
Consultations run 30 minutes, in person in Sydney, by phone or over video. Employers: bring the position description and any advertising you have run. Protection matters: bring whatever documents you have, and nothing you say leaves the room.
- You speak with the principal lawyer, not an intake team
- You leave knowing your deadline and your options
- Fixed-fee quote before any work begins
- Bengali, Hindi and Urdu spoken
Live availability, timezone detection and automatic confirmation emails — handled by your existing GHL booking calendar.
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