Proposing mobility visas as an alternative to employer sponsorship: Addressing inequalities in the treatment of temporary migrant workers

Abstract

Many countries use employer-sponsored visas to regulate migrant worker recruitment. By tying each sponsored migrant to a single employer, employer-sponsored visas have contributed to problems of workers being underpaid and mistreated. Through a critical assessment of temporary visas in Australia, particularly the Temporary Skill Shortage visa, and an analysis of relevant Australian and international literature, we argue that employer-sponsored visas are fundamentally flawed in their design and should be replaced. We consider various alternative options to employer sponsorship for regulating migrant worker recruitment before proposing the creation of a 'mobility visa', which would allow migrant workers to move freely between employers. We argue a mobility visa is a superior model for protecting worker equity and voice while also helping to address labour market needs. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of UNSW Canberra.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Mobility immigration policy industrial relations migrant workers

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Work and Organisational Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Funding & Acknowledgements

Australian Research Council, ARC

Grant: DE170101060, DE200100243

This article builds on our invited submission to the Australian Government’s Review of the Migration System. We are grateful to the Editor-in-Chief for their guidance and the three anonymous reviewers for their feedback. Part of the research was supported by the Australian Research Council (DE170101060 and DE200100243).

Australian Research Council, ARC

This article builds on our invited submission to the Australian Government’s Review of the Migration System. We are grateful to the Editor-in-Chief for their guidance and the three anonymous reviewers for their feedback. Part of the research was supported by the Australian Research Council (DE170101060 and DE200100243).

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Proposing mobility visas as an alternative to employer sponsorship: Addressing inequalities in the treatment of temporary migrant workers

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