A new visa designed to allow migrants to temporarily remain in Australia to pursue a workplace exploitation claim against an employer has been welcomed as “groundbreaking” by a coalition of legal centres, unions, and business and human rights groups.

Quietly launched on 24 July, the workplace justice visa (subclass 408) is part of a two-year pilot program, and allows migrants and their families to stay in Australia for up to 12 months, depending on their circumstances.

The federal government has also introduced a new protection which guarantees a temporary migrant worker’s visa will not be cancelled if they accuse their employer of exploitation.

The Human Rights Law Centre, which said it was one of 40 organisations invited by the government to co-design the visa protections, said the new initiatives were “world-first” reforms.

The centre’s legal director, Sanmati Verma, said the “hard-won” changes were “just the first steps in ensuring that migrant workers are treated equally at work, and are not held to ransom by bad bosses because of their visa status”.

The Department of Home Affairs website states the new visa cannot be extended, but if a worker’s exploitation claim has not been finalised before their visa expires they may be eligible to apply for another visa.

“You cannot reuse your original workplace exploitation claim certification when applying for another visa,” the department said.

“You must give us new certification from a participating government agency or an accredited third party.”

The reforms were first flagged in June 2023, and come as Tony Burke takes over from Andrew Giles as the new Minister for Immigration.

The opposition’s immigration spokesperson, Dan Tehan, told ABC News: "The new immigration minister must ensure this visa is not exploited by people making non-genuine claims to extend their stay in Australia."

Changes give ‘real hope’ for justice

Sydney’s Redfern Legal Centre (RLC), which was also involved in the co-design process, said the visa changes could help thousands of migrant workers.

The centre gave the example of one woman, who contacted them “after learning that she was being paid well below minimum wage”.

RLC said the woman “came to Australia to study, but when she lost financial support from family back in China, she found she had to work more than the 40 hours per fortnight then-allowed under her student visa, to pay for essentials like housing".

“[She] knew that if she reported the wage theft and tried to recover her unpaid wages, she risked her previous employer reporting her for working too many hours.”

“These changes give us real hope that exploited migrant workers can achieve justice."

RLC CEO Camilla Pandolfini said the centre spoke with migrants “every day” who had been subjected to similar exploitation by their employers.

"Some have been forced to work around the clock for below minimum wage,” she said.

“Others have been subject to appalling sexual harassment at work.

"Because of a lack of protections, if migrant workers pursue their rights under the law, they risk losing their visa.

"The employer who’s been sponsoring them may withdraw their sponsorship, or the boss who’s bullied them into working 18-hour days may report them for working too many hours and breaching their visa conditions.

Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said unions had spent years calling for whistleblower protections for migrant workers.

“These new protections are a groundbreaking step in tackling the exploitation of migrant workers and ensuring unscrupulous employers are held to account,” she said.

“We commend the government for this important initiative.”

In a survey of more than 15,000 migrant workers, the Migrant Justice Institute said it found around three quarters of respondents earned below the casual minimum wage, and a quarter earned less than half of that.

It found nine in 10 underpaid migrant workers took no action against their employers, with many fearing they would be jeopardising their future in Australia.

New laws passed parliament in February which can see employers face harsher penalties, including potential prison time, if they exploit migrant workers.

Research released in March by ACS (the publisher of Information Age), found one quarter of migrants skilled in information and communications technology (ICT) felt discriminated against due to their migration status.