An On-Hire Labour Agreement (OHLA) lets an employer bring skilled overseas workers onto a project without becoming a visa sponsor themselves. A labour hire provider that holds the agreement, such as TradeConnex, sponsors the worker directly and on-hires them to your business, so you get the person on site without taking on the sponsorship obligations.
How an On-Hire Labour Agreement actually works
An OHLA is a formal agreement between a labour hire provider and the Department of Home Affairs. TradeConnex holds one of these agreements, which allows us to sponsor skilled overseas construction, civil and renewables workers on a Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) visa for up to four years.
The worker is employed by TradeConnex, not by the client. That means TradeConnex handles the payroll, tax, superannuation and sponsorship compliance that come with the visa. The worker is then on-hired to your business the same way any other labour hire placement would be, and does the job on your site under your day-to-day direction.
The agreement covers all Australian states and territories, so it works the same way whether your project is in New South Wales, Queensland or anywhere else in the country.
Why employers use an OHLA instead of sponsoring directly
Standard business sponsorship means the client business itself becomes the sponsor. That comes with an ongoing set of obligations to the Department of Home Affairs that sit with your business for as long as the sponsorship lasts, even after the specific project has wrapped up.
Going through our On-Hire Labour Agreement instead means TradeConnex carries that sponsor role. You get access to the skilled worker without your business having to set up and maintain sponsorship arrangements of its own. For a project-based industry like construction, civil works and renewables, that flexibility matters: you can bring in the skills a project needs without a permanent sponsorship commitment attached to your company.
Who can be sponsored this way
At a general level, the roles that fit under this kind of agreement include civil, structural, electrical and mechanical engineers, construction and project managers, surveyors, estimators, and a range of skilled trades. This isn’t a complete or fixed list. Which occupations actually qualify, and under what conditions, is set out by the Department of Home Affairs and depends on individual circumstances, so treat any general list (including this one) as a starting point for a conversation, not a final answer.
The skills shortage behind the demand
Infrastructure Australia projects a shortfall of more than 300,000 construction and infrastructure workers by 2027. That gap is a big part of why more employers are looking at sponsored overseas workers as one option alongside domestic hiring, rather than as a last resort. An OHLA is one practical way to close a skills gap on a specific project without your business taking on a sponsorship role it doesn’t want long term.
Where this fits with normal labour hire
An OHLA sits alongside our labour hire service rather than replacing it. Most of the workers TradeConnex places are sourced and supplied the usual way. The OHLA is specifically for when the skills you need are harder to find domestically and a sponsored overseas worker is the right fit for the role and the project timeline.
Getting started
If you’re weighing up whether an OHLA suits an upcoming project, the next step is a conversation about the role, the timeline and whether sponsorship is the right tool for the gap you’re trying to fill. Tell us what you need on site and we’ll talk you through whether an On-Hire Labour Agreement placement makes sense for your project.
The information in this article is general in nature and describes TradeConnex’s On-Hire Labour Agreement service. It is not immigration, migration or legal advice. Visa requirements, occupation lists, income thresholds and processing times are set by the Australian Department of Home Affairs, change regularly, and depend on your circumstances. For advice about your situation, speak to the TradeConnex team or a registered migration agent, and confirm current requirements at homeaffairs.gov.au.
