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ARTICLE · 25 SEPTEMBER 2014

Federal Court decision upholds removal of visa restrictions for foreign workers on offshore projects

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
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Non-citizens working on offshore projects fall outside the operation of the Migration Act 1958, so do not require visas.

AustraliaImmigration
Simon Billing (Formerly With Corrs Chambers Westgarth)
Simon Billing (Formerly With Corrs Chambers Westgarth)
Michael Barnes
Michael Barnes
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The Federal Court of Australia's decision in Maritime Union of Australia v Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2014] FCA 993 (15 September 2014) is important for employers in the offshore oil and gas industry.

The effect of the decision is that non-citizens working on offshore projects fall outside the operation of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (Migration Act) and, as a result, do not need visas to take part in such activity.

BACKGROUND

As we identified in a previous Corrs In Brief, the inconsistencies created by the Migration Act's application to the offshore resources industry have been a contentious issue for some time. Since 1982, employers have employed non-citizens, who do not hold visas, on certain vessels in Australia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This practice continued unhindered until 2013 because the 'migration zone', as defined by section 5 of the Migration Act, did not extend to vessels that were not attached to the

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