Underpaid on a Visa? Your Wage Rights Are the Same

A national system employee — the position of the overwhelming majority of private-sector employees — has the same core entitlements regardless of nationality or visa. That includes:

• the ten National Employment Standards, including the maximum weekly hours standard;
• the modern award or enterprise agreement covering your job, with its minimums, overtime and penalty rates;
• the National Minimum Wage — $26.44 per hour ($1,004.90 per week) from 1 July 2026, following the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 3500).

No employer can lawfully pay you below the applicable rate because of your visa, and no agreement you signed can displace the NES. If you were paid a "student rate" or a "cash rate" below the floor, that shortfall is an underpayment you can recover.

The certain, calculable claim is the same as for any employee: every hour you actually worked but were not paid for, valued at your ordinary hourly rate on a 1:1 basis, checked against the $26.44/hour National Minimum Wage floor. On top of that floor, once your modern award is identified, sit the award minimums and any overtime or penalty multipliers — because Australia has no single statutory overtime rate, those come from the award, not the law. What we never do is assume a multiplier before the award is confirmed.

Your recovery path does not change because of your visa.

• Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) — the free, official first port of call for information, mediation and compliance help.
• Small claims procedure (art. 548) — a simplified, less formal application before a magistrates court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2), capped at $100,000.
• Ordinary application (art. 545) — a standard application before the Federal Court of Australia or the Federal Circuit and Family Court, with no $100,000 ceiling.

The time limit is 6 years from the contravention (art. 544), and a court cannot order an underpayment for a period more than 6 years before the proceedings commenced (art. 545(5)).

Many migrant workers hesitate because they worry that raising an underpayment will jeopardise their visa. Seeking information and help about your pay is your right as an employee, and the Fair Work Ombudsman exists precisely to assist workers — including migrant workers — to understand and enforce their entitlements. Your right to be paid correctly for the work you did stands on its own, independent of your visa. If you are unsure about your specific situation, seek advice — but do not let the fear of the label stop you from checking what you are owed.

The record-keeping rules protect you the same way they protect any employee. Your employer must make and keep employee records for 7 years (art. 535) and give you a pay slip within one working day of paying you (art. 536). If they were required to keep those records or give pay slips and failed to do so — common in cash-in-hand arrangements — then in proceedings the employer bears the burden of disproving your allegation about hours and amounts (art. 557C), unless they show a reasonable excuse. So keep your own timestamped log of every shift: it becomes your allegation, and the missing records shift the onus to your employer.

• Unpaid Overtime in Australia: Your Complete Rights Guide
• How to Recover Unpaid Wages in Australia
• How to Make a Small Claims Wage Claim in Australia