Subclass 494 RFI: Separate the Employer Nomination from Your Visa Response
If you receive a request for information about a subclass 494 application, first identify whether it concerns the employer nomination or the worker’s visa application. They can involve different applicants, evidence owners and response channels. Read the complete notice, note the questions and deadline, and match each requested item to the correct process. Re-uploading the worker’s identity documents will not answer a question about the employer’s position, recruitment or salary evidence.
Turn the notice into a response checklist
Keep the full letter, attachments, application references and the date it was received by the authorised recipient. If the Department sent it to a representative, obtain the complete copy and confirm who is responsible for preparing and lodging the response. For every question, record which application it relates to, what fact is being requested, who can provide the evidence, where the source document is held, what remains outstanding and the deadline stated in the notice.
Keep the nomination and visa evidence distinct
An employer-nomination request may ask the business to clarify the role, its operations, recruitment, salary or work arrangements. A visa-application request may instead concern the applicant’s identity, employment history, qualifications, family members or other personal facts. Assign each question to the process it names. The employer should confirm business evidence through someone authorised to do so; the applicant should confirm personal history from their own records. Neither party should create or guess facts for the other.
Compare dates, job titles, duties and salary information across the documents. If a résumé and nomination describe a role differently, check the original records and identify why the wording differs. Do not rewrite work history or alter a translation just to make two records appear identical. Explain genuine differences clearly and keep a note of the source used for each fact.
Use the deadline in the actual notice
Check the notice for the exact due date, scope, response method and any formatting directions. Do not substitute a deadline mentioned online for a different visa class or assume the period starts again when a forwarded email reaches you. You can set an earlier internal deadline for translation and review, but that planning date does not change the Department’s deadline.
If a document may not arrive in time, keep evidence of steps already taken, such as a booking, payment receipt or request to the issuing authority, and seek advice on the process that applies to this notice. The Department’s Employer Sponsored Visa Program Enquiry Form says an extension request must be made before the original response timeframe expires and supported by evidence of efforts to obtain the information. An extension is not guaranteed, and that form may not be the correct channel for every request. Follow the instructions in the letter and confirm the applicable process.
Keep originals, translations and explanations traceable
Use filenames that identify the applicant or business, document type, relevant dates and version. Keep the original, translation and any explanatory note as separate files so the source of each statement remains clear. Check names, employer details, job title, employment dates and identity information. If records differ, return to the source and explain the difference; do not edit a scan or ask a translator to add a salary, duty or date that the original does not contain.
Documents issued in Chinese may need English translations under the requirements that apply to the particular application. Confirm the Department’s instructions rather than relying only on a translation provider’s general assurance. If an original document is later corrected, retain the old version, date the correction and link the replacement to the correct translation. Tell the case handler if a previous version was already submitted.
A successful upload is only one checkpoint
For an online visa application, Home Affairs instructs applicants to check Actions required in ImmiAccount and attach requested material to the correct application. Employer-nomination communications or other processes may have separate response arrangements, so do not assume one upload completes both the nomination and visa response. Use the channel named in the relevant notice.
Keep the submission date, file list and confirmation. Ask the responsible person to confirm which process received the response, which versions were used and whether any question remains unanswered. Sending documents to an adviser, uploading them, the Department receiving them and the Department accepting their contents are separate states. A response does not itself grant a visa or change current work or travel permission.
This article was checked against Department of Home Affairs guidance on 21 October 2026. The notice and current official instructions control the deadline, document requirements and response channel.
Official sources and review date
21 October 2026
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