Visa options for FIFO and DIDO rosters
Overseas workers joining a fly-in fly-out or drive-in drive-out roster need a visa with work rights, and which one applies turns on whether the role is a defined short-term engagement or an ongoing position. A campaign of up to three months generally sits with the Subclass 400; an ongoing roster role is a Subclass 482 matter. Resource Visa advises Australian resources employers on both.
Why rosters complicate the visa question
Almost everything written about FIFO and visas online is written for people looking for FIFO work. Very little is written for the employer putting an overseas worker onto a roster, which is a different problem with different questions.
The complication is that a roster is a pattern, not a continuous block. A worker on a two-and-one rotation is in Australia for two weeks, out for one, and back again. Whether that reads as a short defined engagement or as ongoing employment depends on how many cycles there are and what the underlying role actually is — and that distinction drives which visa applies.
Short-term roster work: the Subclass 400
Where the work is a defined campaign — a shutdown spanning three rotations, a commissioning programme, an inspection campaign — the Subclass 400 generally fits. It covers specialised, non-ongoing work of up to three months with no sponsorship obligation.
The application needs to show the roster pattern and the campaign’s end point, not just the total days worked. A roster that runs to a handover date is evidence of non-ongoing work. A roster with no stated end is the opposite.
Ongoing roster roles: the Subclass 482
Where the position is a permanent slot on a rotating crew — you are filling a role, not delivering a scope — that is ongoing employment however the hours are arranged, and the pathway is the Subclass 482 Skills in Demand.
This requires your business to be an approved sponsor, and brings sponsor obligations that run for the life of the employment. Those obligations do not pause when the worker is on their off-swing.
What counts toward time in Australia
A point employers routinely get wrong.
Since September 2024 the Department scrutinises cumulative stay beyond three months in any twelve-month period on the Subclass 400. On a roster, that cumulative count is not the same as time on site — it is driven by the visa’s own conditions and the worker’s entries and exits, and off-swings spent overseas are treated differently from off-swings spent in Australia.
The practical consequence: a worker who takes their off-swing in Perth and a worker who flies home to Manila are in different positions on the same roster. Work out which applies before you set the rotation, not after.
Rosters that cross the three-month line
If a campaign is going to run past three months, the honest options are:
- Phase it. Different specialists covering different scopes, each with a defensible short-term case.
- Move to the 482. If the role is genuinely ongoing, treat it as ongoing. This is the right answer more often than employers expect.
- Restructure the scope. Sometimes the work divides naturally at a milestone.
What does not work is running consecutive 400s for the same worker on the same roster and hoping the pattern is not noticed. It reads exactly as what it is, and it puts a refusal on the record for both the company and the worker.
Remote sites, accommodation and the practical checklist
Things that are not visa conditions but that derail roster mobilisations anyway:
- Site inductions and competency verification that can only be completed onshore
- Medicals and fitness-for-work assessments with lead times of their own
- Remote-site accommodation allocated to a roster slot rather than a person
- Charter flight manifests locked days ahead of departure
- Certification recognised overseas but requiring local verification or a ticket
None of these are our department, but all of them sit between visa grant and the worker actually being productive. Build them into the timeline.
How a mobilisation runs
Same business day
Triage call
The work, the site, the dates, the fit, and an honest read on whether the 400 is the right instrument.
Within 24 hours
One document request
A single consolidated list, not a drip-feed. The one variable nobody controls is how fast your documents reach us, which is why we ask for everything once, on day one.
Within 48 hours of a complete file
Lodged
Business case assembled and evidenced, your review, then lodgement. A commitment about how fast we work, not about how the Department decides, which no adviser controls.
Ongoing
Crews and standing arrangements
For OEM service divisions and shutdown contractors that mobilise repeatedly: preferred-supplier arrangements, batch mobilisations against your shutdown calendar, one nominated contact.
Frequently asked questions
A visa with work rights. Which one depends on whether the engagement is a defined short-term campaign — generally a Subclass 400, up to three months — or an ongoing roster position, which is a Subclass 482 matter requiring your business to be an approved sponsor.
It depends on where the off-swing is spent and on the visa’s conditions. A worker who leaves Australia between swings is in a different position from one who stays. This is worth confirming before the rotation is set.
This is not a reliable approach. Since September 2024 cumulative stay beyond three months in any twelve-month period attracts closer review, and repeat applications for the same worker attract more. If the role is ongoing, the 482 is the correct instrument.
Six months of engagement is beyond what the Subclass 400 is built for, regardless of the roster pattern. The realistic options are phasing the work across different specialists or moving to a Subclass 482.
No. Sponsorship obligations run for the life of the employment relationship, not just the days worked on site.
Related pages
Subclass 400 Rapid Mobilisation
The Subclass 400 covers specialised, non-ongoing work up to three months with no sponsorship obligation. Decision-ready…
Subclass 482 Skills in Demand
Sponsoring an ongoing role under the Subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa. The three streams, what your business must do, and…
Sponsor obligations and monitoring
What sponsorship commits your business to after the worker arrives: records, notifications, equivalent terms, and what happens…
Book a 20-minute mobilisation briefing
Twenty minutes. No obligation. Direct with our principal. Tell us the role, the site and the date.
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AWST