Do workers on an FPSO or offshore facility need an Australian visa?

In most cases, yes. Under section 9A of the Migration Act, people participating in an offshore resources activity in Australian waters are treated as being in Australia’s migration zone — which means they generally need a visa with work rights, even though they never set foot on the mainland. Resource Visa advises Australian operators and contractors on which instrument applies to offshore scopes.

The short answer

If your crew is working on an offshore resources activity connected to Australia’s continental shelf, assume a visa with work rights is required until someone qualified confirms otherwise.

The exact position depends on where the facility is, what it is doing, and how the worker is engaged. Those three variables genuinely change the answer, which is why this page explains the framework rather than giving you a rule to apply yourself.

The assumption that catches operators out

The most expensive assumption in offshore mobilisation is this one: the facility is outside the twelve-mile limit, so Australian immigration law doesn’t apply.

It is intuitive and it is wrong.

Section 9A of the Migration Act was written precisely to close that gap. Where a person is participating in, or supporting, an offshore resources activity in an area of Australian waters, they are deemed to be in the migration zone for migration purposes — regardless of their distance from the coastline. Being outside the territorial sea is not, on its own, the answer.

We see this assumption most often where a vessel or facility has been operating internationally, arrives to work an Australian field, and the crewing arrangements carry across unchanged.

What "offshore resources activity" means

Broadly, it covers activities connected with the exploration for, or exploitation of, resources on or under Australia’s continental shelf, together with the operations that support them.

In practice that reaches:

Production facilities, including FPSOs and FSOs
Drilling rigs and drillships working Australian fields
Construction, installation and decommissioning vessels
Subsea inspection, maintenance and repair campaigns
Survey, ROV and dive support operations attached to those activities

The definition is a statutory one and its edges matter. Whether a particular vessel on a particular scope falls inside it is a question for advice on the facts, not a question to be settled from a web page — including this one.

Where the facility sits, and why it matters

Three zones, three different starting points:

Within the territorial sea. Part of the migration zone in the ordinary way. A visa with work rights is required.

Beyond the territorial sea, in an offshore resources activity. Section 9A applies and the worker is deemed to be in the migration zone. A visa with work rights is generally required.

Beyond Australian waters, unconnected to an Australian resources activity. Generally outside the migration zone — but “unconnected” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and transiting through Australia to reach the vessel raises its own questions.

What this means for a mobilisation

For a defined offshore scope of up to three months — a commissioning campaign, an IMR campaign, a shutdown on a production facility — the Subclass 400 is commonly the instrument, on the same basis as onshore specialist work.

What changes offshore is the evidence. The application needs to describe the facility, the activity and the location accurately, and where the worker is engaged through a vessel operator or contractor rather than the titleholder, that chain has to be set out clearly.

Where an offshore role is ongoing rather than campaign-based, the Subclass 482 is the pathway.

Full detail on the Subclass 400 Who must be the sponsor when a contractor engages the worker

Subsea and vessel-based work

Subsea campaigns tend to compound the problem: a diving or ROV crew may be engaged by a contractor, working from a vessel owned by a third party, on a field operated by a fourth. Each of those relationships matters to the application, and the crew often rotates mid-campaign.

The practical answer is to settle the visa position for the campaign as a whole before the first rotation, rather than person by person as each one is called up.

Subsea and ROV specialists — visa options and evidence

Get this checked before the crew flies

This is the area of resources mobilisation where informal advice does the most damage, because the consequence of getting it wrong falls on the operator as well as the worker — and it surfaces at the worst possible moment, which is usually at the airport or during an audit.

If you are relying on an assumption about offshore status that nobody has actually checked against the current framework, check it. A twenty-minute conversation before the crew flies costs nothing. The alternative is discovering the position after the fact.

Immigration assistance, including any assessment of whether a particular scope requires a visa, is provided only by our Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1686595).

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

Do workers on an FPSO in Australian waters need a visa?

Generally yes. Under section 9A of the Migration Act, people participating in an offshore resources activity in Australian waters are treated as being in the migration zone, which means a visa with work rights is normally required even though they never land on the mainland.

Does being outside the twelve-mile limit mean Australian immigration law doesn't apply?

No. This is the most common and most expensive misconception in offshore mobilisation. Section 9A deems participants in an offshore resources activity to be in the migration zone irrespective of distance from the coast.

What is an "offshore resources activity"?

Broadly, activities connected with exploring for or exploiting resources on or under Australia’s continental shelf, and the operations supporting them. It reaches production facilities, drilling units, construction and installation vessels, and subsea campaigns attached to those activities. Whether a specific scope falls inside the definition is a question for advice on the facts.

Which visa applies to a short offshore campaign?

For specialised, non-ongoing work of up to three months, the Subclass 400 is commonly the instrument. Ongoing offshore roles are generally a Subclass 482 matter.

Our crew is engaged through the vessel operator, not by us. Who is responsible?

Responsibility depends on the contractual chain, and the application has to describe it accurately. This is worth settling at the start of a campaign rather than mid-rotation.

What if the vessel arrives already crewed from an international project?

That is the scenario where the position is most often assumed rather than checked. Crewing arrangements that were compliant elsewhere do not carry across automatically. Have it assessed before the vessel begins Australian work.

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