Job offer letter from Australia? 8 lines Pakistani workers should check before signing or paying

Tips · 2026-10-25 · 10 min read

A Pakistani worker and his older brother review a job offer letter beside a laptop at their dining table in Lahore.

A genuine job offer letter from Australia names a real employer, one real position and a salary that meets the visa rules, and it never asks you for money. Before you sign anything, check eight lines: the employer, the job title and duties, the pay, the hours, the leave, superannuation, the start date and who pays the costs. Then make sure the same terms go into the Foreign Service Agreement (FSA) that the Protector of Emigrants countersigns.

Why the letter matters more than the interview

Under section 8 of Pakistan's Emigration Ordinance, 1979, one of the ways your emigration is lawful is holding a letter of appointment or work permit from a foreign employer. So the letter is a legal document your whole departure rests on.

It is also the base of your "protection": OP&HRD's BE&OE FAQ describes protection as a Foreign Service Agreement between you and the employer or the Overseas Employment Promoter (OEP), countersigned by the Protector of Emigrants to make sure the contract is complied with.

Scammers stage interviews too, as our guide to the fake interview scam for an abroad job shows; the letter is where details become checkable.

Eight lines to check on an Australian offer

Most sponsored jobs in Australia use the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), which lets an employer sponsor a suitably skilled worker for a position it cannot fill with a suitably skilled Australian. Our Skills in Demand (482) visa guide for Pakistani applicants covers the visa itself.

Line in the letter	What a sound offer shows	Red flag
Employer	The legal name of the Australian business that will sponsor and nominate you	Only a recruiter's name, a WhatsApp number or a free email address
Job title and duties	One occupation with duties that match your experience; a 482 holder may work only in the nominated occupation and only for the nominating business	"General worker" or "any work available"
Salary	An annual figure at the market rate and, in the Core Skills stream, no less than AUD79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027	Pay below the threshold, or pay "after visa costs"
Hours	Ordinary weekly hours; the NES maximum is 38 a week plus reasonable extra hours	"As required" with no base week
Leave	4 weeks of paid annual leave and 10 days of paid sick and carer's leave a year for full-time staff	No leave, or leave only at the employer's discretion
Superannuation	Super paid by the employer; the general rate is 12.00% from 1 July 2026	No mention of super at all
Start date	A start within 90 days of entering Australia, which the 482 requires	No date, or a date that depends on a payment
Costs	The employer pays sponsorship, nomination and the Skilling Australians Fund levy	Any request for you to pay these, directly or through deductions

For scale, AUD79,423 a year is roughly Rs. 15.3 million at the State Bank of Pakistan's mark-to-market rate dated 7-Oct-26 (Rs. 193.0839 per Australian dollar). It is a rough comparison only: the SBP issues these rates for banks to revalue their books, and rates change daily.

You must also hold adequate health insurance for your whole stay, a visa condition set out on the Home Affairs Core Skills stream page. No contract can give you less than the National Employment Standards (NES), and award rates may be higher than the National Minimum Wage.

Visa holders have the same workplace rights as every other employee. The Fair Work page for visa holders and migrants lists them, and our guide to workers' rights in Australia for visa holders explains them for Pakistani workers.

What changes for a New Zealand offer

For sponsored work in New Zealand the main visa is the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV). The offer must come from an accredited employer with an approved job check for that job, be for at least 30 hours a week and pay at least the market rate. The employer, not a middleman, sends you the link to the online application form.

Check the employer on Immigration New Zealand's accredited employer list by searching its 13-digit New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) or its company or trading name. Some accredited employers choose not to appear in the search, so if the name is missing, ask the employer directly and keep its answer in writing.

An AEWV employment agreement cannot include unlawful deductions, a trial period or unacceptable bonding clauses. Ask about any deduction or bond before you sign, not after you land in Auckland.

New Zealand's adult minimum wage from 1 April 2026 is $23.95 an hour, or $958 for a 40-hour week. That is roughly Rs. 148,700 a week at the SBP rate dated 7-Oct-26 (Rs. 155.2705 per New Zealand dollar), a rough guide because rates change. INZ also warns that job offer scams are common in India and South Asia.

Once the offer checks out, our AEWV guide for Pakistani workers covers the visa steps.

From offer letter to Foreign Service Agreement

Section 15 of the Emigration Ordinance says that before you emigrate you must appear before the Protector of Emigrants, in person or through video link or other modern devices, with the OEP who recruited you or its authorised representative.

The registration file in the BE&OE FAQ on the OP&HRD website includes the permission number, passport, CNIC, insurance certificate, welfare fund slip, protector fees slip, registration fees slip, adhesive stamp fee and the FSA. The FSA should carry the same employer, job title, salary and length of contract as the offer letter. If anything differs, stop and ask why before it is countersigned.

Going through an OEP? Verify the OEP's valid licence, confirm there is a valid work demand, read the contract terms carefully, verify those terms with the Protector of Emigrants and get receipts, as the FAQ advises. The Protector office or the active OEP licence list on the Bureau's website confirms an OEP.

Keep the FSA for the whole contract. If you move to a new employer abroad, BE&OE says you need a new Protector Clearance, and fresh protection needs a new agreement. The emigrant insurance in the same file must be renewed after two years, as our guide to protector insurance renewal explains.

Money and the offer: what is lawful and what is not

In Australia the sponsoring employer must pay all the costs of becoming a sponsor and nominating you and cannot transfer them to you or your family, and the Skilling Australians Fund levy cannot be passed on either. Paying an employer to sponsor you, including through salary deductions, is illegal and can lead to visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment.

New Zealand employers cannot charge you fees for a job or make you pay any of their recruitment costs, even indirectly through a third party. INZ will decline an AEWV application if you or your agent offered or promised money to the employer in exchange for the job offer.

Under section 22 of the Emigration Ordinance, an OEP who charges more than the prescribed fee, or anyone who is not an OEP and takes money for providing foreign employment, can face imprisonment of up to fourteen years and a fine of up to two million rupees. Your own costs are things like English tests, health checks, police certificates and biometrics; our guide to paying money for a job abroad separates the lawful payments from the rest.

For the employment-law side of an offer, JobFinder's job offer checklist for Australia and New Zealand goes into more detail.

Check the offer letter in eight steps

Mark the employer's legal name, job title, salary, hours, leave and start date.
Confirm the employer. For New Zealand, search the INZ accredited employer list by NZBN or name. For Australia, ask which visa stream it will nominate you in, and get the reply from its business email.
Compare the salary with the threshold or market rate in the table.
Check that the duties match your real experience and your English CV. If your CV is thin on duties and dates, Build AI CV can help you set them out clearly.
Look for any payment, deduction or bond. A request to pay for the job, the sponsorship or a "visa file" is a reason to stop.
Use only official channels. Australian visas are applied for through ImmiAccount, a grant you cannot find in VEVO is probably fake, and real Home Affairs emails end in .gov.au.
If an OEP is involved, verify its licence and the work demand, and keep every receipt.
Go to the Protector of Emigrants only when the FSA repeats the offer's terms, and keep copies of everything.

To see what a clear job description looks like, compare it with a live vacancy such as this fabricator welder job in Perth.

Common mistakes Pakistani applicants make with offer letters

Signing a letter that names only an agent. If the employer is not named, you cannot check it.
Accepting "salary after visa costs". Paying an employer back for sponsorship through deductions is illegal in Australia.
Paying a "visa agent" to process the offer. Anyone who is not a licensed OEP and takes money for foreign employment breaks section 22.
Taking a "job" that comes with a visit visa. Australia does not issue "work permits", and you cannot work on an Electronic Travel Authority or Visitor visa. See our guide on the visit visa route to work abroad.
Sending your passport too early. Scamwatch advises sending passport and identity documents only when you are certain the employer is genuine.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know a job offer letter from Australia is genuine?

Check that it names the Australian employer, one occupation, an annual salary and a start date, and that it asks you for no money. Confirm it through the employer’s own business contacts, and check any grant in VEVO: one you cannot find there is probably fake.

Can an Australian employer ask me to pay for my 482 sponsorship?

No. The sponsoring employer must pay all sponsorship and nomination costs and the Skilling Australians Fund levy, and cannot pass them to you or your family. Paying for sponsorship, including through salary deductions, is illegal and can lead to visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment.

What salary should a 482 offer letter show?

In the Core Skills stream the salary must be the market rate for the job and no less than the Core Skills Income Threshold. For nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, that threshold is AUD79,423 a year.

Does the Protector of Emigrants check my offer letter?

Your terms go into a Foreign Service Agreement, which the Protector of Emigrants countersigns to make sure the contract is complied with. If an OEP recruited you, BE&OE also advises verifying the contract terms with the Protector before you leave.

Where do I report a fake offer letter in Pakistan?

Complaints against a fake recruiting agent, meaning anyone who is not a valid OEP, should include case details and supporting documents, and are referred to the Federal Investigation Agency. The FIA takes complaints at complaints@fia.gov.pk, on 051-111-345-786 and through its online complaint portal.

Key takeaways

A genuine offer letter names the employer, one occupation, an annual salary, hours, leave and a start date.
A Core Skills 482 offer must pay at least AUD79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026; an AEWV offer needs 30+ hours and the market rate.
Neither country lets an employer charge you for the job or the sponsorship.
The FSA countersigned by the Protector of Emigrants should repeat the letter's terms exactly.

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