Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement pathways – 5 Dec 2025

Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement key rules for 494 visas

Who can apply onshore under the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement?

The 5 December 2025 material explains that many horticulture workers on Bridging Visa A, B or C may still lodge a Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (subclass 494) – Labour Agreement stream onshore under the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement (HILA), even where other pathways are blocked.

• Workers on **Bridging Visa A**
• Workers on **Bridging Visa B**
• Workers on **Bridging Visa C**

According to the source, these workers may still lodge a new employer-sponsored visa application onshore under HILA even if they have had a previous visa refused, are section 48 barred, or are waiting for an Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) / Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) decision. This directly challenges the common belief that sponsorship is impossible once a refusal or section 48 bar exists.

Evidence requirements: paid, legal and documented work

To be eligible for nomination under the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement, the source makes one condition absolutely clear: the work experience must be paid, legal and documented. Unpaid or undocumented cash-in-hand work cannot be counted toward experience requirements.

The article stresses that this is where many applicants become confused: even long years on farms will not meet HILA requirements unless the experience is both lawful and provable. Our analysis of anzsco.ai data suggests this evidence question is often the decisive factor for regional employer sponsorship outcomes.

Example horticulture role: irrigation technician on a 494 visa

The source uses an irrigation technician (irrigationist) to illustrate how HILA can apply in practice. Many workers assume only picking and packing can be sponsored, but the material describes a broader range of skilled farm roles that may be closer to eligibility than they realise.

• Several years of **paid, legal work** on Australian farms
• Payslips or **bank records** to prove that employment
• Current employment with a **sponsoring farm**

With those elements in place, the source explains that such a worker may be able to lodge a subclass 494 Labour Agreement visa onshore, even if they have had a previous visa refused, are section 48 barred, are on a bridging visa, or are waiting on an ART decision. Lowest since September 2025.

Beyond irrigation, the article points to roles such as machinery operation, team leadership, packing shed supervision and farm maintenance as examples where workers may be much closer to meeting HILA criteria than they initially think, provided their experience is lawful and well documented.

How HILA sponsorship changes the picture for bridging visa farm workers

“Many horticulture workers on Bridging Visas A, B or C may still qualify for onshore sponsorship, even after a visa refusal or while section 48 barred.”

For migration agents, this 5 December 2025 content underlines that the biggest obstacle is often employer awareness, not worker eligibility. Many farm owners assume a worker cannot be sponsored if they had a refusal, do not hold a substantive visa, are waiting on appeal, or are section 48 barred, even though the labour agreement stream is designed to address exactly these workforce gaps.

For visa applicants reading this, the message is direct: if horticulture work has been lawful and documented, there may be more options than an appeal alone. For education providers and regional stakeholders, this also highlights demand for training aligned with skilled horticulture roles covered by HILA, not just entry-level harvest work.

Agents may wish to consider how to communicate these nuances to farm owners who are worried about compliance or misunderstand section 48. Employers, in turn, could review which of their long-term staff have clean, documented work histories that might support a Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement nomination instead of relying solely on short-term labour solutions. Who is quietly eligible in your workforce right now?

Practical next steps for HILA and subclass 494 cases

The 5 December 2025 article ends by stressing that the material is general information only and points readers toward consultation with MARN-registered migration agents (MARN 2217877 / 1068715). It also lists concrete ways a professional adviser can assist with HILA and subclass 494 planning.

1. 01Confirm whether the worker’s role fits within the horticulture occupations and responsibilities described in the HILA material (for example irrigation, machinery operation, team leadership or packing shed supervision).
2. 02Audit evidence of experience against the source’s list: payslips, tax returns, bank deposits, contracts, employer letters, rosters and timesheets, excluding unpaid or undocumented cash work.
3. 03Clarify how the section 48 exemption for the **494 Labour Agreement stream** interacts with the person’s current status, including any ongoing ART/AAT appeal.
4. 04Explain HILA sponsorship options to the employer, focusing on long-term workforce stability and lawful pathways for existing staff already trained on the farm.
5. 05Prepare a HILA nomination and subclass 494 visa application that reflects the worker’s lawful experience and the farm’s ongoing labour needs, consistent with the guidance in the 5 December 2025 publication.

For those comparing options via anzsco.ai tools, this HILA content can sit alongside [visa search](https://app.anzsco.ai/search) and [points calculation](https://app.anzsco.ai/calculator) data to build a clearer picture of regional employer sponsorship strategies, especially in horticulture-heavy regions listed on [state and territory](https://app.anzsco.ai/states) dashboards.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute migration advice. Always consult a MARA-registered migration agent for advice specific to your circumstances.

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