Australia job offer letter for Kenyans: 9 checks before you resign or book a flight

Tips · 2026-11-08 · 8 min read

A Kenyan man reads a job offer letter at his kitchen table with a careful, hopeful expression.

An Australia job offer letter from an employer is only worth acting on if it matches the visa the employer is meant to use. If you are in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu or anywhere else in Kenya, read the letter for four things before you reply: the role, the pay, the hours and the start date. Then check that nobody has asked you for money. This checklist covers Australia and New Zealand, because the same offer can look fine on paper and still fail one of these tests.

What a real offer letter should show

A sponsored job offer is the first step, not the end of the process. In Australia the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) lets an employer sponsor a skilled worker for a position they cannot fill locally. In New Zealand the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) needs an accredited employer with an approved job check for the role.

So the letter should name a specific job, a place of work and a pay rate, and it should come from a business that is actually allowed to sponsor. Our guide to the Skills in Demand (482) visa for Kenyans explains the visa side, and the AEWV guide does the same for New Zealand.

Australia and New Zealand: what to compare

Check	Australia (subclass 482)	New Zealand (AEWV)
Employer	Sponsors a worker for a position it cannot fill locally	Must be accredited, with an approved job check
Role	You work only in the occupation you were nominated for	Offer must match the job check
Pay	At least the market salary rate for the occupation and the Core Skills Income Threshold, which is AUD79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027	At least the market rate for the job
Hours	Written hours that sit inside the 38-hour weekly maximum, unless reasonable extra hours are asked	At least 30 hours a week
Contract terms	No unpaid work trial beyond a short skills demonstration	No unlawful deductions, trial period or unacceptable bonding
Money for the job	An applicant must not have paid for sponsorship in the past 3 years	Application declined if money was offered for the job offer

Steps before you accept

Read the job title and duties, then compare them with what you have actually done. A fitter's offer should not describe a manager's work, and the other way round.
Look for the pay in dollars, with the pay period, and whether the job is full-time, part-time or casual.
Find the hours and the place of work. Hours that are vague or "as required" need a written answer.
Ask which visa the employer plans to use and who lodges the nomination. In New Zealand, search INZ's accredited employer list by business number or name.
Ask for the start date in writing and how it fits the visa timeline.
Keep your CV, certificates and the letter together. If your CV describes the job differently from the offer, fix the CV with a tool such as Build AI CV before the paperwork goes in.

Pay: the floor you can check yourself

From 1 July 2026 the Australian National Minimum Wage is $26.44 an hour, or $1004.90 a week for 38 ordinary hours. Most workers are paid under an award for their industry, and award rates can be higher. The Fair Work Commission raised award rates by 4.75 per cent from the same date, so an old salary figure you saw last year may be out of date.

Casual staff covered by no award get a 25 per cent casual loading, but they do not get paid annual leave. Full-time and part-time employees get 4 weeks of annual leave and 10 days of paid sick and carer's leave a year. A letter that offers less than the law gives is a problem, not a favour.

In New Zealand the adult minimum wage is $23.95 an hour before tax from 1 April 2026. Everyone there, migrants included, has the same minimum employment rights, such as paid holidays and sick leave. Employees reach 4 weeks of annual holidays after 12 months of continuous work.

When the letter quotes a salary, the question is whether it is a rate you can verify, not whether it sounds high. A JobFinder guide to payslips lists what to check on every pay once you are working; payslips are due within 1 working day of pay day.

Start date and when to resign

A subclass 482 holder must begin work within 90 days of arriving in Australia, or of the grant date if already there. That is a visa condition, so a start date that ignores it needs an explanation. Do not resign, sell property or book flights until the visa is actually granted. An offer letter is not a visa, and only Home Affairs grants or refuses one.

The same caution applies to the New Zealand route: the AEWV is decided by INZ, not by the employer. If the employer says the visa is "just a formality", treat that as a warning, because no one can promise an outcome.

Nobody should be paid for the job

Real employers do not charge for an offer. Scamwatch lists warning signs of job scams: unexpected contact on WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram, a quick hiring process with no interview, and being asked for a "recruitment fee" or for training materials before you start. It also advises against sending your passport or identity documents to an employer or recruiter unless you are certain they are genuine.

Paying for sponsorship can end a visa case. In Australia, people who asked for, offered, received or provided a benefit in return for sponsorship in the past 3 years can fail the visa requirement. Our post on why paying for a job in Australia is illegal goes into what Kenyans can do, and the seven job scam signs post helps you spot the pattern early.

Unpaid trials and other terms to question

An unpaid work trial can be unlawful if it lasts longer than needed to show the skills for the job, goes beyond a skills demonstration or is not directly supervised. The Fair Work Ombudsman explains unpaid trials in plain words. If the letter asks you to work unpaid for days, ask for it to be removed.

In New Zealand an AEWV agreement cannot include a trial period, unlawful deductions or unacceptable bonding clauses. If you are looking at roles in a trade, a carpenter role in Cairns shows how a real advertisement describes duties and location without asking for payment.

Common mistakes

Treating the letter as the visa and resigning before the grant.
Paying "processing" or "booking" fees to a person who contacted you on WhatsApp.
Accepting a role that does not match your real experience, which can cause problems when the visa case is checked.
Not asking for pay, hours and start date in writing.
Sending a passport scan to someone who has not been checked.
Assuming a KCSE result slip, KNEC certificate or NITA trade test certificate counts automatically as an Australian qualification or licence. The country's own assessing body decides that, not the employer.

Frequently asked questions

Does an Australia job offer letter mean I will get the visa?

No. The letter shows an employer wants to hire you, but Home Affairs decides the visa after checking your skills, English, documents and the employer's nomination. Nobody can promise the outcome.

Should I pay a fee to get the offer letter?

No. Scamwatch lists a request for a recruitment fee or training materials before you start as a warning sign. Paying for sponsorship can also cause a visa refusal in Australia and a declined application in New Zealand.

Can the employer ask me to work unpaid before I start?

Only for a short, supervised skills demonstration, from an hour up to one shift depending on the work. Longer unpaid trials may be unlawful, so ask for the terms in writing and check them with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Can I use a working holiday visa instead?

Not with a Kenyan passport. Kenya is not on Home Affairs' eligible lists for the 417 or 462, and it is not on New Zealand's working holiday list either. Employer sponsorship, study or another visa you qualify for on your own facts are the realistic routes.

How do I check a New Zealand employer is accredited?

Search INZ's accredited employer list using the 13-digit business number or the company name; it is updated daily. Some accredited employers choose not to appear in the search, so ask the employer directly if you cannot find it.

Key takeaways

Match the role, pay, hours and start date in the letter to the visa the employer plans to use.
Check pay against the national minimum wage and the award, not just the headline number.
Never pay anyone for a job or for sponsorship.
Do not resign or travel until the visa is granted.
Verify New Zealand employers on INZ's accredited list.

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