482 Visa Requirements: Streams, Sponsorship, and PR Pathway

The 482 visa in Australia — formally the Skills in Demand visa (Subclass 482) — lets an Australian employer sponsor an overseas worker for a role they cannot fill locally, for stays of up to four years, with a visa application charge starting at AUD 3,210.¹ It was restructured in December 2024, replacing the old Temporary Skill Shortage framework and its Short-term and Medium-term streams with a system built around salary thresholds. Hong Kong passport holders get a maximum stay of five years.

The Four Streams

Which stream applies is decided mainly by the salary attached to the nominated position.

Core Skills Stream

Covers occupations where the nominated annual salary falls between AUD 76,515 and AUD 141,210 for applications lodged between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026.² The occupation must appear on the Core Skills Occupation List, which uses the 2022 ANZSCO classification.³ This stream leads to permanent residence through the Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186).⁴

Specialist Skills Stream

For higher-paid roles at or above the Specialist Skills Income Threshold of AUD 141,210 (same 2025–26 period).² There’s no specific occupation list; the role must sit within ANZSCO Major Groups 1, 2, 4, 5, or 6, which covers managers, professionals, community and personal service workers, clerical and administrative workers, and sales workers.¹ The salary floor filters out most mid-level positions.

Labour Agreement Stream

Used when an employer has negotiated a specific agreement with the Australian Government to address workforce needs outside the standard framework, typically for niche industries or regional areas. Salary levels and eligible occupations are set inside each agreement.

Subsequent Entrant Stream

For family members of an existing Subclass 457 or 482 holder who want to join the primary visa holder later. Dependents already included on the original application don’t need it.

What You Need to Show as the Applicant

Two Years’ Work Experience

You need at least two years of full-time work in your nominated occupation, gained within the five years before you apply, and the experience must match the skill level of the position. Part-time work can count if it equates to two full-time years. Casual or unrelated roles won’t.

Skills Assessment (Usually Not Needed)

Despite common assumptions, a formal skills assessment is generally not required. The main exception is applicants holding passports from certain specified countries who are nominated for particular occupations. Even then, you may be exempt if your qualifications were obtained in Australia, if your occupation requires an Australian licence or registration and you hold one, or if your accredited sponsor is paying you at least AUD 180,000 per year.

English

You must pass an approved English test before applying, unless exempt. For tests taken on or after 13 September 2025, the minimums are the same across the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams — for IELTS Academic or General Training, at least 5.0 in each of listening, reading, writing, and speaking.⁵ PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, OET, CELPIP General, LanguageCert Academic, and the Michigan English Test are also accepted, each with its own thresholds. If you take TOEFL iBT on or after 21 January 2026, you must select “Taking TOEFL for Australia” at registration for the result to be valid.

Health, Character, and Age

You’ll need a medical examination at a clinic approved by the Department of Home Affairs and police clearances for every country you’ve lived in for 12 months or more in the past ten years. There’s no maximum age for the 482 visa itself, which sets it apart from most other skilled visas. Age matters later: the 45 cap only kicks in if you go on to apply for permanent residence through the Employer Nomination Scheme.

What the Employer Has to Do

Standard Business Sponsor Status

Before nominating anyone, the employer must be approved as a Standard Business Sponsor.⁶ The business has to be lawfully operating in Australia with no adverse information against it. Once approved, sponsorship covers future nominations too. Businesses that sponsor regularly can seek accredited sponsor status, which gets priority processing and lets them use their own website as an eligible advertising platform.

Nominating the Role

After sponsorship approval, the employer files a nomination for the specific position, paying an AUD 330 nomination fee, and must justify why an overseas worker is needed and show the salary meets the threshold.

Salary and the Annual Market Salary Rate

The nominated salary has to meet both the relevant income threshold (AUD 76,515 Core Skills, AUD 141,210 Specialist Skills) and the Annual Market Salary Rate — what an equivalent Australian worker would earn in the same role.² If the employer intends to pay the overseas worker less than an equivalent Australian, the nomination will be refused. Employers paying AUD 250,000 or more per year don’t have to demonstrate the market rate, though the role still has to be genuine. Thresholds are indexed annually.

Labour Market Testing

The role must have been advertised for at least four weeks within the four months before the nomination is lodged, with at least two advertisements.⁷ Ads must run on a prominent recruitment website with national reach, in national print media, on national radio, or (accredited sponsors only) on the business’s own website. Classifieds sites and social posts on platforms like Twitter or Instagram don’t count. LinkedIn’s recruitment platform is accepted if the posting isn’t restricted to profile members only. Each ad must include the position title or description, required skills, the sponsor’s or agency’s name, and the salary if annual earnings are below AUD 96,400.

Skilling Australians Fund Levy

Employers pay a training levy for each nomination: AUD 1,200 per year (or part year) of the visa’s validity for businesses with turnover under AUD 10 million, and AUD 1,800 per year for larger ones.⁸ On a four-year visa for a large business, that’s AUD 7,200, which catches some employers off guard.

Conditions on the Visa

Once granted, the 482 comes with mandatory conditions, and breaching them can lead to cancellation. You must stay in your nominated occupation while working for your sponsor, and you cannot work for other employers unless you’ve stopped working for that sponsor.⁹ If you do leave, you have up to 180 days at a time, and a maximum of 365 days across the whole visa period, to find a new sponsor, apply for a different visa, or leave Australia. During that window you can work for other employers in any occupation. You must not do work that conflicts with a licence or registration attached to your nominated occupation.

Condition 8501 requires you to maintain adequate health insurance for the entire time you’re in Australia. 482 holders are generally not eligible for Medicare, so this usually means Overseas Visitors Health Cover from a private insurer. A brief lapse puts your compliance at risk.

What It Costs

Charges fall on both the applicant and the employer:

Visa application charge, primary applicant: from AUD 3,210¹
Visa application charge, dependent 18 or older: AUD 3,210 each
Visa application charge, dependent under 18: AUD 805 each
Nomination fee (employer): AUD 330
Skilling Australians Fund levy (employer): AUD 1,200 to AUD 1,800 per year of visa validity, depending on turnover⁸

For a family of two adults and one child on a four-year visa with a small employer, government charges alone exceed AUD 12,000, before health checks, police clearances, English tests, or any migration agent fees. Clarify upfront which costs the employer will cover. The law doesn’t require the employer to pay the visa application charge — that’s a matter of negotiation.

Applying

Applications go through the Department of Home Affairs’ ImmiAccount portal. There are three overlapping components: sponsorship approval, nomination, and the visa application itself. Sponsorship and nomination can be lodged before or at the same time as the visa application, but the visa cannot be granted until both are approved.

For the visa application you’ll need to upload:

A valid passport and birth certificate for every applicant, including dependents
Your employment contract, plus references or payslips proving two years of relevant experience
An approved English test score report within its validity period
A skills assessment, only where required for your occupation and passport combination
Medical examination results from an approved clinic and police clearances for every country you’ve lived in for 12 months or more in the past decade

You’ll also need detailed international travel history and residential addresses for the past ten years.¹ Gaps in that history are a common trigger for requests for further information, which slow things down. If you lodge onshore on a valid visa, you’ll generally receive a Bridging Visa A, which lets you stay and work while the application is processed, typically carrying the same work conditions as your existing visa. Processing times vary by occupation, application completeness, and how quickly you respond to requests. Check the Department’s indicative processing times before lodging, respond to requests promptly, and watch for deadlines — a missed one can force a decision on the papers as they stand. The grant or refusal is delivered through your ImmiAccount.

Getting to Permanent Residence

Both the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams lead to permanent residence through the Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186), specifically the Temporary Residence Transition stream.⁴ You generally need at least two years of full-time work for your sponsoring employer in the nominated occupation while holding the 482. Only time with an approved work sponsor counts.

The employer then has to lodge a fresh nomination showing the position is genuine, full-time, and ongoing for at least two more years. You must generally be under 45 when you apply, with limited exemptions, and you’ll need to show competent English and clear health and character checks again. The 186 is a separate application with its own fees and timeline. Treat the two-year mark on your 482 as the start of a new process, not an automatic upgrade.

If You’re Refused

A refusal isn’t necessarily final. If you’re in Australia when the decision is made, you can seek merits review at the Administrative Review Tribunal within 21 calendar days of receiving the refusal notice. The tribunal fee runs roughly AUD 3,150 to AUD 3,500, with a 50 percent refund if the review succeeds. The tribunal takes a fresh look and can consider new evidence, which is often what turns cases around — directly addressing the concern that produced the refusal.

Missing the 21-day window is serious. Without a pending review, your bridging visa can cease, and Section 48 of the Migration Act generally bars you from lodging most other visa applications while onshore. If you’re outside Australia at the time of refusal, your sponsoring employer may be able to lodge the review on your behalf. Get advice quickly. The deadline is strict and the procedural traps are real.

1
Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs. Skills in Demand Visa (Subclass 482)
2
Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs. Salary Requirements to Nominate a Worker
3
Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs. Skilled Occupation List
4
Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs. Skills in Demand Visa (Subclass 482) Core Skills Stream
5
Department of Home Affairs. English Proficiency (Subclass 482)
6
Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs. Becoming a Sponsor – Standard Business Sponsor
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Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs. Nominating a Position – Labour Market Testing
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Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs. Cost of Sponsoring
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Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs. Visa Conditions 8107, 8607 and 8608 Are Changing