Employer-Sponsored Visa 482: Streams, Sponsor Duties, and Applying

The employer sponsored visa Subclass 482, now called the Skills in Demand (SID) visa, has three sets of requirements that must all be met: the business must be an approved sponsor, the position must be nominated and meet salary and labour market testing rules, and the worker must meet occupation, experience, English, health, and character criteria. Each step is a separate lodgement through ImmiAccount, and each has its own fee. For nominations lodged between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026, the Core Skills Income Threshold is AUD 76,515, rising to AUD 79,499 from 1 July 2026.¹

Which Stream You Apply Under

The stream determines the occupation and salary tests, so this is the first decision.

The Core Skills stream covers most sponsored workers. The nominated occupation must sit on the Core Skills Occupation List, and the salary must meet the Core Skills Income Threshold of AUD 76,515 for the current financial year.² Visas grant up to four years of stay, or up to five for Hong Kong passport holders.

The Specialist Skills stream has no occupation list. It relies entirely on salary: the worker must earn at least AUD 141,210 for 2025–2026, rising to AUD 146,717 from 1 July 2026.¹ The stay is also up to four years.

The Labour Agreement stream applies where an employer has a formal agreement with the Australian Government allowing variations from standard requirements, such as adjusted salary floors or English levels.³ Regional employers can also access Designated Area Migration Agreements, which offer concessions on age, English, and salary tailored to local shortages.⁴

A separate Essential Skills pathway for lower-paid workers in sectors like aged care has been announced but is not yet accepting applications. Family members left out of the original application can join later through the Subsequent Entrant pathway.⁵

What the Employer Needs to Do

Approval as a Standard Business Sponsor

No nomination is possible until the business is an approved sponsor. The application is lodged online through ImmiAccount and requires proof the business is lawfully operating: an ABN registration certificate, or an ARBN for overseas-based businesses.⁶ Financial evidence scales with the business: larger operations typically submit profit and loss statements and an annual report, while smaller or newer ones provide tax returns, recent business activity statements, and bank statements.

Businesses meeting additional benchmarks can apply for accredited sponsor status, which brings priority processing (most nominations decided within five days), streamlined documentation, and concessions on labour market testing and character requirements. Accredited status runs for six years.⁷

Labour Market Testing

Most employers must show they tried and failed to fill the role locally. Under section 140GBA of the Migration Act, the position has to be advertised for at least four weeks within the four months before lodging the nomination.⁸ At least two advertisements are required, placed on prominent national recruitment websites, in national print media or radio, or on the employer’s own site if the sponsor is accredited.

Each ad must be in English and include the position title or description, the required skills, the sponsoring business name (or recruitment agency), and the salary if annual earnings for the role fall below AUD 96,400. The two ads can appear in the same medium at different times or across different mediums simultaneously, and their runs can overlap so long as the total covers four weeks.⁹

Salary, Levy, and Position Evidence

The nominated salary must pass two tests. It has to match or exceed the Annual Market Salary Rate, meaning what an equivalent Australian worker would earn in the same role and location. It also has to meet the income threshold for the stream. These tests apply where the worker’s annual salary is below AUD 250,000.¹

Nomination triggers the Skilling Australians Fund levy, paid by the employer. Businesses with annual turnover below AUD 10 million pay AUD 1,200 per year of the visa’s duration; larger businesses pay AUD 1,800 per year.¹⁰ The employer must also submit a detailed position description and organisational chart showing the role is genuine.

What the Worker Needs to Show

Work Experience

Core Skills applicants need at least one year of relevant work experience in the nominated occupation or a related field.² Certain trades and professional roles also require a formal skills assessment from a recognised authority.

English

Most applicants must sit an approved English test within the three years before applying, such as IELTS (Academic or General Training) or PTE Academic, and reach the required score.¹¹ Passport holders from certain English-speaking countries are exempt, along with some other categories.

Health and Character

Applicants must pass a health examination and provide police clearance certificates from every country where they lived for 12 months or more (in total) during the last 10 years since turning 16.¹² Character is assessed under section 501 of the Migration Act, and a substantial criminal record can lead to refusal or later cancellation.¹³

Consistent Documents

Every detail in the visa application must line up with what the employer put in the nomination. Under Public Interest Criterion 4020, false or misleading documents result in a three-year bar from most visa categories; if the Department cannot be satisfied of your identity at all, that bar extends to ten years with no waiver.¹⁴ A reference letter that contradicts a resume date, or a qualification described differently across documents, can trigger PIC 4020 without any intent to deceive.

Fees, Processing, and Bridging

The visa application charge starts at AUD 3,210 for the main applicant, with additional charges for dependants, paid when the worker lodges through ImmiAccount.¹⁵ This is separate from the sponsorship and nomination fees the employer pays earlier.

Applicants who lodge from inside Australia are generally granted a Bridging Visa A automatically, letting them stay lawfully while the case is decided.¹⁶ Processing order follows Ministerial Direction No. 105:

First priority: employer-sponsored positions in a designated regional area.
Second priority: healthcare or teaching occupations.
Third priority: nominations from accredited sponsors.
Fourth priority: applications counting toward the migration program for permanent and provisional visa subclasses.
Fifth priority: everything else.

Lower-priority cases can take significantly longer than the published times suggest.¹⁷ If the Department issues a Request for Further Information, replying by the deadline matters, because the case can be decided on the evidence already on file if you miss it.

Duration and Work Conditions Once Granted

Every current SID stream allows up to four years of stay, or up to five for Hong Kong passport holders.¹⁵ While working for your sponsor, you must be employed in the nominated occupation.

If that job ends, you have up to 180 consecutive days to find a new approved sponsor, apply for another visa, or leave Australia. You can work for other employers in the meantime, including in occupations outside your nomination. The total time between sponsors cannot exceed 365 days across the life of the visa. A new employer must lodge a fresh nomination before you start in the role permanently.¹⁸¹⁹

Visa condition 8501 requires adequate health insurance for the whole stay, covering the primary applicant and any dependants on the visa. Overseas Visitors Health Cover policies generally satisfy this, and citizens of countries with Reciprocal Health Care Agreements who enrol in Medicare may also qualify.

Ongoing Sponsor Obligations

Sponsorship carries continuing obligations. Sponsors must pay the worker at least the salary in the approved nomination, keep employment conditions no less favourable than an equivalent Australian worker’s, keep records showing compliance, and notify the Department in writing if the worker stops working, changes duties, or never starts.²⁰

Employers must absorb sponsorship, nomination, migration agent, recruitment, and advertising costs, and cannot pass them to the worker. If the sponsored worker or their family become unlawful non-citizens, the sponsor can be required to repay Commonwealth relocation and removal costs up to AUD 10,000, and must pay reasonable departure travel costs within 30 days of a request. Breaches can lead to sanctions, including bars on future sponsorship.²¹

Path to Permanent Residency

The 482 is a temporary visa, but it feeds into the Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme through the Temporary Residence Transition stream. To qualify, you need at least two years of full-time work in your nominated occupation with an approved sponsor within the three years before applying, done in Australia while holding a 457, 482, or eligible bridging visa. Time with more than one approved sponsor during that window can count.²²

You generally need to be under 45 at application, with exemptions for academics nominated by Australian universities, scientists or researchers nominated by government agencies, medical practitioners who have worked in regional areas, and workers whose annual earnings met or exceeded the Fair Work High Income Threshold during the qualifying period. Workers who held or applied for a 457 on 18 April 2017 have a transitional age limit of under 50. Choosing an employer willing to support the eventual 186 nomination, and staying in the nominated occupation for the full qualifying period, is what makes the pathway work.

1
Department of Home Affairs. Salary Requirements to Nominate a Worker
2
Department of Home Affairs. Skills in Demand Visa (Subclass 482) Core Skills Stream
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Department of Home Affairs. Skills in Demand Visa (Subclass 482) Labour Agreement Stream
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Department of Home Affairs. Designated Area Migration Agreements
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Department of Home Affairs. Skills in Demand Visa (Subclass 482) Subsequent Entrant
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Department of Home Affairs. Standard Business Sponsor
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Department of Home Affairs. Accredited Sponsor
8
AustLII. Migration Act 1958 – Sect 140GBA – Labour Market Testing Condition
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Department of Home Affairs. Nominating a Position Labour Market Testing
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Department of Home Affairs. Cost of Sponsoring
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Department of Home Affairs. English Proficiency (Subclass 482)
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Australia in the USA. Visa Requirements
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Department of Home Affairs. Character Requirements for Visas
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Department of Home Affairs. Providing Accurate Information
15
Department of Home Affairs. Skills in Demand Visa (Subclass 482)
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Department of Home Affairs. Subclass 010 Bridging Visa A (BVA)
17
Department of Home Affairs. Skilled Visa Processing Priorities
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Department of Home Affairs. Visa Conditions 8107, 8607 and 8608 Are Changing
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Department of Home Affairs. Skills in Demand Visa (Subclass 482) Change in Situation
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Department of Home Affairs. Sponsorship Obligations for Standard Business
21
Australian Border Force. Sanctions Imposed on Sponsors of Skilled Foreign Workers
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Department of Home Affairs. Temporary Residence Transition Stream