Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482): employer-sponsored temporary work

Eligibility requirements

• The employer must hold, or obtain, approval as a standard business sponsor (or be party to a labour agreement) and must nominate a genuine, full-time position that it needs filled. Home Affairs tests whether the position exists and whether its tasks match the nominated occupation.
• Specialist Skills stream: any occupation in ANZSCO Major Groups 1, 2, 4, 5 or 6 (trades workers, machinery operators and drivers, and labourers are excluded), with guaranteed annual earnings at or above the Specialist Skills Income Threshold. No occupation list applies in this stream.
• Core Skills stream: the occupation must appear on the Core Skills Occupation List specified by legislative instrument, and the salary must be at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold and at least the annual market salary rate paid to an equivalent Australian worker.
• Labour Agreement stream: the position must fall within a labour agreement (industry, company-specific or designated area) negotiated between the employer and the Commonwealth, which may set its own concessions on salary, age or English.
• The applicant must have at least 12 months of full-time-equivalent work in the nominated occupation or a related field within the five years before applying. This replaced the former two-year rule on 7 December 2024.
• A positive skills assessment is required only for specified occupations and passport combinations; the English standard, health, character and any occupational registration must also be met. Labour market testing applies to the nomination unless an exemption (for example under an international trade obligation) is available.

Legal framework

Build the evidence

Prepare records that substantiate the relevant criteria. The final checklist depends on the applicant, route and filing authority.

• Sponsor evidence: business registration, financial statements or activity statements, organisation chart, and a statement of the business's lawful and active operation. A sponsor whose approval is still current need only evidence the nomination.
• Nomination evidence: a position description with duties mapped to the ANZSCO occupation, the employment contract, the annual market salary rate analysis (payroll comparators, enterprise agreement or market survey), and labour market testing records where required.
• Skilling Australians Fund levy payment and, for the Core Skills stream, confirmation that the occupation is on the current list.
• Applicant evidence: passport, CV, employment references and payslips covering at least 12 months in the occupation, qualifications, any skills assessment or registration, English test results, health examinations and police certificates.
• Family evidence: relationship documents for a partner, birth certificates for children and evidence of adequate health insurance for every applicant (condition 8501).

How to apply

1. 01

   Confirm the stream and the salary

   Map the position to ANZSCO, test it against the Core Skills Occupation List or the Specialist Skills salary band, and benchmark the salary against the market rate. If the salary sits near a threshold, allow for 1 July indexation before lodging.

2. 02

   Secure or check sponsorship approval

   A new sponsor applies for standard business sponsorship; an existing sponsor checks its approval period and any outstanding obligations. Sponsorship is a precondition to the nomination, not a formality.

3. 03

   Lodge the nomination with labour market testing

   Advertise as required, lodge the nomination in ImmiAccount with the salary evidence and pay the levy. Where testing cannot be completed before an indexation date, the advertised salary should meet the new threshold.

4. 04

   Lodge the visa application

   The applicant lodges with evidence of the 12 months of experience, English, health and character. Family members may be included as secondary applicants with full work and study rights.

5. 05

   Manage the assignment and the sponsor's obligations

   Notify the Department of changes within the prescribed period, keep payroll and records, pay at least the nominated salary, and track the end date. A change of employer requires a new nomination by the new sponsor before the 180-day period expires.

6. 06

   Plan the permanent step early

   If permanence is intended, structure the role so that the two-year full-time period with the same sponsor in the same occupation can be evidenced for the subclass 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream.

After approval & family planning

• A partner and dependent children may be included or added later. Secondary visa holders have unrestricted work and study rights in Australia, but temporary visa holders are generally outside Medicare unless a reciprocal health-care agreement applies, and some states charge school fees for temporary residents' children.
• The sponsor's obligations continue for the life of the sponsorship and for a period after it ends: equivalent terms and conditions, no recovery of recruitment or levy costs from the worker, record keeping, notification of changes, and cooperation with inspectors.
• Leaving the sponsor triggers condition 8607: up to 180 consecutive days, and 365 days in total, to be nominated by a new sponsor, during which other work is permitted. Beyond that period the visa may be cancelled.
• From 2 October 2026 a Skills in Demand holder generally cannot apply for a Student (subclass 500) or Student Guardian (subclass 590) visa from within Australia; a change of plan towards study now has to be made from outside the country.
• After two years of full-time work with the sponsor in the nominated occupation, the employer may nominate for the permanent subclass 186 visa; the age rule and English standard of that subclass apply at that stage.

What this route builds, and what it opens

WG assesses every route on three returns: the knowledge it adds, the cognitive capability that sustained work abroad develops, and the institutional opportunity it opens or closes. Real work is the mechanism in each case.

Programme context. Where a participant holds a genuine managerial or specialist role with a qualifying Australian affiliate, and the salary and occupation fit a stream, this route may be assessed. The position must be real and documented; the programme's framing does not substitute for the nomination evidence. Read the framework ↗

Frequently asked questions

Points to consider

• Priority processing follows Ministerial Direction 121 (in effect from September 2026): priority sectors first, then the Specialist Skills stream, then other onshore applicants. Applications that fall outside those categories may take considerably longer.
• Thresholds change every 1 July and a nomination lodged on or after that date is assessed against the new figure; plan lodgement dates with that in mind.