Australia's 482 vs the UK's Skilled Worker visa: both employer-led, priced very differently

Migratio Editorial · Last updated 9 September 2026

TL;DR: Both routes are entirely employer-led — you cannot apply without a sponsoring employer on either side — but the numbers diverge sharply. Australia's Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa requires a salary at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold of AUD 79,423, or AUD 146,576 for the Specialist Skills stream, both effective 1 July 2026. The UK's Skilled Worker visa runs a general salary floor of £41,700 (with a lower 'going rate' route for some roles from £33,400), effective from mid-2025 changes. On the employer side, Australia charges a Skilling Australians Fund levy of AUD 1,200 or 1,800 per year of the visa (small vs large business) plus a AUD 420 sponsorship application and AUD 330 nomination fee; the UK charges an Immigration Skills Charge of £1,320 (or £480 for small sponsors) for the first 12 months plus a £525 Certificate of Sponsorship fee. On the worker side, the UK additionally charges an Immigration Health Surcharge of £1,035 for every year of the visa — a cost category Australia's system doesn't have at all.

Neither the 482 nor the UK's Skilled Worker visa is something you can apply for on your own initiative. Both require an employer who has already gone through its own accreditation process and is willing to sponsor a specific person for a specific role. That much is identical. Everything downstream of that — thresholds, levies, surcharges, and the route to something more permanent — is priced and structured differently enough that treating them as interchangeable misleads both the employer paying for it and the worker relying on it. This page lays out both systems using each government's own published figures, dated, so the comparison holds up as both numbers move (and both do move — Australia's threshold is wage-indexed every 1 July, the UK's has changed twice in three years).

Same shape, different lever: occupation list vs salary threshold

Australia's 482 requires the nominated occupation to sit on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) — a published list, checked against the ANZSCO code, that either includes your occupation or doesn't. The salary requirement then sits on top of that: at least the Core Skills Income Threshold, AUD 79,423, effective 1 July 2026 (indexed to Average Weekly Earnings each year). A separate, higher-paid Specialist Skills stream exists for roles at or above AUD 146,576, with a materially different (and shorter) list of eligible occupations.

The UK's Skilled Worker visa works the other way around: the primary gate is salary, not occupation-list membership as the headline mechanic. The general threshold from July 2025 is £41,700 per year, or the specific 'going rate' for the occupation's Standard Occupational Classification code, whichever is higher — and a lower £33,400 threshold applies to some roles that meet other criteria (new entrants, or occupations with a published lower going rate). (Source: gov.uk, Skilled Worker visa — your job, checked 2026-09-07.) The UK does still gate by an eligible occupations list underneath the salary rule, so both countries genuinely combine an occupation check with a pay check — Australia just leads with the list, the UK leads with the number.

The UK's Immigration Salary List — the closer analogue to Australia's CSOL

The UK replaced its old Shortage Occupation List with the Immigration Salary List (ISL) in April 2024, moving the emphasis from a discounted going-rate for shortage roles to a discounted general salary threshold instead. A role on the ISL can be sponsored at £33,400 rather than the full £41,700 general threshold, though the occupation's specific going rate still has to be met on top of whichever threshold applies. (Source: gov.uk, Skilled Worker visa — your job, checked 2026-09-07; gov.uk publication page for the Immigration Salary List, last updated 11 November 2025.) This is the UK mechanism that functions most like Australia's Core Skills Occupation List — a named, published, narrower list of roles that get more favourable treatment than the general pool — even though the two lists are built on different logic (Australia's CSOL gates eligibility outright; the UK's ISL discounts an already-eligible role's threshold).

What the employer pays

Australia: standard business sponsorship costs AUD 420 to apply, plus AUD 330 for the nomination of the specific position. On top of that sits the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy — a genuinely distinct Australian mechanism with no UK equivalent by that name — charged per year of the nomination, upfront, at AUD 1,200 per year for a business with turnover under AUD 10 million, or AUD 1,800 per year for a larger business. A four-year nomination for a small business therefore costs AUD 4,800 in SAF levy alone, paid before the visa is even lodged. (These SAF-levy and sponsorship figures were verified against Home Affairs guidance in an earlier session of this content programme, June 2026.)

The UK: a Certificate of Sponsorship costs £525 per worker (source: gov.uk, Skilled Worker sponsorship — certificates of sponsorship, checked 2026-09-07). Then comes the Immigration Skills Charge, which applies specifically to sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route — £1,320 for the first 12 months for a medium or large sponsor, or £480 for a small sponsor or charity, with a further £660 (medium/large) or £240 (small) for every additional 6 months of sponsorship. (Source: gov.uk, Immigration Skills Charge guidance, checked 2026-09-07; underlying Immigration Skills Charge Regulations 2017, regulation 3, as amended to 16 December 2025.)

What the worker pays

Australia's 482 visa application charge is a single figure across all streams — approximately AUD 4,015, current as at 1 July 2026 — with no separate healthcare surcharge sitting on top of it, because temporary visa holders access healthcare through reciprocal agreements or private cover rather than a dedicated visa surcharge.

The UK charges differently depending on the occupation list and where you're applying from: for a role on the Immigration Salary List, £628 for up to 3 years or £1,235 for more; for a standard occupation applying from outside the UK, £819 or £1,618; from inside the UK, £943 or £1,865. (Source: gov.uk, Skilled Worker visa — how much it costs, checked 2026-09-07.) On top of the visa fee, the UK charges the Immigration Health Surcharge — £1,035 per year of the visa, paid upfront for the whole grant. A 3-year UK Skilled Worker visa therefore carries £3,105 in IHS alone, before the visa fee itself. This is the single biggest structural cost difference between the two systems: Australia has no equivalent per-year healthcare charge on this visa.

Routes to something more permanent

Australia's Skills in Demand (482) visa on the Core Skills stream can lead to the permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) after two years with the sponsoring employer — reduced from three years by a November 2025 policy change — provided the applicant is under 45 at the time of that application. See /blog/482-to-186-employer-sponsorship-pathway for the full mechanics.

The UK's Skilled Worker route leads to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after five years of continuous residence on the visa (source: gov.uk, Settle in the UK, checked 2026-09-07). A UK government consultation launched in November 2025 proposed extending the standard qualifying period to ten years, with a shorter 'earned settlement' track for people who meet contribution-based criteria still to be defined; that consultation closed in February 2026 and, as at the date of this page, has not been brought into force — the current 5-year rule still applies. Anyone reading UK settlement guidance should check whether that changes before relying on the 5-year figure.

A worked example: three years of sponsorship, side by side

Numbers land better together than scattered across separate paragraphs. Take a mid-career applicant sponsored for three years (36 months) by a medium-to-large employer on each side.

On Australia's 482 (Core Skills stream, large-business SAF rate): the employer pays AUD 420 (sponsorship application) + AUD 330 (nomination) + AUD 5,400 (SAF levy, 3 years at AUD 1,800/year) = AUD 6,150 in employer-side charges. The worker separately pays the visa application charge of approximately AUD 4,015. Combined: roughly AUD 10,165.

On the UK's Skilled Worker route (standard occupation, medium/large sponsor, applying from outside the UK, 36-month grant): the Immigration Skills Charge covers the first 12 months at £1,320, then each further 6-month block costs £660 — a 36-month sponsorship needs the first 12 months plus four more 6-month blocks, so £1,320 + (4 x £660) = £3,960 in ISC alone, plus the £525 Certificate of Sponsorship fee, for £4,485 in employer-side charges. The worker separately pays the visa fee for a role in the 'up to 3 years' fee tier applying from outside the UK (£819) plus the Immigration Health Surcharge at £1,035 per year — £3,105 for the full 3 years — for a worker-side total of £3,924. Combined: roughly £8,409.

The headline difference: Australia's biggest single employer-side cost is the SAF levy, charged upfront for the whole nomination period regardless of what happens to the worker's own healthcare; the UK's biggest single worker-side cost is the Immigration Health Surcharge, which Australia's system doesn't charge at all on this visa. Neither total above is a quote for a real application — always check both governments' current fee pages, since exact charge structures depend on sponsor size, occupation list and application location.

Both visas are tied to the sponsoring employer, not portable at will. On the 482, changing employer means the new employer lodging a fresh nomination — see /blog/change-employer-on-482-visa-australia for what that involves and the timing risk if the old sponsorship ends first. On the UK's Skilled Worker route, changing employer means the new employer assigning a fresh Certificate of Sponsorship (another £525) before you can start the new role, and the salary/going-rate test applies again against the new role. Neither system lets a sponsored worker simply hand in a resignation and pick up sponsored work elsewhere without that employer-side paperwork happening first.

What this comparison can't tell you

This page describes two employer-led systems in their own published terms. It cannot tell you whether a given role, salary, or employer would clear either country's bar — that depends on the specific occupation code, the specific salary on offer, and (for Australia) whether your employer is prepared to become an accredited sponsor. For the Australian side of that question, /agents/employer-sponsored-visa connects with MARA-registered agents who work specifically in employer sponsorship, and /blog/how-to-sponsor-a-worker-australia and /blog/cost-to-sponsor-employee-visa-australia break the employer-side process down in more depth than a two-country comparison can.

Frequently asked questions

What's the minimum salary for Australia's 482 visa vs the UK's Skilled Worker visa?

Australia's Core Skills stream requires at least AUD 79,423 (the Core Skills Income Threshold, effective 1 July 2026), or AUD 146,576 for the Specialist Skills stream. The UK's general threshold is £41,700 (from mid-2025), or the occupation's specific 'going rate' if higher, with a lower £33,400 threshold available for some roles. Both figures are reviewed periodically by their respective governments.

Does the UK charge anything like Australia's SAF levy?

Not by that name or mechanism, but it has an equivalent employer-side cost: the Immigration Skills Charge, £1,320 for the first 12 months of sponsoring a medium or large employer's worker (£480 for a small sponsor or charity), plus a further charge for every additional 6 months. Australia's SAF levy is charged per year of the nomination upfront; the UK's Immigration Skills Charge is charged in 12-month then 6-month blocks. They aren't calculated the same way, but both exist for the same purpose.

Why does the UK charge a healthcare surcharge and Australia doesn't?

The UK's Immigration Health Surcharge (£1,035/year) funds NHS access for visa holders directly. Australia's 482 visa holders access healthcare through reciprocal health care agreements (where one exists with their home country) or private health insurance, rather than through a dedicated per-visa surcharge — a genuine structural difference between the two systems, not an oversight on either side.

Can I change employer on either visa?

Both are employer-tied. On the 482, a new employer must lodge a fresh nomination before you can start with them. On the UK's Skilled Worker route, a new employer must assign a fresh Certificate of Sponsorship (£525) and your new role has to clear the salary/going-rate test again. Neither visa lets you simply resign and start elsewhere without that employer-side step happening first.

How long until I can get permanent residence or settlement?

Australia's 482 (Core Skills stream) can lead to the permanent subclass 186 after 2 years with the sponsoring employer (reduced from 3 years in November 2025), if under 45. The UK's Skilled Worker route currently leads to indefinite leave to remain after 5 years — though a government consultation proposing to extend this to 10 years closed in February 2026 and had not taken effect as at the date of this page.

Does Australia's 482 or the UK's Skilled Worker visa let me bring family?

Yes, both allow a partner and dependent children to be included, generally paying additional visa fees per person on both sides.

Is there a version of the UK's care worker route in Australia?

Australia runs the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement, a specific employer-sponsorship route for aged care roles, described at /blog/aged-care-worker-visa-sponsorship-australia-how-it-works. This is a different mechanism from the UK's Health and Care Worker visa, which since 2025 no longer accepts new overseas applications for the care worker and senior care worker occupation codes specifically, while remaining open for other health and social care roles.