Employer Sponsored Visa Australia Explained

How Employer Sponsorship Works

Employer-sponsored migration involves three stages: the employer becomes an approved sponsor, they nominate a specific role, and the worker applies for the visa. All three stages need to succeed. An experienced agent coordinates both sides to ensure the stages align. The employer has legal obligations around salary, conditions, and compliance that continue after the visa is granted.

The 482 Skills in Demand Visa

The main temporary employer-sponsored work visa. It runs on three salary-based streams: Core Skills (salary at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold, $79,423 from 1 July 2026), Specialist Skills (salary at or above the Specialist Skills Income Threshold, $146,576 from 1 July 2026), and Labour Agreement, where the salary threshold is set by the individual agreement. The worker needs at least 1 year of relevant work experience for the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams. The 482 is often the practical starting point when an employer needs someone in the role relatively soon.

The 186 Employer Nomination Scheme

The permanent employer-sponsored visa. The Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream is for 482/457 holders with at least 2 years of eligible sponsored employment within the 3 years before applying — time with an earlier approved sponsor still counts, so changing employer does not reset the clock. The Direct Entry stream is for applicants meeting skills assessment requirements without a prior temporary visa; its passport-based English exemption applies only to Direct Entry, not to TRT. Applicants are generally under 45, though the TRT stream carries exemptions including regional doctors and high-income 482 holders. Labour market testing does not apply to the 186. The 186 grants permanent residency and is often the end goal of an employer sponsorship journey.

The 494 Regional Employer Sponsorship

For employers in designated regional areas — which for this purpose means everywhere except Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The 494 is a provisional visa that enables regional employers to address labour shortages. It requires regional living and can lead to permanent residency via the subclass 191 after 3 years.

Labour Market Testing and Salary Requirements

For 482 and 494 nominations, employers must generally run at least 2 valid job advertisements, each running for at least 4 weeks within the 4 months before nomination, to demonstrate they tried to fill the role with an Australian worker first. Labour market testing does not apply to the 186. Salary must meet the relevant threshold. Getting labour market testing wrong is one of the most common reasons for nomination refusals.

Costs

482 application: $4,015, a single charge across all streams. 186 and 494 application: approximately $6,140. All current as at 1 July 2026. Sponsorship and nomination costs are additional and borne by the employer, along with the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy: for the 482, $1,200 a year of the nomination for a small business (turnover under $10 million) or $1,800 a year for a larger business, paid upfront for the full nomination length; for the 186, a one-off $3,000 (small business) or $5,000 (larger business). There's no official schedule or market rate for a migration agent's fee — the Code of Conduct requires it to be fair and reasonable and set out in a written service agreement before any payment is taken, beyond a reasonable fee for an initial consultation.

Getting Started

Through Migratio, both employers and workers can describe the situation and get compare consultation fees from agents who handle employer sponsorship across all subclasses.

Who pays for sponsorship?

The employer bears sponsorship and nomination costs. The visa application fee and personal agent fees are typically the worker's responsibility.

Does the 482 lead to PR?

It can. Under the Skills in Demand visa, a 482 holder can move to the subclass 186 (Temporary Residence Transition stream) after the required period of employment with their sponsor.

Can I change employers?

On a 482, yes — but the new employer must become a sponsor and lodge a new nomination. If your sponsorship ends, you generally have up to 180 consecutive days in any one period, and 365 days in total across the visa, to find a new sponsor, get another visa, or leave.

What is the Skills in Demand visa?

The new framework replacing occupation-based 482 streams with salary-based thresholds.