482 Visa Health Insurance: The $1 Million Number Condition 8501 Actually Needs
What condition 8501 on a subclass 482 visa actually requires from your health insurance — the per-person benefit, ambulance cover, the waiting periods insurers can still impose, and what's excluded. Figures as at September 2026.
Read the full guide, with official sources →
Watch
Chapters
- 0:00 Does your health cover actually meet condition 8501?
- 0:16 Condition 8501:
- 0:27 The number that matters
- 0:37 Ambulance: 100% of the charge
- 0:47 Waiting periods insurers CAN impose
- 1:01 Not required to be covered
- 1:17 Home Affairs doesn't endorse any insurer
- 1:30 Hospital-only can satisfy the requirement on its own
- 1:43 Read the product disclosure statement before buying
- 1:53 Where to read more
Transcript
Your subclass 482 visa comes with condition 8501. Most policies marketed at visa holders claim to meet it. Here's the actual number Home Affairs uses to check.
Condition 8501, in Schedule 8 of the Migration Regulations 1994, says the visa holder must maintain adequate arrangements for health insurance while in Australia.
Home Affairs' own guide to adequate cover sets one number that matters most. A per person, per year benefit of at least one million dollars.
Ambulance transport is also part of the standard. One hundred percent of the charge not otherwise covered, when it's medically necessary.
Insurers can still impose waiting periods within government caps. Up to twelve months for pregnancy and pre-existing conditions. Up to two months for psychiatric treatment, rehabilitation, palliative care, or anything else.
Insurers also aren't required to cover assisted reproductive treatment, elective cosmetic treatment, or stem cell, bone marrow or organ transplants. Treatment arranged before you arrive, or delivered outside Australia, isn't covered either.
Medibank, Bupa, HCF and nib all market policies at visa holders. Home Affairs doesn't endorse any of them — checking the policy actually meets the one million dollar benefit is on you.
A hospital-only policy that meets the one million dollar benefit satisfies condition 8501 on its own. Extras like dental and optical are a personal choice, not part of the requirement.
The one place the benefit limits, waiting periods and exclusions for a specific product are kept current is its own product disclosure statement. Read it before you buy.
The full guide, with the official sources, is on migratio.com.au. The link is in the description.
Short versions
- The one number your 482 health cover needs (0:29)
- Your insurer can still make you wait (0:28)
- What your 482 insurer doesn't have to cover (0:30)
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