Solicitor Visa to Australia: Admission Process & What It Actually Costs
A visa gets an international lawyer to Australia, but admission to practise is a separate, state-run process with its own assessment, academic study and Practical Legal Training. Covers Western Australia's assessment fees, the one-to-five-year window to complete it, why there's no shortcut by country of qualification, and the one real salary figure that matters for sponsorship. Figures as at September 2026.
Read the full guide, with official sources →
Watch
Chapters
- 0:00 A visa doesn't mean
- 0:15 Each state runs its own admission.
- 0:28 The stages before
- 0:44 WA assessment fee:
- 1:00 UK or US — same rule:
- 1:11 Visa routes:
- 1:32 No official pay scale.
- 1:52 Immigration lawyer ≠
- 2:03 Supervised legal work
- 2:15 Where to read more
Transcript
A subclass 482 or 189 visa lets a solicitor move to Australia — it doesn't let them practise law here. Admission is a separate process, run state by state.
Each state regulates its own admission. In Western Australia, the profession is fused — you're admitted as a lawyer and can practise as a solicitor or a barrister, once you hold a current practising certificate.
The process runs through assessment, academic study in the areas your assessment sets — commonly called the Priestley 11 — Practical Legal Training, and English language proficiency, before admission, a practising certificate and a period of supervised practice.
In Western Australia, the assessment fee is $320 if only academic exemptions are assessed, or $640 for academic and Practical Legal Training exemptions combined. Whatever it sets has to be started within 1 year and finished within 5.
Neither a UK background nor a US JD skips the assessment. Both are assessed individually — the requirements are set case by case, not by country.
The visa routes run separately from admission. Sponsorship on a subclass 482, an employer nomination on a 186, points-tested on a 189, state or territory nomination on a 190 or 491, or an invitation-only National Innovation Visa, subclass 858, for exceptional achievement.
There's no official pay scale for solicitors — pay varies by employer, practice area, location and seniority. For 482 or 186 sponsorship, the salary has to meet the Core Skills Income Threshold: $79,423, from 1 July 2026.
One more distinction: practising immigration law as a lawyer is a separate profession from being a registered migration agent. The two credentials aren't interchangeable.
One thing often missed: working under the supervision of an Australian legal practitioner — as an employee of a law practice, or in approved legal training — doesn't require a practising certificate on its own.
The full guide, with the official sources, is on migratio.com.au. The link is in the description. And if you'd like to talk it through, you can compare registered migration agents there, and see their fees before you book anything.
Short versions
- A 482 visa doesn't mean you can practise law yet (0:42)
- No shortcut by country — here's what actually decides it (0:34)
- The one real number for a lawyer's Australian salary (0:41)
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