Frequently asked questions

A 482 matter is organised around sponsorship, nomination, and visa application, but these are not three approvals that must always be completed in strict sequence. The business must have, or be seeking, authority to sponsor [s 140E] [reg 2.59], and it must lodge the nomination for the position [s 140GB] [reg 2.72]. A visa application may be validly lodged while that nomination is still pending where the Schedule 1 pending-nomination limb is met [Sch 1 item 1240(3)(f)(iv)]. At decision, however, the applicant must be identified in an approved nomination that has not ceased [cl 482.212].

The stages can therefore be prepared and lodged close together, but their legal functions remain distinct. An uncertain sponsor, defective nomination, expired sponsorship, or wrong sponsor identity creates downstream risk, and a visa cannot be granted until the nomination criterion is satisfied.

The nominator

For the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams the nominator must be a standard business sponsor; for the Labour Agreement stream the nominator must be a party to a work agreement. [reg 2.72(5)]

Full-time position

The position must be full-time, but the Minister may disregard that requirement where satisfied it is reasonable in the circumstances. The regulation prescribes no particular circumstances and points to no instrument; it is a case-by-case reasonableness judgment, and it is the provision that lets a genuinely part-time position be sponsored at all. [reg 2.72(10)(b)] [reg 2.72(10A)]

The position, employment, and pay

The position must be genuine, and the occupation must fit the nominated stream: Specialist Skills draws on ANZSCO Major Groups 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6, Core Skills on the occupation instrument, and the Labour Agreement stream on the occupations the work agreement covers. In the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams the nominee must be engaged as an employee under a written contract, unless the occupation is exempted by instrument, and the employment conditions must be no less favourable than those of an Australian citizen or permanent resident doing equivalent work at the same location. [reg 2.72(10)(a)] [reg 2.72(8)] [reg 2.72(9)] [reg 2.72(11)] [reg 2.72(12)] [reg 2.72(18)] In the Labour Agreement stream these settings come instead from the work agreement, which fixes the occupation the party may nominate and any requirements the party must meet. [reg 2.72(19)] For the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams, where the nominee's annual earnings are below the high-earnings amount in reg 2.72(15)(b), the salary criteria in reg 2.72(15)(c) to (g) apply subject to the specific powers to disregard criteria in reg 2.72(16). The business must be able to employ the nominee and pay the annual market salary rate for the period of the nomination, and labour market testing must be satisfied unless an exemption applies. [reg 2.72(15)] [reg 2.72(16)] [reg 2.72(17A)] [s 140GBA] In the Labour Agreement stream these requirements come from the work agreement. [reg 2.72(19)]

The nomination training contribution charge

Where the nominator is liable for it, the nomination training contribution charge (the Skilling Australians Fund levy) must be paid in full when the nomination is lodged, and approval depends on it having been paid [s 140GB(2)(aa)] [s 140ZM] [reg 2.73(5A)]. Imposed by the Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Act 2018 and calculated under the Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Regulations 2018, its amount turns on the sponsoring business's annual-turnover tier and the nomination period, because the prescribed base amount is multiplied by the visa period rather than charged once [SAF Charges Regs s 5].

What a caveat is

The occupation instrument does more than list eligible occupations. Made under regulation 2.72(9), it also sets an Applicable Circumstances List: circumstances in which a listed occupation does not apply to a nominee. Each occupation is tagged with the circumstance items that apply to it, and if any tagged circumstance is true of the nominated position, the occupation does not apply and the nomination fails on the occupation criterion. That per-occupation tagging is how the List operates for a Core Skills stream nominee (section 7 of the instrument); for a Specialist Skills stream nominee the rule is stricter: if any item on the Applicable Circumstances List applies to the position, the occupation does not apply, regardless of tagging (section 8(2)). [reg 2.72(8)] [reg 2.72(9)] [LIN 24/089]

They attach per occupation

A caveat is not a general statement about the occupation; it is a specific circumstance the instrument attaches to that occupation. Chef, for example, is tagged with two (items 3 and 4 in the current instrument): one excludes a position involved in mass production in a factory setting, the other a position in a limited service restaurant such as a fast-food or takeaway outlet. Both are there to keep the occupation to a genuine chef role (planning menus and directing cooking in a dining establishment) rather than a production-line or fast-food cooking one. [LIN 24/089]

What "genuine" asks: two separate tests

Genuineness is tested twice. At the nomination stage the question is whether the position is genuine: whether it really exists and whether its duties match the nominated occupation. [reg 2.72(10)(a)] At the visa stage, the decision-maker must be satisfied both that the applicant's intention to perform the nominated occupation is genuine and that the position associated with the nominated occupation is genuine. [cl 482.212(2)] As a matter of decision-making practice, an approved nomination may generally support the position's genuineness, but the issue may be revisited if the applicant's qualifications or background look inconsistent with the occupation.

What the file must prove

Evidence has to go beyond the position title to show how the duties fit the business, why the role exists, and why the nominated occupation is the right classification, drawing on the business's activity, structure, workforce, and outputs. A role dressed up to support a visa, or described only by copying ANZSCO tasks with no business-specific explanation, struggles on genuineness. [reg 2.72(10)(a)]

When genuineness is doubted

Genuineness weakens where the circumstances suggest the position was built to secure a migration outcome rather than to fill a real need, or where the duties would not really be performed at the occupation's skill level in the actual business context. [reg 2.72(10)(a)]

The Labour Agreement stream

The Labour Agreement stream is not a separate visa; it is a 482 stream in which the occupation, salary, skills, and English requirements come from a labour agreement rather than the standard settings. A labour agreement is an agreement the Minister enters, in writing, with a business, unincorporated association, or partnership, authorising it to recruit or employ people in the occupations and locations the agreement covers; the agreement itself may fix the number of nominations allowed, the occupations that may be nominated, salary requirements, and the sponsor's obligations. A party to it is an approved work sponsor. [reg 2.75C] [s 140GC]

That agreement then drives both stages of the 482: the nomination must be made by a party to the agreement, for an occupation the agreement authorises, and within the number of nominations it permits for the year [reg 2.72(5)(b)] [reg 2.72(19)]; and the visa criteria take the occupation, any skills and qualifications, and any English requirement from the agreement [cl 482.241] [cl 482.242A] [cl 482.243].

DAMA, and when the stream is used

A Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) is a labour agreement made for a particular region, with a State, Territory, or regional body acting as the designated-area representative. An employer in the area accesses it by being endorsed by that representative before entering its own labour agreement, then nominating and lodging the visa. The stream, and DAMAs in particular, exist because the standard program does not always fit regional needs: occupations off the standard lists, more junior roles, salary or English concessions, or different age and permanent-residence pathway settings. What concessions are actually available, and whether labour market testing must be repeated, are governed by the terms of the agreement, not the standard rules.

The DAMA structure (the designated-area representative and the endorsement step) is an administrative framework built on the labour-agreement power; regulation 2.75C itself does not mention DAMAs or designated areas, and the "designated area" here is not the "designated area" defined in regulation 1.03 for the regional points-tested visas. [reg 2.75C] [reg 1.03]

The default position

Ordinarily a Subclass 482 application does not need to be accompanied by a skills assessment. A mandatory skills assessment at the validity stage arises only in the specific occupation and passport combinations set by the Minister's instrument, so for most applicants it is not a precondition to a valid application. [item 1240(3)(g)] [IMMI 18/039]

When it becomes mandatory in the Specialist and Core Skills streams

Under Schedule 1 item 1240(3)(g), a skills assessment must be in place at lodgement where all three are true: the application is in the Specialist Skills or Core Skills stream; the nominated occupation is specified in IMMI 18/039; and the applicant belongs to the class of persons specified for that occupation. The current instrument mainly covers named trades, including Chef and Cook for specified passport countries, while Program or Project Administrator is captured for every non-exempt applicant. Trades Recognition Australia assesses the listed trades and VETASSESS assesses Program or Project Administrator. Unless an exemption applies, the specified assessment must have been conducted within the three-year period ending immediately before the visa application was made. Exemptions include defined current 457 or 482 workers, certain overseas-business transferees, specified trade qualification, licensing or prior-assessment cases, and a separate high-earnings accredited-sponsor exception for Program or Project Administrator [item 1240(3)(g)] [IMMI 18/039 ss 5–7].

Where the requirement applies, the application must be accompanied either by that suitable assessment, or by evidence that the applicant has arranged the assessment with the assessing authority and it is not yet complete. A finished result is not needed at lodgement; an arranged but pending assessment satisfies validity. [item 1240(3)(g)]

No general visa-stage skills assessment

Outside item 1240(3)(g), the Specialist and Core Skills streams have no standing time of decision criterion requiring a skills assessment. Clauses 482.221 and 482.231 examine the applicant's work history, skills, qualifications, and employment background, and allow the Minister to require a specified demonstration of skills only if the Minister requires it, not as an automatic precondition. [cl 482.221] [cl 482.231]

Labour Agreement stream

Item 1240(3)(g) does not reach the Labour Agreement stream. Whether a skills assessment is needed there is set by the work agreement through clause 482.242A, which can require the skills, qualifications, and employment background, or a suitable skills assessment, specified in the agreement. [cl 482.242A]

The 12-month rule

For the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams the applicant must have carried out at least 12 months of full-time-equivalent work in the nominated occupation or a related field (counting work done on a full-time, part-time, or casual basis) during the five years ending immediately before the day the application was made. Because that window closes on the application day, work performed after lodgement cannot count; as a matter of assessment practice, voluntary or unpaid work is generally discounted, although the clause itself speaks only of work rather than paid employment. [cl 482.221] [cl 482.231]

Experience and skill adequacy are two separate tests

These are separate criteria. Subclause (1) asks whether the applicant has at least 12 months of full-time-equivalent work in the nominated occupation or a related field within the last five years; it does not itself state a separate ANZSCO skill-level test. Current Department guidance nevertheless treats related-field work as work involving the same or closely related tasks at the same skill level as the nominated occupation, so lower-skilled work should not be assumed to count merely because it is in a related industry. Subclause (2) separately requires the skills, qualifications and employment background needed for the occupation, which the Minister can require the applicant to demonstrate. [cl 482.221(1)–(2)] [cl 482.231(1)–(2)]

The requirement

Specialist Skills and Core Skills primary applicants must satisfy the English language test requirements specified for clauses 482.222 and 482.232. LIN 25/082 applies to a visa application made on or after 13 September 2025. Within that application cohort, a test taken on or after that date is assessed under the current settings; for IELTS, the applicant needs 5.0 in each component and there is no separate overall-score requirement. A qualifying test taken before that date is instead assessed under the saved settings in section 7; for IELTS, those settings require both an overall score of 5.0 and 5.0 in each component. A pre-commencement result can still fall within the applicable three-year period, so both the visa-application date and the test date must be checked before selecting the instrument and score rule. An application made before 13 September 2025 must be assessed under the instrument regime applicable to that earlier application, not under LIN 25/082 merely because of the test date. [LIN 25/082 ss 6–8] For the Labour Agreement stream, English is whatever the work agreement specifies under clause 482.243, so the standard settings apply only where the agreement adopts them. English is generally supplied for decision rather than as a Schedule 1 validity requirement, but delay still carries processing and refusal risk. [cl 482.222] [cl 482.232] [cl 482.243]

Exemptions

A Specialist Skills or Core Skills primary applicant is exempt from the standard test requirement if they fall within one of five current classes [cl 482.222] [LIN 25/082 s 4 def exempt applicant]: - a citizen who holds a valid passport issued by Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom or the United States of America; - an applicant who has completed at least five years of qualifying full-time study in a secondary or higher education institution where instruction was delivered in English; - an applicant nominated by a standard business sponsor for an occupation to be performed at a diplomatic or consular mission of another country, or at an Office of the Authorities of Taiwan in Australia; - an applicant whose nominated occupation requires a licence, registration or membership, who has obtained it after being required to prove English at a level equivalent to or higher than the otherwise applicable test standard; or - an applicant employed by a company operating an established business overseas and nominated by that company or its associated entity, who will receive annual earnings at least equal to the amount specified in the current LIN 25/082; the current amount must be checked in the instrument at the time of advice.

PIC 4007: the waivable health criterion

A 482 applicant must satisfy the visa's public interest criteria, and the health one is PIC 4007: primary applicants under clause 482.217, secondary applicants under clause 482.317. PIC 4007 requires the applicant to be free from tuberculosis and from a disease or condition that is, or may result in the applicant being, a threat to public health in Australia or a danger to the Australian community [PIC 4007(1)(a)–(b)]. It also requires the applicant, subject to waiver, to be free from a condition where a person with it would likely require health care or community services, and providing that care would likely result in significant cost to the Australian community or prejudice Australians' access, assessed notionally regardless of actual use. [cl 482.217] [cl 482.317] [PIC 4007(1)(c)] Because 482 uses PIC 4007 rather than the non-waivable PIC 4005, the Minister may waive PIC 4007(1)(c) where the applicant meets all other criteria and granting the visa would be unlikely to result in undue cost to the Australian community or undue prejudice to access to services. [PIC 4007(2)]

Health insurance and condition 8501

Health cover is a separate 482 requirement: the applicant must have adequate arrangements for health insurance for the intended stay, and condition 8501 is imposed on the visa to keep that cover in place. Condition 8501 is a continuing obligation (a gap in cover breaches it even if the policy is later reinstated), so cover should be kept continuous and confirmed before any later application. [cl 482.214] [cl 482.612] [condition 8501]

The Subclass 482 has no age limit: there is no age criterion to meet and no age exemption to worry about. Age only becomes relevant if the plan is a later move to permanent residence: Subclass 186, for example, generally requires the applicant to be under 45 [cl 186.221] [cl 186.231] [cl 186.241]. So for a 482 used as a step toward PR, age is a timing consideration, not a 482 requirement.

Two ways to be included

A secondary 482 applicant must be a member of the family unit of the primary applicant. This works in two ways: a family member applying in a combined application with the primary, and a later subsequent entrant joining a primary who already holds the 457 or 482. Clause 482.312(1) frames it as the primary applicant, having satisfied the primary criteria, being the holder of the visa, so in a combined grant the primary is granted first and the family member is then granted on satisfying the secondary criteria; the primary does not need to already hold the visa before the family can apply. [cl 482.312] [item 1240(3)(e)]

The family-unit definition

Membership is assessed at the time of decision. The definition covers a spouse or de facto partner; a child or step-child under 18; a child or step-child 18 but under 23 who is dependent; a child or step-child 23 or over only if dependent because of total or partial loss of bodily or mental function; and dependent children of those children. Financial dependence alone is not enough once the child has turned 23. [reg 1.12]

Other secondary criteria

The secondary applicant must also satisfy the other secondary criteria: being covered by the nomination [cl 482.315], holding adequate health insurance [cl 482.314], and meeting the PICs that apply to secondary applicants [cl 482.317].

Carrying family-unit status to a later visa

A separate rule carries status to a later application: a family member who still holds a 457 or 482 granted to them as a family member remains a member of the family unit for the next application, even after turning 23. A subclass 186 accepts this; a new 482 does not, restricting the route to a current partner or a child still under 23 (or incapacity-dependent). The route works only while the person still holds that earlier visa, so any such application should be lodged before it ceases. [reg 1.12(5)] [cl 482.312(2)]

Core work condition: Condition 8607 is mandatory for primary 482 holders. The holder must work only in the occupation nominated for the most recent 482 grant (8607(1)) and, depending on the stream, only for the nominating sponsor or an associated entity (8607(2)): Labour Agreement holders and overseas-business-sponsor cases have narrower associated-entity flexibility than standard Australian-business cases. An associated entity here takes its Corporations Act meaning in section 50AAA, so it turns on the objective corporate relationship of ownership and control rather than a loose 'same group' label. [reg 1.03] The holder must commence work within 90 days of grant (if onshore at grant) or of arrival (if offshore at grant) (8607(4)); and where a licence, registration or membership is mandatory for the occupation in the location of the position, the holder must hold it within the same 90-day window, maintain it, comply with its conditions, not work inconsistently with it, and notify Immigration in writing if it is refused, revoked or cancelled (8607(6)). [condition 8607]

What the 180/365 limits measure: Since the July 2024 reform, 8607(5) lets the holder cease to work in accordance with subclauses (1) and (2) for a period, but no single period may exceed 180 consecutive days, and the total days not working in accordance with those subclauses must not exceed 365 across the visa period. The limit measures cessation of compliant work, not merely whether the holder works for a new employer, and the condition text contains no nomination-lodgement trigger: the clock stops only when the holder resumes work in accordance with (1) and (2). So once a cessation period exceeds 180 consecutive days the holder is in breach even if they then stop working altogether, and merely lodging a new nomination is not itself a compliance event. The cessation allowance also presupposes that work commenced: a holder who never commenced within the 90-day window in (4) gets no assistance from the 180-day grace and is exposed to cancellation under s 116 (e.g. s 116(1)(b)). [condition 8607] [s 116(1)]

Work during a permitted cessation: Condition 8607(5) and its explanatory statement support a broad permission to work for another employer, including in another occupation, during a permitted cessation period; all such days still count against the 180/365 limits until compliant work resumes. Current Department public guidance nevertheless says that a holder cannot start work for a different employer until that employer's nomination is approved. The statutory/explanatory material and current operational guidance are therefore in tension. A holder should not start with a prospective sponsor before nomination approval without current case-specific advice that addresses both sources. The window cannot be used while still employed by the sponsor to take an unrelated second job. After ceasing work, resuming work in the nominated occupation (8607(1)) for the relevant sponsor or its associated entity (8607(2)) resumes compliant work and stops the 8607(5) clock; if the occupation changes, a fresh nomination, and where required a fresh visa, is needed. Holders in exempt occupations (specified in the instrument under subreg 2.72(13), via 8607(3)(a)) may work for any employer in the nominated occupation, including multiple employers or as contractors, without re-nomination. That exemption only lifts the sponsor-link limb in 8607(2); 8607(1) still requires work in the nominated occupation, so the 180/365 cessation limits can still bite if the holder stops working in that occupation. [condition 8607(3)] [condition 8607(5)] [reg 2.72(13)]

Changing occupation or stream: To establish a different occupation as the ongoing, compliant 482 basis, whether with the current or a new sponsor, the sponsor must first lodge and have approved a new nomination, and the holder must lodge a new visa application identifying it; a holder staying with the same sponsor cannot commence the new occupation until both the nomination and the visa are approved. A short-term temporary change of duties with the current sponsor (a secondment, or covering colleagues on leave) will not necessarily breach 8607(1), but prolonged or regular changes amounting to work in a different occupation will. If the new nomination is in a different stream, item 1240 requires the visa application to be for a 482 in the same stream as the nomination, so a pending Specialist Skills application cannot be linked to a Core Skills nomination. The stream is determined by the occupation's ANZSCO Major Group or list status together with the nominee's annual earnings: Specialist Skills requires both limbs in reg 2.73(6)(a), while Core Skills requires the instrument occupation limb and paragraph (a) not to apply [item 1240] [reg 2.73(6)].

Breach is not visa cessation, and a 186 DE does not cure it: Exceeding the 180-day window is a condition breach, not an automatic cessation event: under s 82 a visa ceases on cancellation, when another substantive visa comes into effect, or at the end of its visa period, and 8607 remains in force for the life of the visa. A permanent-residence nomination such as a 186 Direct Entry nomination is not a 482 nomination transfer, does not change the most recent 482 nomination identified for 8607, and lodging it does not cure a breach. (Condition 8608 is the Subclass 494 equivalent, not a condition a 482 holder can breach.) There are also employer-side consequences: allowing a non-citizen to work in breach of a work-related condition contravenes s 245AC (subject to the reasonable-steps defence in s 245AC(2)), and for future 482 nominations the episode feeds the adverse-information test in reg 2.72(4). [s 82] [s 245AC] [reg 2.72]

Older grants (60-day wording on the grant notice): A 482 granted before December 2024 may carry a grant notice printing the old 8607 wording with a 60-day cessation limit, but the operative limits are 180/365 by transitional operation: Sch 13 cl 13201(2) applies the July-2024 amendments to a visa granted before their commencement, for the part of the visa period after commencement, with any pre-commencement cessation period disregarded (policy confirms cessation days before 1 July 2024 are not counted); and for a visa granted before 7 December 2024, Sch 13 cl 14502(4) keeps the pre-Skills-in-Demand 8607 text in force, which, from 1 July 2024, already carried the same 180/365 limits as the current clause. Confirm the operative condition via VEVO rather than relying on the grant-notice text. [Sch 13 cl 13201(2)] [Sch 13 cl 14502(4)]

SAF/NTCC and nomination-fee refunds (reg 2.73AA): reg 2.73AA(1) permits a refund of the nomination fee or the nomination training contribution charge only where one of subregulations (2) to (3E) applies and the Minister receives a written request from the person who paid (or considers a refund reasonable without one). The listed circumstances include a nomination made because of a mistake by Immigration, withdrawal because the standard-business-sponsor application was withdrawn or refused, visa refusal under s 501 or for failing PIC 4001, 4002, 4003, 4003B, 4007 or 4020, and (the non-commencement limb) where the visa was granted on the basis of the nomination and the holder fails to commence employment in the nominated position. [reg 2.73AA]

Pro-rata NTCC refund on early cessation: reg 2.73AA(3F) is a separate partial-refund route for the NTCC only: where the approved nomination proposed a stay of more than 1 year and the nominee ceases to be employed by the nominator (or an associated entity) within 1 year of commencing employment, the Minister may refund the NTCC less the amount that would have been payable had the proposed stay been 1 year. Outside subregulations (2) to (3F) there is generally no refund entitlement: for example, an approved nomination on which no visa was ever lodged because the nominee pursued a different visa, or an auto-approved nomination that selected the wrong occupation. [reg 2.73AA]

First-instalment visa application charge (reg 2.12F): the first-instalment VAC must be refunded under reg 2.12F(2)(f) where the application for a visa class mentioned in subreg (2B) (which lists Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand), Subclass 482 (Temporary Skill Shortage) and Subclass 407) was withdrawn because there was not an approved nomination that identified the applicant, on a written request from the payer or where the Minister considers a refund reasonable without one. [reg 2.12F]

Sponsorship attaches to a legal person, not a brand

A standard business sponsor approval, and each nomination, belong to a particular legal person; neither can be transferred to another entity. What matters is continuity of the legal person as employer (its ACN, where it is a company), not the trading name, brand, or group. [s 140E] [reg 2.59] [s 140GB]

When a change needs a new sponsor and fresh nominations

If a sale, takeover, or restructure makes a new company the legal employer, that company is not the approved sponsor and has nominated no one. Condition 8607(5) and its explanatory statement support broad work mobility during the 180/365-day cessation allowance, but current Department public guidance says a holder cannot start with a different employer until that employer's nomination is approved. The worker and buyer should therefore obtain current case-specific advice before work starts for the new entity. To employ the worker on an ongoing basis, the new company generally needs its own sponsor approval and fresh 482 nominations. A Labour Agreement holder is confined to the person who nominated the occupation [condition 8607(2)(a)]; for a domestic sponsor in the Specialist Skills or Core Skills stream, the sponsor's associated entities are also available [condition 8607(2)(c)] [condition 8607(5)].

When it does not

Where the legal employer is unchanged, there is nothing to fix. A share sale that leaves the same company and ACN, or an internal trust or trading restructure, does not by itself require a new sponsorship or nominations: the test is whether the legal employer has actually changed, not whether ownership or trading has. [s 140E]