Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) Australia

What is the Skills in Demand visa and how is it different from the TSS

The subclass 482 visa is the main work route into Australia for a foreign professional, but you cannot apply for it without an employer: the company hiring you starts the process. On 7 December 2024 the Department of Home Affairs, Australia's immigration authority, replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa with the Skills in Demand (SID) visa. The subclass number stayed the same, which is why both names still show up under 482 in search results.

The reform made the visa more generous on time and stricter on money. Every stream now runs for up to 4 years, you need only 1 year of experience, and time with any sponsor counts towards permanent residence. On the other hand, salary thresholds are indexed every year, and the visa application charge jumped by roughly 25% on 1 July 2026.

There are three streams. What separates them is not who you are, but how much you are paid and in which occupation.

ANZSCO, the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, is the official job classification used by both countries. The code of your role decides which stream you fall into and whether you need a skills assessment. All amounts on this page are converted to US dollars at the official rate and rounded up.

In both main streams the salary has to clear two bars at once: the stream threshold and the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR), meaning what an Australian worker earns for the same job in the same location. If an employer offers a foreign hire less than local staff, Home Affairs will likely refuse the nomination. The exception is a salary of $180,000 or more, where the market rate does not have to be proven.

What are the 482 visa requirements in 2026

The single most important requirement is not on any document checklist: you need an Australian business willing to hire you and to go through government scrutiny to do it. Experience, English and health checks all come second until an employer is on board.

• A sponsoring employer. The business must hold Standard Business Sponsorship and lodge a nomination, an application for a specific position filled by a specific person. The sponsor and nomination are approved first, then the visa.
• Occupation and salary. For Core Skills, an occupation on the CSOL and a salary of at least $56,000. For Specialist Skills, any occupation in the eligible ANZSCO groups and a salary of at least $110,000. These thresholds apply to nominations lodged between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027.
• Work experience. At least 1 year in the nominated occupation or a related field with tasks at the same skill level. The old TSS asked for 2 years.
• Skills assessment. Some occupations require a formal assessment by the relevant Australian assessing authority. Whether you need one depends on the occupation code.
• Licence or registration. Doctors, nurses, electricians, teachers and other regulated professions need Australian registration. For doctors this is often the longest step of all.
• English. A test taken within 3 years of applying, with minimum scores in each skill (see the table below).
• Health and character. A medical exam with a doctor approved by Home Affairs, and police certificates from every country where you lived for a total of 12 months or more in the past 10 years.
• Health insurance. You must hold private health insurance for the whole stay, because most 482 holders are not eligible for Medicare, the public health system.

The 482 visa itself has no upper age limit. Age comes back later, on the way to permanent residence: for the subclass 186 visa you usually need to be under 45. More on that below.

English for the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams, for tests taken on or after 13 September 2025. The minimum applies to each skill, not to the average.

Passport holders from the UK, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland are exempt, as are people who completed at least 5 years of full-time secondary or higher study where most classes were in English. IELTS 5.0 is a working, functional level of English: enough to get by on the job, but the bar for permanent residence is higher.

How much does the 482 visa cost

On 1 July 2026 the base visa application charge for the 482 rose from about $2,300 to $2,790 for the main applicant, an increase of about a quarter overnight. Each family member aged 18 or over pays the same, and each child under 18 now costs about $700 instead of $560. The money is not refunded if the visa is refused.

The other half of the bill falls on the employer, and the law does not let them pass it on to you. Home Affairs says sponsors must pay all costs of becoming a sponsor, nominating and sponsoring, including the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy, a training charge paid for each foreign worker, and cannot transfer them to the visa holder or their family.

Worked example. A family of two adults and two children under 18 pays 2,790 + 2,790 + 700 + 700 = about $7,000 in visa charges alone. An employer with turnover above $7 million hiring that professional for 4 years pays 295 + 230 + 4 × 1,250 = about $5,600. For a smaller business the same hire costs about $3,900. Tests, medicals, certificates and flights come on top.

The practical takeaway: a foreign hire costs an employer more than a local candidate before the first payslip. That is why sponsored roles tend to open where local talent is genuinely scarce, not as a routine perk.

How long does 482 visa processing take

The gap between streams is huge: a highly paid specialist can get a decision in a couple of weeks, while a Core Skills applicant may wait more than half a year. In 2026 Home Affairs shows these timeframes for recently decided applications.

That is only the visa itself. Before it, the employer spends time advertising the role and preparing the nomination, and you spend weeks on the English test, medical exam and police certificates. Home Affairs calculates these figures from recently decided applications.

The biggest accelerator is a decision-ready application on the day you lodge. What slows things down is an unfinished skills assessment, a medical exam not yet done and requests for further documents.

The step-by-step process is set out in the block below. The key point: before you even apply, the employer must show it tried to hire in Australia, and that test alone takes at least a month.

How to find a visa sponsor in Australia

Finding a sponsor is the hardest part of the whole journey, and no migration firm can do it for you. The 482 is granted for a specific position, so the job comes first and the visa second, never the other way round.

The employer takes on the costs, the paperwork and obligations to the government: paying the market salary, keeping records, reporting when employment ends. It does so when it is convinced you will fill the role better than a local candidate. So what you are selling is your skills, not your status as a migrant.

• Check demand for your occupation. If it is not on the CSOL and your salary falls short of $110,000, an employer simply cannot sponsor you. We cover which occupations Australia is really hiring for in 2026 in our article on in-demand occupations and the CSOL.
• Look for roles that mention sponsorship. On large job boards, employers often state whether they will sponsor a visa. Applying where this is spelled out saves months.
• Use a multinational employer. An intra-group transfer to an Australian office is one of the most realistic scenarios: the employer already knows you and HR already knows the process.
• Look beyond Sydney and Melbourne. Regional employers and DAMA agreements offer more flexibility on occupations and salaries.
• Prepare documents early. An English test result, translated degrees and proof of experience show an employer that you can actually be hired.

If someone offers you a turnkey visa with an employer already lined up, check who is behind it. Migration agents working in Australia are registered by OMARA, the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority, and an agent's number can be checked against its public register.

Does nationality matter for the 482 visa?

The 482 has no nationality bans or quotas: the rules are the same for citizens of every country. What decides the outcome is not the passport but the employer, the occupation, the salary and a complete application.

The difference shows up in the paperwork. You need a police certificate from every country where you lived for a total of 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Someone who has lived in three countries since 2022 needs three separate certificates, each issued under local rules and timelines.

• Documents in other languages must be submitted with English translations.
• The English test is taken at an accredited centre and stays valid for the visa for 3 years.
• The medical exam is done only with doctors appointed by Home Affairs. You receive a referral after lodging, or you can arrange one in advance.
• Degrees and experience for occupations that need a skills assessment are checked by an Australian assessing authority, a separate process with its own timelines and fees.

For anyone already in Australia on another visa, including many Ukrainians, one rule matters: you can apply for the 482 onshore only if you hold a substantive visa or a Bridging visa A, B or C, a temporary visa that keeps you lawful while an application is being decided.

The same rules apply to citizens of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Your passport brings neither advantages nor extra hurdles: everyone faces the same queue, the same thresholds and the same charges.

How to get permanent residence from a 482 visa

After 2 years of full-time sponsored work you can apply for the permanent subclass 186 visa, but not everyone gets there: age, English and the employer itself can all stand in the way. The Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa has a Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream designed specifically for 482 holders.

Processing takes longer than for the 482 itself. In 2026 half of 186 TRT applications are decided in about 14 months and 90% within 22 months. Throughout that time you keep working as before: your current visa or a bridging visa keeps your status.

Worked example. An engineer who arrives on a 482 at 40 and completes 2 years will be 42 when eligible. If preparing the nomination and the English test takes another year, the application goes in at 43. There is some margin before 45, but not much. For someone who arrives at 43 or 44 without an exemption, the 186 TRT route will most likely close.

Permanent residence also opens the path to citizenship. How that works, and which other visas lead to Australia, is collected on our page all Australian programs.

482 visa or another Australian visa: which one to choose

The 482 is the shortest route into the country for someone with a job offer, but it is not the only one. If you have strong English, long experience or international recognition, another visa may lead to permanent residence faster, even if it is harder to get into. Past 45, the choice narrows to little more than the 482 and the 858.

The 189 and 190 run through SkillSelect: you lodge an Expression of Interest, score points for age, English, experience and education, and wait for an invitation. The minimum to apply is 65 points, but in many occupations the real bar is higher. We break down the 2026 cut-offs in our article on in-demand occupations.

For people who can prove outstanding results, there is a visa with no employer and no points. See our pages on the National Innovation Visa (subclass 858) and what happened to Global Talent. Business visas for entrepreneurs, however, are no longer an option: the programs investors used to rely on are closed. We explain what happened to them on the Business Talent (subclass 132) and SISA in South Australia pages.

Australia, New Zealand or the UK: where is a work visa easier to get

Australia's 482 asks for less experience than neighbouring New Zealand and leads to permanent residence faster than the UK's work visa. On cost to the employer it is closer to the UK: both set a high salary floor and charge an annual levy for every foreign hire. In Australia that is the SAF levy of up to $1,300 a year, in the UK the Immigration Skills Charge of up to $1,800 a year.

The AEWV (Accredited Employer Work Visa) is New Zealand's work visa through an accredited employer. Immigration New Zealand lists its fee from about $870. In the UK, the government proposed in 2025 to extend the standard route to indefinite leave to remain to 10 years. Which period applies on your move date? Ask an expert.

If a work visa does not suit you but you want a strong status in an English-speaking country, compare talent visas: the UK Global Talent visa and the full list on our talent and startup visas page.

Tax, healthcare and superannuation on a 482 visa

A 482 holder gets a tax advantage that rarely makes the headlines: while you are a temporary resident, Australia generally does not tax your foreign income. Under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, a temporary resident (a temporary visa holder without an Australian spouse) is exempt from Australian tax on foreign-source income, while a permanent resident is taxed on worldwide income.

Australian salary is taxed at progressive resident rates. From 1 July 2026 the lowest band dropped from 16% to 15%.

The 2% Medicare levy usually comes on top. If you are not entitled to Medicare, you can apply for an exemption from it. Tax residency is decided on the facts, not by the visa, so check your own case in advance. For other countries, see our tax and residency section.

Healthcare. Medicare, the public health system, is open to 482 holders only from countries that have a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia. Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are not among them, so private insurance for the whole stay is a must. We cover how to choose a policy in our guide to health insurance when relocating.

Superannuation. Your employer must pay 12% of your salary into a pension fund (superannuation). Check your contract to see whether this contribution is included in the quoted package or paid on top. If you leave Australia for good, you can claim the balance as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP), but the main taxed element is withheld at 35%.

Children and school. Family members on a 482 get full rights to work and study. Some states, however, charge fees for public schooling of children of temporary visa holders: in New South Wales, the state that includes Sydney, fees apply under the Temporary Residents Program, with exemptions at some regional schools. See our guide to moving abroad with children and our page on living in Sydney.

Documents, common refusals and family on a 482 visa

The 482 file is put together with the employer: the company lodges a nomination for the position and you lodge the visa application. If your experience documents do not match the occupation code in the nomination, a refusal is almost certain.

• a passport and photos;
• an employment contract or job offer from the sponsor with a salary not below the stream threshold;
• diplomas and, if needed, a skills assessment from the relevant Australian body;
• proof of experience: employment contracts, employer references, tax documents;
• an English test result;
• police certificates from the countries where you lived and a medical by an approved doctor;
• for family, marriage and birth certificates with English translations.

Why applications are refused

• The contract salary is below the stream threshold or below the market rate for the position.
• Experience is not proven or does not match a listed occupation.
• English below the required level.
• The employer did not become a sponsor, or the nomination was refused.
• No health insurance for the whole stay.
• A criminal record, health issues or past breaches of Australian visa rules.

Family and where to live

A spouse or partner and children are included in the application. They live in Australia for the term of the main applicant's visa, the spouse works without restrictions and children attend local schools. The fee is about $2,800 per adult family member and about $700 per child under 18.

Most sponsored vacancies are in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, but rents there are the highest. In regional areas there is less competition for specialists and employers sponsor visas more willingly. The city affects both the market salary for the nomination and the family budget.

Pitfalls of the 482 visa and who it does not suit

The biggest risk of the 482 is that your right to stay in the country rests on a single employer. While things go well, you barely notice. When the company cuts staff, you discover you have 180 days to find a new sponsor.

• Tied to your sponsor. You may work only for your sponsor or an associated entity. If your job ends, you have up to 180 consecutive days, and no more than 365 days in total over the visa period, to find a new sponsor, get another visa or leave. During that window you may work for other employers. Under the old rules you had just 60 days.
• A new employer means a new nomination. The new sponsor lodges a fresh nomination, pays the charges and proves the market salary again. You can start working for them only once the nomination is approved.
• Costs rise every year. Salary thresholds are indexed annually, and on 1 July 2026 visa charges went up by about 25% in one step. Budget at the rates in force on the day you apply, not from old articles.
• The occupation list changes. The CSOL is reviewed by Jobs and Skills Australia, the government's labour market analysis agency. An occupation on the list today may drop off by the time your nomination is lodged.
• Permanent residence is not automatic. The 186 TRT needs you to be under 45 (with exemptions), to have Competent English and an employer willing to nominate you. If your sponsor changes its mind, your work history stays, but finding a new nomination is up to you.
• Cost of living. Private health cover, school fees in some states and high rents in the big cities eat into even a good salary.

The 482 does not suit freelancers or people working remotely for overseas clients: the visa requires you to work for an Australian sponsor. It does not suit entrepreneurs who want to run their own business rather than work for someone else. And it does not work without a genuine job offer: without an employer you cannot apply at all.

It will also be hard for anyone over 45 who is counting on permanent residence, and for anyone scoring below IELTS 5.0 in any skill. Remote workers should look at digital nomad visas instead, and those still choosing a country can start with our ranking of the best countries to relocate to.

How we help with the 482 visa

We start not with documents but with whether you have a realistic case at all. We check your ANZSCO occupation code, the right stream, the salary threshold, and the English and age requirements for the move to permanent residence. If the 482 is not for you, we say so straight away and suggest another route to Australia or another country.

• profile review: occupation, experience, English, whether you need a skills assessment;
• a family budget based on 2026 visa charges and levies;
• preparing your documents: translations, certificates, proof of experience;
• a plan for moving to permanent residence on the 186, taking your age and timelines into account;
• a comparison with other Australian visas and neighbouring countries.

What the Skills in Demand visa gives you

How to get a 482 visa: step by step

FAQ