Core Skills
For occupations on the Core Skills Occupation List, paid at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold. This is the stream most applicants use.
Home/Work Visas
Employer sponsored work visas
Every visa on this page runs on the same engine: an Australian business needs a skill it cannot find locally, and it nominates you for the role. Get the sponsorship right and permanent residence follows from it.
Visitor to work
You are in Australia on a visitor visa. Can you convert it?
Frequently, yes. This is the question we are asked more than any other, and the answer turns on one line in your grant notice.
What actually stops you
A visitor visa carries condition 8101, which means you cannot work. That condition limits what you may do, but it does not stop you applying for a different visa.
The condition that matters is 8503, "no further stay". If it is on your visa, you cannot lodge most further applications while you are in Australia. Some visitor visas carry it and some do not, so read your grant notice before you plan anything.
If 8503 is not on your visa
You hold a substantive visa, which means an onshore subclass 482 application is generally open to you once an approved sponsor nominates you. You stay in the country while it is processed.
If 8503 is on your visa
Two routes remain. You can request a waiver, which requires compelling circumstances beyond your control that developed after the visa was granted, and it is not granted lightly. Or you can leave Australia and lodge offshore, which is often the cleaner option.
Do not start work early. You cannot work until the new visa is granted,
or until you hold a bridging visa that permits work. Bridging visa work rights are not
automatic and depend on your circumstances. Working without permission puts your visa
and your future applications at risk.
Subclass 482
Skills in Demand visa
The Skills in Demand visa replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa in December 2024. It lets an approved Australian sponsor employ you for up to four years, and it is the visa most of our sponsored cases are built on.
Specialist Skills
For highly paid roles above the Specialist Skills Income Threshold, with a faster processing target. Trades workers, machinery operators and labourers are excluded.
Labour Agreement
For employers working under a negotiated agreement with the Australian Government, often where standard sponsorship does not fit the industry.
What you need
- A nomination from an approved Australian sponsor
- At least one year of relevant work experience in the occupation
- Skills and qualifications matching the nominated role
- English at the level required for your stream
- Health and character clearances
- A salary meeting the threshold for your stream and the market rate for the role
What it gives you
- Up to four years of work in Australia for your sponsor
- Full, unrestricted work rights for your partner
- School enrolment for your children
- Unlimited travel in and out of the country
- Time counting toward permanent residence through subclass 186
- The ability to change sponsors, with a new nomination
On income thresholds. The Core Skills and Specialist Skills income
thresholds are indexed by the Australian Government, normally on 1 July each year. We confirm
the current figure against your specific role before any nomination is prepared, because
being a few thousand dollars short is enough to sink an application.
Subclass 186
Employer Nomination Scheme
Permanent residence from the day it is granted, sponsored by your employer. For most 482 holders this is the destination, not a separate plan.
Temporary Residence Transition stream
The usual route. You have worked for your sponsoring employer on a 482 for the required period, and they nominate you for the same role on a permanent basis.
Direct Entry stream
For applicants who have not held a 482 with the employer. It requires a skills assessment and at least three years of relevant work experience.
- Permanent residence on grant, for you and your family
- Medicare and access to government services
- A pathway to Australian citizenship once residence requirements are met
- Age, English, skills and health requirements apply, with limited exemptions
Subclass 494
Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional
A five year provisional visa for employers in designated regional Australia. Worth considering when the role sits outside a major city, because regional employers often have fewer local candidates competing for the position.
How it works
- A regional employer nominates you for a full time position
- You must hold a positive skills assessment for the occupation
- At least three years of relevant work experience is required
- You live and work in the designated regional area named in the nomination
- After three years you may apply for permanent residence through subclass 191
See how subclass 191 converts a provisional visa into permanent residence →
For Australian businesses
Sponsoring someone for the first time
Sponsorship is three separate approvals, and a mistake in any one of them delays all of them. We run the whole sequence for employers who have never done it before.
-
Sponsorship
Your business is approved as a standard business sponsor. This lasts for several years and covers multiple nominations.
-
Nomination
You nominate a specific position, showing the role is genuine, correctly classified and paid at the market rate.
-
Labour market testing
You advertise the role as required and keep the evidence. This trips up more nominations than any other requirement.
-
Visa application
Your candidate lodges. We prepare their side in parallel so nothing waits on the other.
Work visa questions
What people ask us
Can I change employers on a 482?
Yes. Your new employer must be an approved sponsor and must lodge a fresh nomination for your position. There are time limits on how long you may remain in Australia between roles, so tell us as soon as employment ends rather than after.
Can my partner work full time?
Yes. Partners included in a 482 application generally hold unrestricted work rights, so they can work full time for any employer in any occupation. School age children can enrol, though state school fees may apply depending on the state.
My occupation is not on the Core Skills Occupation List. What now?
The Core Skills stream will not be open to you. Depending on your salary the Specialist Skills stream may be, or a Labour Agreement may cover your industry.
It is also worth testing the points tested routes, since the occupation lists for those are different. We check all of them in the assessment rather than stopping at the first closed door.
Who pays the sponsorship costs?
The employer. Australian law prohibits a sponsoring business from passing its nomination charge or Skilling Australians Fund levy on to the visa applicant, whether directly or through a reduced salary. If an employer asks you to cover these, raise it with us.
Does time on a 482 count toward permanent residence?
Yes, for the Temporary Residence Transition stream of subclass 186, which requires a qualifying period working for your sponsoring employer in the nominated occupation. Time spent unemployed or working for a different employer does not count toward that period.
No cost, no obligation
Tell us your occupation and your current visa
We will tell you whether a sponsored work visa is realistic for you, and what would need to happen first.