The 482 visa lets an approved employer sponsor a skilled worker to Australia. Registered migration agents in Brisbane explain streams, eligibility and PR. Book a consult.
The subclass 482 visa lets an Australian employer sponsor a skilled worker from overseas, or already in Australia, to fill a position they can’t fill locally. In late 2024 it was renamed the Skills in Demand visa, replacing the former Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa. Most people still search for it as the “482 visa” or the “TSS visa”, so if that’s what brought you here, you’re in the right place. It’s the same subclass number, with an updated name and updated rules.
If your employer wants to keep you, or you’ve been offered a role by an Australian business, this is usually the visa in the conversation. Our registered migration agents in Brisbane handle both sides of it, the employer’s sponsorship and the worker’s visa, so the two halves actually line up.
The 482 is a temporary work visa. It lets an approved sponsoring employer bring in a skilled worker to do a nominated occupation for a set period. There are three moving parts, and all three have to be approved:
The sponsor. The employer has to be an approved standard business sponsor.
The nomination. The employer nominates a specific position and occupation for you to fill.
The visa. You, the worker, apply for the visa itself and have to meet the skill, English and health requirements.
Because it’s temporary, it comes with an end date. But for a lot of workers it’s the first step toward permanent residency through the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186), and we’ll come back to that.
The Skills in Demand visa is built around streams, which broadly sort applicants by the occupation and the salary on offer. The structure has been reworked from the old TSS short-term and medium-term streams into a model aimed at genuine skills shortages and higher-earning specialists, alongside a pathway for essential and lower-paid occupations that the government sets separately.
Which stream you fall into affects how long the visa can be granted for, and whether it leads cleanly to permanent residency. The rules and the occupation settings here change often, so rather than pin an exact list to this page, we check your occupation and salary against the current settings during your consultation and tell you which stream fits.
A sponsor has to be an approved business, generally an Australian business that’s lawfully operating and can show there’s a genuine position to fill. The employer has to meet obligations around paying at least the required salary, covering certain costs they aren’t allowed to pass on to you, and meeting labour market testing where it applies.
A common question we get is “who pays for the 482 visa?” Some costs sit with the employer by law and can’t be shifted onto the worker, such as the sponsorship and nomination charges and the Skilling Australians Fund levy. Other costs, like the visa application charge for you and your family, usually sit with the applicant. We make sure everyone knows who’s responsible for what before anything is lodged, because getting this wrong can put the sponsor in breach.
To qualify for the visa, you’ll generally need to:
Have a nominated occupation that matches your skills and experience.
Hold the skills, qualifications and, where required, a positive skills assessment for that occupation.
Meet the English language requirement for your stream.
Meet health and character requirements.
Have any registration or licensing your occupation needs in Australia.
The detail underneath each of these matters. The English threshold, the work experience expected, and whether a skills assessment is required all depend on your occupation and stream. This is exactly the kind of thing that’s worth checking before you lodge, not after.
For a lot of people, the 482 isn’t the destination. It’s the road to it. After you’ve worked for your sponsoring employer for the required period, you may be able to move to permanent residency through the Employer Nomination Scheme, specifically the Temporary Residence Transition stream of the subclass 186 visa. Your time on the 482 counts toward that transition.
Planning the 482 with the 186 in mind from day one makes the permanent stage far smoother. We look at the whole journey up front, so the temporary visa you lodge now is set up to support the permanent one later.
We assess whether your occupation and the role actually fit the Skills in Demand visa before anyone spends money.
We prepare the employer’s sponsorship and nomination, and the worker’s visa, so all three approvals line up.
We make sure the right party carries the right costs, keeping the sponsor compliant.
We handle your skills assessment, English evidence and health and character requirements.
We plan the permanent residency pathway through the 186 from the start, not as an afterthought.
If a nomination or visa is refused, we know the review options and the deadlines. See our Visa Refusal & Appeal page.
Yes. The subclass 482 was renamed the Skills in Demand visa in late 2024, replacing the former Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa. It’s the same subclass number with an updated name and updated rules, which is why people still search for it as the “482 visa” and the “TSS visa”.
An approved Australian business that has a genuine position to fill and meets the sponsor obligations. The employer has to be approved as a standard business sponsor and nominate the specific role you’ll do. We handle that approval as part of the application.
In general terms, you need a nominated occupation matching your skills, the qualifications and experience for it, the required English level, and to meet health and character rules. Some occupations also need a skills assessment or licensing. The exact settings depend on your stream, so we confirm them for your case.
It depends on your stream and occupation. Some grants are shorter, others longer, and the visa can often be renewed while you remain with an eligible sponsor. We’ll give you the current length for your situation rather than a figure that may have changed.
Yes. You can usually include your partner and dependent children, and family members on the visa can generally work and study. There are extra costs for each family member, which we’ll set out clearly.
Certain costs must be paid by the sponsoring employer and cannot be passed to you, including the sponsorship and nomination fees and the Skilling Australians Fund levy. Your own visa application charge, and those for your family, are usually yours. We map this out before lodging.
Processing times move around with the department’s workload, how complete the application is, and whether they ask for more information. A well-prepared application with the right evidence up front is the best way to avoid delays. We manage the department’s requests for you if they come.
You generally can, but a new employer usually needs to be an approved sponsor and lodge a fresh nomination for you. There are rules and timeframes around finding a new sponsor if your job ends, so talk to us quickly if that happens.
It can. After working for your sponsoring employer for the required period, you may be eligible for permanent residency through the Temporary Residence Transition stream of the 186 visa. Planning both together from the start makes the permanent stage much easier.
Some occupations require one and some don’t. It depends on your nominated occupation. We check this early, because a skills assessment can take time and you don’t want it holding up the whole application.
Depending on the decision, there may be a review pathway at the Administrative Review Tribunal, and the time limits are strict. If you’ve received a refusal, contact us straight away so we can look at your options before a deadline passes.
