The subclass 482 lets an approved Australian employer sponsor a skilled worker for up to four years. Since 7 December 2024 it has been called the Skills in Demand visa. The subclass number stayed the same. Nearly everything inside it changed.
Robbie Toor (MARN 1170356) has handled employer sponsored applications from the South Brisbane office since 2011, for both workers and the businesses sponsoring them.
What is the subclass 482 visa?
It is a temporary work visa tied to one employer and one occupation. Three separate applications have to succeed, in this order:
- The employer is approved as a Standard Business Sponsor.
- The employer nominates the specific position.
- You apply for the visa.
Each has its own criteria and its own decision. A refusal at any stage stops everything. Most of what goes wrong happens at step two, and there is a section on that further down.
Once granted, you can work for that employer for up to four years, bring your partner and children, and travel in and out of Australia. Your family members get full work rights.
482 visa streams: Specialist Skills, Core Skills and Labour Agreement
A lot of what you will read online still describes the Short-Term and Medium-Term streams, or calls this the TSS visa. Those streams closed to new applications on 7 December 2024. If an article does not carry a date after that, treat it as out of date.
Three streams apply now.
Core Skills stream
This is where most people land. Your occupation has to appear on the Core Skills Occupation List, the single list that replaced the old MLTSSL, STSOL and ROL. The salary has to meet the Core Skills Income Threshold, which is $79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026, or the annual market salary rate for that role in that location. Whichever figure is higher is the one that applies.
Specialist Skills stream
For roles paying $146,576 or more. There is no occupation list to satisfy, though trades workers, machinery operators, drivers and labourers are excluded. The Department has committed to a seven-day median processing time here. Nothing else in employer sponsorship moves at that speed.
Labour Agreement stream
For workers nominated under an agreement negotiated between an employer and the government, including Designated Area Migration Agreements. If the business is outside Greater Brisbane, read the 494 visa for regional Queensland page as well, because DAMA concessions often open doors that the standard program keeps shut.
Who is eligible for a 482 visa?
You need a nomination from an approved sponsor for a genuine position, plus:
- At least one year of relevant work experience within the last five years. This dropped from two years in December 2024. Part-time and casual work counts if it adds up to a year of full-time equivalent hours.
- The skills and qualifications for the nominated occupation, with a skills assessment where your occupation or your passport requires one.
- English at the level set for your stream.
- Health and character clearances.
The experience has to be in the nominated occupation or something closely related. Unrelated jobs you held while studying will not count, however long you did them.
What employers need to do to sponsor a 482 visa
Sponsorship approval comes first. You show the Department that the business is lawfully operating, that the role is genuine, and that you can pay the person properly for the full nomination period.
Then the nomination, which is the part that gets picked apart:
- The duties have to match the nominated occupation properly. Nominating someone as a marketing specialist when the actual work is reception and admin is the quickest route to a refusal we see.
- The salary has to clear two separate tests, the income threshold and the market rate. Passing one does not get you past the other.
- Labour market testing applies to most nominations, with specific rules on where you advertised and for how long.
- The Skilling Australians Fund levy is payable at nomination.
Sponsorship obligations then run for years. Records, notifying the Department when circumstances change, and never recovering sponsorship or nomination costs from the worker. That last obligation carries civil penalties and it is enforced.
How long does the 482 visa take?
Sponsorship approval usually takes one to three months. Nomination takes one to four.
The visa itself is the variable. Specialist Skills has that seven-day median target. Core Skills has been sitting far longer, and the published times have been climbing rather than falling.
Plan for six to twelve months end to end on a Core Skills application. If you are an employer who needs someone starting next month, sponsorship is not the tool for that job.
The 482 to 186 pathway to permanent residency
This changed in the applicant’s favour, and it is worth understanding properly.
Under the old rules only the Medium-Term stream led anywhere permanent, and you needed three years with your sponsor. Now every 482 stream counts toward the 186 visa through the Temporary Residence Transition stream, and the qualifying period is two years.
Time with any approved sponsor counts, not only the employer who first nominated you. Changing jobs no longer sends you back to the start, which under the old rules cost people years. The grace period to find a new sponsor after employment ends is now up to 180 days at a time, capped at 365 days across the visa. It used to be 60.
Read the full breakdown of the 482 to 186 pathway before you plan your timing around it.
Common reasons 482 nominations get refused
The position does not stand up. A three-person business nominating a specialist role that has nothing to do with what the business actually does invites questions it usually cannot answer.
The salary sits under market rate. The Department checks what Australian workers are paid for that role in that location, and Brisbane figures are not Sydney figures.
The evidence contradicts itself. A skills assessment saying one thing and employment references saying another is worse than a thin file.
Labour market testing was done wrong. Wrong platform, wrong duration, wrong wording in the ad, or done outside the valid window.
The business cannot show it can pay. Financial capacity is assessed, particularly for newer businesses and for roles well above the current payroll.
If a nomination or visa has already been refused, there may be review rights at the Administrative Review Tribunal. The window is usually 21 days from the refusal notice and it cannot be extended. Call the same day you receive it.
Why work with Visa Point for your 482 visa
Robbie Toor has been a registered migration agent since 2011 and works on all three stages, sponsorship, nomination and visa. He acts for employers and for applicants, which means he sees the same refusals from both sides and can usually tell which part of a file is going to attract attention before it is lodged.
Consultations run in English, Punjabi or Hindi. The office is in South Brisbane and appointments run by phone or video for clients anywhere in Queensland or overseas.
A recent matter
In mid-2025 a construction professional living in Logan came to us after a visa application was refused over concerns about the evidence submitted with it. We reviewed the refusal decision, assessed the options available and prepared detailed submissions addressing the issues that had been identified. Additional supporting evidence was gathered and presented as part of the review process, which ultimately produced a favourable outcome for the applicant.
Refusals are rarely about whether someone was eligible. They are usually about what the file did or did not prove, which is a different problem and often a fixable one.
Talk to a registered migration agent
Robbie Toor, MARN 1170356. Registered since 2011.
Suite 1.12, Level 1/88 Tribune St, South Brisbane QLD 4101.
Call 0425 825 500 or email visas@visapoint.com.au.
Mon to Fri 8am to 5:30pm, Sat 10am to 2pm. English, Punjabi and Hindi.