Australia’s Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482): a planning guide

How the Skills in Demand visa is structured

If you are a welder, electrician, chef, carer or other skilled worker with Australia in your career plan, this is the visa an Australian employer will most likely use to bring you on board. Here is how it is built.

Formally titled the Skills in Demand (SID) visa, subclass 482 lets an Australian business sponsor a worker with suitable skills for a post that no suitably skilled Australian has been found to fill. It is temporary, with a maximum stay of 4 years. Remaining longer on a 482 calls for two things: a new nomination lodged by your employer, and a new visa application lodged by you.

Three main streams sit within it:

• Core Skills: the stream for occupations named on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL), and the one that covers most trade, hospitality and care roles advertised on MigrateJobs.
• Specialist Skills: reserved for highly paid roles in particular occupation groups whose salary meets the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (AUD 146,576 (as of October 2026, official page)). Eligibility is restricted to certain occupation groups, which rules out trade, machinery-operator and labourer occupations.
• Labour Agreement: used where the nominating employer has entered into a labour agreement with the Australian Government; such an agreement can carry requirements of its own.

Eligibility checklist: Core Skills stream

Core Skills stream applicants must show the following:

• An approved sponsor's nomination. The employer must hold approved sponsor status, or have an application lodged to become a Standard Business Sponsor, and must nominate you for the post.
• An eligible occupation. The post must feature on the Core Skills Occupation List, and your skills must be genuinely required for it.
• Market-rate pay. The salary has to equal the Annual Market Salary Rate for the post and be no lower than the Core Skills Income Threshold: AUD 79,423 for nominations lodged between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027 (as of October 2026, official page). Sponsored staff cannot be paid below what an Australian in the same post receives.
• Relevant work experience of 1 year or more in the nominated occupation or a related field (see the next section).
• Health, character and English criteria, and appropriate health insurance from arrival until departure.
• No upper age limit. Age is not a criterion for the 482 visa.

Vacancies worth reviewing against this list: Australian sponsored jobs.

Experience, qualifications and skills recognition

• Experience: 1 year or more of relevant work in the nominated occupation or a related field, accumulated in the last 5 years. Gaps are allowed, provided the total amounts to at least 12 months of full-time work.
• Qualifications: the skills and qualifications your occupation requires, together with any Australian licence or registration needed to work in it.
• Formal skills assessment: some occupations call for one, generally issued by VETASSESS or Trades Recognition Australia (TRA). If yours does, you must have started the assessment before lodging the visa application, which is otherwise invalid, and the assessment must be dated within the 3 years before you apply.
• Occupations without an assessment requirement: Home Affairs can still ask you to evidence your skills with qualification certificates, licences, employment references and a CV.

Source: Home Affairs, Core Skills stream.

English language scores

Both the Core Skills and the Specialist Skills streams carry an English requirement, which you must satisfy unless exempt. For any test taken on or after 13 September 2025, the minimum per-component scores are (as of October 2026, official page):

• Results count only if the test was taken in the 3 years preceding your application.
• Tests taken entirely online or from home, such as IELTS Online, cannot be used.
• Other providers are recognised too, among them LANGUAGECERT Academic, CELPIP General and the Michigan English Test; their score requirements appear on the official page.
• Exemptions cover, among others, passport holders of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand or Canada, and people who completed at least 5 years of full-time secondary or higher education in which most classes were taught in English.
• For the Labour Agreement stream, the governing agreement may determine the English requirement.

Medical, insurance and character requirements

• Medical. Everyone on the application, you and each family member, has to meet the health requirement, which usually involves health examinations whose results are generally valid for 12 months.
• Health cover. Throughout your stay you need to hold adequate health insurance.
• Character. This applies to you and to any family member aged 16 or over. It normally involves a police certificate from every country, home country included, in which you have spent a combined 12 months or more during the last 10 years since the age of 16.

Sources: Core Skills stream; character requirements.

From vacancy to visa grant: the sequence

1. Employer advertises locally. Ahead of nominating, an employer normally has to test the Australian labour market with a minimum of 2 advertisements, running for at least 4 weeks, within the 4 months preceding the nomination (labour market testing).
2. You are selected. After you apply and, in most cases, interview by video, the employer makes you an offer.
3. Sponsorship is approved for the employer, where it is not yet an approved sponsor.
4. The position is nominated. You receive the Transaction Reference Number (TRN) of the employer's nomination.
5. Your file comes together: passport, skills evidence (including a skills assessment if needed), English results, police certificates, employment references and translations.
6. Online lodgement in ImmiAccount, citing the nomination TRN and paying the visa charge.
7. Biometrics and health examinations when requested.
8. Decision. A visa grant can only follow an approved nomination.
9. Relocation. You are required to start work within 90 days of entering Australia (or of the grant, for applicants already in the country).

Sources: Home Affairs, how to sponsor a worker; Core Skills stream.

Budgeting time and money

Processing benchmarks (as of October 2026, official page), drawn from the Home Affairs processing-time tool:

Read the benchmarks as indicative: they shift often, and your own application could be quicker or slower. Time before lodgement also needs planning, since securing the job, the employer's sponsorship and nomination, any skills assessment, English testing and police certificates may each absorb several weeks.

Government charges (as of October 2026, official page): AUD 4,015 for the main applicant and for every family member aged 18 or over, and AUD 1,005 per family member under 18. Budget separately for English testing, health examinations, police certificates and biometrics. From 1 July 2026, a reduced charge is available to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens.

Conditions once you are working

• Employment is confined to your nominated occupation and to your sponsor, or in some cases an entity associated with it.
• You need to start work inside 90 days.
• If you cease working for your sponsor, a window of up to 180 days applies in which to find a new sponsor or make plans to leave Australia.
• Costs of sponsorship, nomination or recruitment must stay with the sponsor rather than being passed on to you (sponsor obligations). Australian workplace rights protect sponsored employees as well; see worker rights.

Relocating with your family

• The application can cover your partner as well as dependent children, whether yours or your partner's.
• Family members included are entitled to live, study and work in Australia.
• Each must be named in the nomination, or the sponsor must confirm in writing that it agrees to sponsor them.
• Additions are not possible after lodgement; relatives who come later lodge their own applications as subsequent entrants.
• Every family member attracts a visa charge (set out above) and must satisfy the health requirement, plus the character requirement once aged 16 or more.

Progressing to permanent residence: subclass 186

Subclass 186, the Employer Nomination Scheme visa, grants permanent residence. For 482 holders, its Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream is the usual next career milestone. Principal criteria (as of October 2026, official page):

• A current subclass 482 or 457 visa, or an eligible bridging visa.
• 2 years, in total, of eligible sponsored employment within the 3 years preceding the application.
• An employer that was your last full-time sponsor on the 482 or 457 visa and that has obtained approval of a nomination for you in the 6 months before you apply.
• Age under 45 at application, in most cases.
• Competent English as a minimum, such as IELTS 6 in each of the four components (listening, reading, writing and speaking) (Competent English); no exemption from English exists in this stream.

The 186 visa carries a charge from AUD 6,140 (as of October 2026, official page). Because permanent residence criteria are revised frequently, check the official page before anchoring your long-term plans to this pathway.

Getting ready to apply from India

The preparation barely changes with the country you lodge from. The summary below draws on general Department of Home Affairs requirements and is meant for orientation, not as a personalised checklist.

• Passport. Hold a valid one. Home Affairs recommends completing any planned renewal before you apply, so that the details in your application match the document you travel on.
• Police certificates. Obtain one from each country, India among them, in which your combined time over the last 10 years since the age of 16 comes to 12 months or more. Home Affairs publishes a country-by-country list on obtaining police certificates. As a general rule a certificate is accepted for 12 months after its issue date (character requirements).
• Qualifications and licences. Assemble qualification and trade certificates plus any licence or registration your occupation depends on, and get any required skills assessment moving early.
• References. Each employment reference should be printed on the employer's letterhead and give the referee's name, title and contact details along with your position and period of service. Home Affairs additionally requests a CV spanning no less than the last 5 years.
• English test. Book an accepted test delivered in person (tests run entirely online are rejected) and retain your result.
• Translations. Documents in a language other than English require an English translation. Translators working outside Australia do not need accreditation, but each translation has to record the translator's full name, address, telephone number, qualifications and experience.
• Scanned copies. Capture each document in colour and verify that your name and date of birth are written identically across the whole set.

In addition, consult official Indian government sources about any rules that apply to citizens accepting work overseas.

Avoiding costly errors and recruitment fraud

• Treat visa "guarantees" as fraud. Home Affairs states that no one can guarantee an Australian visa, and that Australia issues no visa labels and no "work permits". An offer built on a guaranteed visa is a scam.
• Sponsorship cannot be bought. A sponsor is prohibited from recovering sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs from the worker. Seeking, offering or paying any benefit for sponsorship is a breach, and a breach within the past 3 years can bar you from the 482 visa.
• Only two groups may charge for immigration help. Australian law limits paid immigration assistance to registered migration agents (RMAs) and Australian legal practitioners. Confirm an agent's registration on the OMARA register (how to choose a migration agent).
• Visa charges are settled in ImmiAccount. Issuing a visa involves no additional government fee beyond the visa charge paid there.
• Mistakes that undermine applications: an occupation that does not reflect your genuine experience; an expired police certificate or English result; family members omitted (no additions are possible after lodgement); and inconsistent names or dates across documents.

Further reading: visa scams (Home Affairs) and what you need to know.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a 482 visa last?

A maximum of 4 years. To extend your time on a 482, your employer has to lodge a new nomination and you have to lodge a new visa application.

How much experience do I need for a 482?

At least 1 year of relevant work in the nominated occupation or a related field, accumulated during the last 5 years. Breaks are allowed, but the total must come to at least 12 months of full-time work.

What IELTS band is required for the 482?

IELTS 5.0 in each component (listening, reading, writing, speaking) for tests taken on or after 13 September 2025 (as of October 2026), unless you are exempt. Alternatives such as OET, TOEFL iBT and PTE Academic have their own minimums, set out on the official English requirements page.

Does the 482 have an upper age limit?

No; age is not a criterion for the Skills in Demand visa. By contrast, the permanent subclass 186 visa (TRT stream) normally requires applicants to be under 45.

What are the 482 visa charges?

As of October 2026: AUD 4,015 for the primary applicant and every family member aged 18 or over, and AUD 1,005 per child under 18. Tests, health checks and police certificates are additional personal costs. Refer to the official page.

What happens if my sponsored job ends?

A period of up to 180 days applies, during which you can secure a new sponsoring employer or prepare to leave Australia.

Can a 482 lead to permanent residence?

It can. Once you have 2 years of sponsored employment within the last 3 years, the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) TRT stream may be open to you, subject to a nomination from your employer and meeting the age and Competent English criteria.

Official sources

• Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa overview
• The 482 Core Skills stream
• The 482 Specialist Skills stream
• 482 English language criteria
• Salary rules and the income thresholds
• Labour market testing rules
• Sponsoring a worker: the steps
• Processing times worldwide
• Duties of sponsoring businesses
• Workplace protections for sponsored staff
• Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186)
• The 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream
• Definition of Competent English
• Meeting the character requirement
• Police certificates: instructions per country
• Engaging a migration agent
• Scams aimed at visa applicants