When people mention Australian work visas, the first ones that come to mind are usually the 485 graduate work visa and the Working Holiday Visa. There is, however, another common and convenient work visa that often gets overlooked — the visa category we are introducing in today’s article: the lowest-threshold employer-sponsored work visa, the subclass 482.

In short

The 482 visa is a 2–4 year work visa that allows the visa holder to work full-time, and even secondary applicants are permitted to work full-time. During the 482 visa period, you can not only accumulate work experience but also gain a pathway to applying for the subclass 186 employer-sponsored permanent residency — truly a multi-benefit option.

Core requirements

There are several requirements for the 482 visa: nominated position, relevant qualifications, English proficiency, work experience, and employer sponsorship.

Nominated position — the applicant’s nominated occupation must be on the 482 list, which is extremely broad and covers the vast majority of occupations. The nominated position may affect whether a subsequent transition to 186 PR is possible: occupations currently on the short-term list cannot lead to 186 PR, while occupations on the medium- and long-term list can.

However, there are reports that, in order to ease the labour shortage brought on by the pandemic, occupations on the short-term list will also gain a pathway to PR in the near future, and the government is finalising the details. For the specific lists and any follow-up news, feel free to contact and follow the author of this article.

Relevant qualifications — the applicant must hold qualifications relevant to the nominated occupation. ANZSCO sets out the baseline requirements for each occupation in Australia and New Zealand, and the applicant’s qualifications must meet what ANZSCO specifies. For example, accountants generally require a bachelor’s degree or above, while some trade occupations require Certificate III or above. Some specific occupations also require a skills assessment, though most do not mandate one.

English proficiency — the applicant must have English test results obtained within the past 3 years. The short-term list requires an IELTS overall score of 5 with no band lower than 4.5, and the medium- and long-term list requires a 5 in each of the four bands — significantly lower than the English requirements for other visa categories.

Work experience — the applicant must have 2 years of full-time work experience obtained after gaining the relevant qualification. A few things to note about this work experience: generally, only relevant experience obtained after graduation counts toward the requirement; full-time means 38 hours per week, and part-time hours need to be pro-rated; only paid work can be counted.

Employer sponsorship — the applicant must be nominated and sponsored by a company to be eligible to apply for the visa. The baseline requirements for the company include: the ability to genuinely offer the position, a good operating record, healthy financials, a reasonable organisational structure, and so on. When nominating certain positions, employers face more detailed requirements. For example, a company sponsoring an accountant position must have an annual turnover of at least AUD 1 million, at least 5 employees, and the duties of the position must not be entry-level work.

Selecting the nominated position and confirming the qualification requirements is relatively straightforward, but assessing the applicant’s work experience and the employer’s sponsorship eligibility requires a certain level of knowledge and experience. If you are unsure about your own or your company’s situation, feel free to contact the author for an assessment.

Process and fees

First, the employer must obtain sponsorship approval; then the employer lodges a nomination for the employee; finally, the employee submits the visa application.

The sponsorship fee is AUD 420 and the nomination fee is AUD 330. At the nomination stage, the employer must pay the Skilling Australians Fund levy (SAF) — AUD 1,200 or AUD 1,800 per year depending on whether the company’s turnover is below or above AUD 10 million, paid as a lump sum based on the number of years applied for on the visa. Finally, the primary applicant’s visa fee is AUD 1,290 (short-term list occupations) or AUD 2,690 (long-term list occupations).

Currently, 482 processing onshore in Australia is very fast. Sponsorship and nomination decisions usually come through within 6 months, and in some cases within 2 months. Compared with other work visas, the visa itself is also quick — grants within about 3 months are common.

How should you use it?

There are three things to keep in mind: position alignment, meeting the duration requirement, and confirming the company’s eligibility.

Position alignment →

The applicant’s educational background must be highly relevant to the position they are working in, and the applicant’s duties must be highly relevant to the job title. This helps avoid situations where the work experience does not meet requirements. For example, if an accounting applicant has been doing business analyst work, there will be a mismatch between the nominated position and work experience, which can affect the nomination and visa outcome.

Meeting the duration → two dimensions

First, make sure the work is full-time at 38 hours per week. If it is part-time, be mindful of pro-rating; if it is casual work, extra caution is needed.

Second, ensure the length of work experience reaches 2 years. The new 485 has been extended from 1.5 and 2 years to 2 and 3 years respectively, giving new graduates much more flexibility. For those who have some work experience but not yet 2 years of full-time work, you may need to go through another visa before applying for the 482 in order to accumulate the 2 years.

The more common options we see include:

-Being a secondary applicant on your spouse’s 485 work visa or 500 student visa.

-Applying for a student visa yourself to continue studying while also working (at present, student visas also allow full-time work).

There is also the 408 visa: specific-field work (such as medical, nursing, agriculture, food service and accommodation, and tourism) can obtain a 1-year visa with full-time work rights; applicants working in other fields can apply for a 6-month visa with full-time work rights (latest update as of 3 March 2022 — please contact the author for detailed requirements).

Finally, and most importantly, the sponsor — i.e. the employer — must confirm whether it can reasonably provide sponsorship to the employee. The company must not only meet the basic sponsorship requirements, but also consider reasonableness. Factors include whether the main business aligns with the nominated position, whether the position is a new or existing one, whether the company’s financial situation can support the nomination, and even the ratio of Australian citizens and PR holders to temporary visa holders within the company.

If a sponsoring company is unsure whether it can sponsor a nomination, feel free to contact us for an assessment — NewStar Migration has a wealth of successful cases and extensive experience.

Pathways to PR

If the applicant’s nominated position is on the medium- and long-term list, there is an opportunity to apply for the subclass 186 employer-sponsored PR. There are two common pathways.

The first is the 186 Transition pathway, which means that after continuing to work for the employer for 3 years, and achieving a 6 in each of the four IELTS bands, the employee can be nominated by the employer for the 186 application, thereby obtaining PR.

The second is the 186 Direct Entry pathway, which means that with 3 years of work experience (not necessarily after the 482), plus a 6 in each of the four IELTS bands and a skills assessment, the employee can be nominated by the employer for a one-step 186 application. This is faster than the Transition pathway. Which pathway to take depends on the specific circumstances of both the employee and the employer at the time.

Why more and more people are choosing the 482

Lastly, as a visa that does not require migration points or waiting for an invitation, the 482 is very well suited to people who already have a job or to companies that want to sponsor their own employees. The point-to-point sponsorship arrangement allows applicants to stay in popular cities such as Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. While having their own 186 PR pathway, applicants also avoid the soaring points, constant changes, unpredictable invitations and unknown waiting times associated with some state government nominations.

Selected recent success stories

Accountant 482 granted — lodged in July last year, nomination approved in August, visa granted in December!

Accountant nomination approved — lodged at the end of October last year, nomination secured in about a month!

Marketing specialist 482 granted — lodged in the middle of last year, nomination approved in October, visa granted in less than a month!

Secondary school teacher 482 granted!

As long as you have a job, you have the opportunity to apply! If you are interested in the 482 visa, feel free to contact us for an assessment and plan ahead.