Answers to questions Australian employers ask about mobilising overseas specialists, sponsorship and compliance. Each answer is a short version; follow the link for the full one.
Mobilisation
Mobilisation and the Short Stay Specialist visa (subclass 400)
Same-business-day triage. One document request. Lodged within two business days of a complete file. For crews, we agree the lodgement timetable at triage. That’s how fast we work. Decisions and processing times rest with the Department of Home Affairs. Enquiries after 3pm AWST, on weekends or on WA public holidays are triaged the next business day.
No. The 400 is the specialist’s own application. Your business supports it with an invitation and evidence. There’s no sponsorship approval or nomination stage and no sponsorship obligations, but your business must not let anyone work in breach of their visa conditions.
Normally up to three months in any 12-month period, counting every 400 stay with any employer. Up to six months only in exceptional circumstances, on strong evidence. A specialist who has already spent time in Australia on a 400 in the last 12 months may be granted only the balance, so offshore and FIFO rosters that add up to more than three months a year need a different visa.
In September 2024 the Department of Home Affairs began applying the 400 more strictly. Longer stays, repeat visits, large groups and roles that look ongoing get closer scrutiny, so every application needs evidence that the work is specialised, short-term and can’t be sourced locally.
There’s no formal labour market testing for a 400. The application still has to show why the skills aren’t readily available in Australia, and certification, OEM authorisation and licensing usually show that better than a job ad.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship and the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482)
On 7 December 2024 the Skills in Demand visa replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa. It kept the subclass number 482. The subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa has three streams: Specialist Skills, Core Skills and Labour Agreement.
A 482 can be granted for up to four years.
Yes. Sponsorship, nomination and visa are three separate applications, though in many cases they can be lodged together.
Before nominating, most employers must test the Australian labour market: at least two advertisements, each running for at least four weeks, within the four months before the nomination is lodged, unless an exemption applies. We build this into your recruitment so the evidence is there when you need it.
Compliance
Compliance and obligations
Sponsor obligations start when you’re approved, and some continue after the sponsorship ends.
Cessation of employment is a notifiable event with a deadline attached. Notify within the required timeframe, a late notification is a breach even though the resignation itself is not.
It can be. The worker must perform the nominated occupation.
FIFO rosters
FIFO rosters
The subclass 400 (Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist)) visa is for short-term, highly specialised work in Australia where the skills aren’t readily available locally. Normally up to three months in any 12-month period, counting every 400 stay with any employer. Up to six months only in exceptional circumstances, on strong evidence. A specialist who has already spent time in Australia on a 400 in the last 12 months may be granted only the balance, so offshore and FIFO rosters that add up to more than three months a year need a different visa.
Working with us
Working with us
Already sponsoring under the 482 or a DAMA? Start with a Sponsor Compliance Check: a structured conversation about your sponsorship position, followed by a one-page note of the gaps we discussed. No fee for the initial check. Any further work is quoted in writing before it starts. Before we meet, we’ll send you the Consumer Guide published by the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority. The Sponsor Compliance Retainer is an ongoing engagement in which we manage a sponsor’s obligations.
The records remain your business’s records and your legal obligation. What changes is that they are maintained in a producible form and someone is responsible for that.
Not on their own: every engagement starts with an employer. If you need help with your own visa, you can search the Register of Migration Agents at mara.gov.au.
Engagements are fixed-fee, scoped in writing before we start, and quoted at the 20-minute briefing once we understand the work. Sponsorship and nomination charges, the Skilling Australians Fund levy and recruitment costs sit with the sponsor. Australian law prohibits passing them to the sponsored worker, directly or through deductions or bonds.
A Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1686595). You can check the registration on the Register of Migration Agents at mara.gov.au. Unless a narrow exemption applies, only a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner may give immigration assistance, and only they may charge for it.
Reviewed by a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1686595) · Last reviewed [date]
Book a 20-minute mobilisation briefing
Twenty minutes. No obligation. Direct with a Registered Migration Agent. Tell us the role, the site and the date.
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AWST