Sponsorship and compliance

Employer-sponsored visas: 482, 494 and 186

Three visas let an Australian employer bring an overseas worker in for an ongoing role, or keep one who is already here. Which one applies depends on the role, the location and how long you need the person. We act for the employer in every case.

The idea

What “employer-sponsored” means

An employer-sponsored visa has three parts, and each is a separate decision by the Department of Home Affairs: the business is approved as a sponsor, the position is approved as a nomination, and the worker is granted the visa. The employer carries the first two and the obligations that follow. The worker’s application rests on them.

That order matters for timing. A business that is not yet an approved sponsor cannot lodge a nomination, and a nomination that is refused leaves the worker with nothing to apply against. The business case is built once and reused across all three stages.

Subclass 482

Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482)

The main temporary sponsorship visa, and the one most resources employers use for an ongoing role that is not a short visit. It replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa in December 2024. The worker is tied to the sponsor and the nominated position, and the visa runs for up to four years with a pathway to permanent residence after two years with the same employer.

Fits: an ongoing position on an occupation list, salary at or above the relevant threshold, work anywhere in Australia.
Does not fit: a defined scope of work measured in weeks, where the Short Stay Specialist visa (subclass 400) is the right tool.

Subclass 494

Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa (subclass 494)

The regional equivalent. The employer must be in a designated regional area, which covers most of Western Australia outside Perth and all of the Pilbara, Goldfields and Kimberley. The occupation list is broader than the 482 list, the visa runs for five years, and permanent residence comes through the subclass 191 after three years of regional work and income.

For a remote site this is often the visa the 482 occupation list quietly pushes you towards. The trade-off is the longer road to permanence, which affects retention.

Subclass 186

Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186)

Permanent residence, sponsored by the employer. Two streams matter in practice: Temporary Residence Transition, for a worker who has held a 482 with you for at least two years, and Direct Entry, for a worker who meets the skills assessment and experience requirements without that history. The nomination is still the employer’s, and the obligations run until the visa is granted.

Planning the 186 early changes how you set up the 482: the nominated occupation, the salary and the contract terms all carry across.

Obligations

What sponsoring commits you to

An approved sponsor must keep records, notify the Department of changes within 28 days, pay the nominated salary and the Skilling Australians Fund levy, not recover sponsorship costs from the worker, and cooperate with monitoring. The obligations are the same whether you sponsor one person or fifty, and they are audited.

Most compliance failures are administrative: a change of duties not notified, a salary that drifted below the nominated figure, a worker who finished early without the Department being told. None of them is hard to prevent with a calendar and a single owner inside the business.

How we help

How Resource Visa helps

We assess which of the three visas fits the role and the site, prepare the sponsorship and nomination as one evidenced business case, lodge the worker’s application, and set up the obligations calendar so the business stays compliant afterwards. If a short-term mobilisation is the real need, we will say so and run it on a subclass 400 instead.

Reviewed by a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1686595) · Last reviewed 16 October 2026

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