The Skills in Demand (SID) Visa: Australia's Subclass 482 Explained

What changed from the TSS visa?

The SID visa kept the bones of employer sponsorship — an approved sponsor, an approved nomination, then the visa application — but reformed the parts that workers found most restrictive:

• All streams now allow a stay of up to four years, with genuine pathways to permanent residency.

• Time with any approved sponsor counts towards permanent residence requirements, not just time with one employer.

• Visa holders who lose their job now have up to 180 days to find a new sponsor (and can work during that period), a significant improvement on the old 60-day rule.

• A public register of approved sponsors makes it easier for visa holders to identify employers who can take over their sponsorship.

The overall intent is worker mobility: skilled migrants are no longer as tightly tied to a single employer.

The three streams

Your stream is determined primarily by your guaranteed annual earnings under the nominated position.

1. Specialist Skills stream. For high earners — the income threshold (SSIT) is $146,717 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026. There is no occupation list, though trades workers, machinery operators, drivers and labourers are excluded regardless of salary. This stream receives priority processing, with the government targeting a median turnaround of just days.

2. Core Skills stream. This is where most applicants sit. Your occupation must appear on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL), a consolidated list maintained by Jobs and Skills Australia, and your guaranteed earnings must meet the Core Skills Income Threshold — $79,499 from 1 July 2026 (or the market rate for the role, whichever is higher). The CSOL is updated more regularly than the old lists, so an occupation's status can change: always check the current list before planning an application.

3. Labour Agreement stream. Essentially unchanged from the TSS framework, this stream applies where an employer has a formal labour agreement with the government — common in sectors with specific workforce arrangements. A separate "Essential Skills" pathway for lower-paid workers in sectors such as aged care and disability support has been flagged in the government's Migration Strategy but is still being designed.

Income thresholds are indexed each 1 July, so the figures above will rise again in mid-2027.

Applicant requirements

Beyond having a sponsoring employer and a qualifying occupation and salary, you'll need to show:

• Work experience: at least the equivalent of one year of full-time experience in your nominated occupation (or a related field) within the last five years. Part-time and casual work can count towards the full-time equivalent.

• Skills and qualifications consistent with the ANZSCO requirements for your occupation — and for some occupations, a formal skills assessment.

• English: generally IELTS 5.0 in each band (or the equivalent in another accepted test), with test results valid for three years from the test date. Note that the accepted score equivalencies were updated for tests taken from 13 September 2025, so check which table applies to your test.

• Health and character requirements, including police certificates where requested.

What employers need to do

Sponsorship is a three-step process, and each step has its own requirements:

1. Become an approved sponsor (Standard Business Sponsorship), demonstrating the business is lawfully operating and financially viable.

2. Nominate the position, including labour market testing (LMT) — advertising the role to show genuine efforts to recruit locally — and paying the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy. LMT has been streamlined (advertising on Workforce Australia is no longer required, and the advertising validity window has been extended), but it has not been abolished for most nominations.

3. Support the visa application, ensuring the salary meets both the relevant income threshold and the Australian market rate for the role.

Employers should also understand their ongoing sponsorship obligations — these continue for the life of the visa, and non-compliance can affect future sponsorship capacity.

Costs

From 1 July 2026, the base government application charge for the SID (482) visa is $4,015AUD for the primary applicant across all three streams, with additional charges for family members included in the application. The SAF levy — paid by the employer, and which cannot lawfully be passed on to the visa applicant — is charged per year of sponsorship and scales with business turnover. Budget also for skills assessments, English testing, health examinations and police certificates where required.

The pathway to permanent residency

This is where the SID visa genuinely improved on its predecessor. The main route is the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186), Temporary Residence Transition stream: after two years of full-time work in your nominated occupation while holding a 457, TSS or SID visa, your employer can nominate you for permanent residence. Because time with any approved sponsor now counts, changing employers no longer resets the clock, provided the work is continuous and in the same occupation.

Alternatively, the 186 Direct Entry stream is available for CSOL occupations where the applicant holds a positive skills assessment and at least three years of relevant full-time experience. Depending on your circumstances, points-tested skilled visas (189, 190, 491) may also be worth considering in parallel.

Common pitfalls to avoid

The refusals and delays we see most often come down to a handful of issues: a nominated salary that meets the income threshold but falls short of the genuine market rate for the role; work experience evidence that doesn't clearly cover twelve full-time-equivalent months; occupations that were on the list when the plan was made but removed by the time of lodgement; and labour market testing that doesn't strictly meet the advertising requirements. All of these are avoidable with careful preparation before lodgement — and much harder to fix afterwards.

Thinking about employer sponsorship?

Whether you are a worker with an Australian job offer or an employer looking to sponsor for the first time, the SID visa rewards preparation: confirming the right stream, checking the current CSOL and income thresholds, and getting the nomination evidence right before anything is lodged.

This article provides general information only and is not immigration advice for your specific circumstances. Occupation lists, income thresholds and fees change regularly; always confirm current requirements with the Department of Home Affairs before lodging.

Annie Davies- Davies Migration MARN: 2518970

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