What the subclass 482 visa is
The Skills in Demand visa is a temporary employer-sponsored work visa. It replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa in December 2024, and it lets an approved sponsor bring a skilled worker to Australia to fill a position the sponsor has not been able to fill locally. The visa is tied to the sponsoring employer and the nominated occupation, not to the person’s general skill set. It grants temporary residence, work rights limited to the nominated occupation and sponsor (unless a change-in-situation process applies), and often sits ahead of a later permanent residence application.
The visa runs on three streams: Specialist Skills, Core Skills, and Labour Agreement. Each has a different occupation scope, a different income test, and a different evidentiary bar. An application built for the wrong stream does not get fixed by extra paperwork later.
A common misconception is that this is a “points visa” like the skilled independent categories. It is not. There is no points test and no competition against other applicants. The case turns on whether the sponsor, the nomination, and the individual criteria are each made out to the Department’s satisfaction, one after another, as three linked but separate approvals.
The factors an agent assesses
Sponsorship status
The employer must hold, or successfully apply for, approved sponsor status before a nomination can be lodged. An agent checks whether the business is genuine and actively trading, and whether its structure (labour hire, group entity, newly incorporated) raises questions the Department is likely to probe.
The nominated position and stream fit
Which stream applies depends on the occupation and the annual earnings attached to the role. Core Skills nominations must draw on an occupation listed on the Core Skills Occupation List. Specialist Skills nominations sit within particular ANZSCO major groups and are assessed against a higher income threshold rather than a fixed occupation list, with trades, machinery operation and similar occupations carved out. Labour Agreement nominations depend entirely on the terms of the employer’s individual labour agreement with the Australian Government. An agent maps the role, salary, and ANZSCO classification against these settings before deciding which stream, if any, fits.
Income threshold
Each stream carries its own minimum annual earnings figure, referred to here only by acronym (the Core Skills Income Threshold and the Specialist Skills Income Threshold) because the figures are indexed and change periodically. An agent checks the current figures on the Home Affairs website against the fixed base earnings actually written into the employment contract, not the advertised salary range.
Skills and qualifications
The nominee’s qualifications, licensing, and (where required) a positive skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority are checked against the ANZSCO description for the occupation, not just the job title the employer uses internally.
Work experience
A minimum period of recent, relevant work experience in the nominated occupation or a closely related field is required, and the Migration Regulations set how that period is measured. The exact requirement varies by stream. An agent checks your documented history against the current requirement, because gaps and inconsistent job titles are a common reason a nomination stalls.
English language
A specified level of English is required, tested through an approved test or established through an accepted exemption such as a passport or qualification-based exemption. Which level applies depends on the stream and occupation.
Health and character
Standard health and character requirements apply to the applicant and relevant family members, assessed through the usual medical exam and police certificate processes.
Where it sits in a pathway
People coming onto a subclass 482 typically hold a student visa, a working holiday visa, another temporary work visa, or apply from offshore on a fresh job offer. Some come through the subclass 457 legacy pathway that this visa’s structure descends from.
From the subclass 482, the common next step is the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186), either through the Temporary Residence Transition stream (a qualifying period of employment with an approved sponsor, under settings that have changed more than once in recent years) or the Direct Entry stream (independent of the 482). Some holders instead pursue a skilled independent or state-nominated permanent pathway once they separately meet those criteria. None of these routes are automatic. Each is a fresh application assessed on its own criteria at the time it is lodged.
What typically goes wrong
Stream mismatch. A role is nominated under Core Skills when the salary and ANZSCO classification actually point to Specialist Skills, or vice versa. This is usually caught late, after the employer has already committed to a salary structure that does not fit.
Sponsor obligations underestimated. Employers treat sponsorship as a one-off administrative step rather than an ongoing compliance relationship. Record-keeping, notification obligations, and training contribution obligations are recurring duties, not a single lodgement event.
Job description drift. The duties actually performed do not match the ANZSCO description used to justify the nominated occupation. This surfaces at monitoring or at a later permanent visa stage, not always at initial grant.
Work experience documentation gaps. Overseas employment references that do not specify hours, dates, or duties in enough detail to map against the legislative requirement. Payslips and superannuation records rarely exist in the same form overseas as in Australia, so an agent has to reconstruct the evidence from whatever the applicant’s home jurisdiction actually produces.
Assuming the 482 is a fixed step toward permanent residence. Some applicants and sponsors plan the visa as though the move to permanent residence is a formality. The 186 pathways carry their own separate criteria, including the current qualifying-period settings under the Temporary Residence Transition stream, and those settings have changed more than once in recent years.