The Australian Skills in Demand (482) visa, explained

A plain guide for Nigerian workers to the way Australian employers sponsor staff from overseas: who qualifies, skills and English, health and character, each stage of the process, family, and the road to permanent residence.

Last updated: 2026-10-03. General information, not migration advice.

The 482 visa in brief

Whether you are a tradesperson, chef, carer or another skilled worker, this visa is the main door an Australian employer can open for you. Here is what it involves, without the jargon.

Under the Skills in Demand (SID) visa, subclass 482, an Australian business can sponsor a skilled worker from overseas to fill a role it has been unable to fill with a suitably skilled Australian. The visa is temporary and lasts up to 4 years. Staying beyond that on a 482 means a fresh nomination from your employer and a fresh visa application from you.

It is split into three main streams:

Core Skills: covers occupations on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL), which is where most of the trade, care and hospitality jobs on NaijaAbroad sit.
Specialist Skills: for well-paid roles in selected occupation groups, where the salary is at or above the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (AUD 146,576 (as of October 2026, official page)). Because only certain occupation groups qualify, labourers, machinery operators and trades are excluded.
Labour Agreement: for workers nominated by employers that hold a labour agreement with the Australian Government, which may set its own requirements.

Do you qualify?

In the Core Skills stream you will need:

Sponsorship and nomination. The employer must be an approved sponsor, or have applied to be a Standard Business Sponsor, and must nominate you for the job.
A listed occupation. The job must be on the Core Skills Occupation List and must genuinely call for your skills.
Proper pay. Your salary must match the Annual Market Salary Rate for the role and cannot fall below the Core Skills Income Threshold, which is AUD 79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 (as of October 2026, official page). A sponsored worker may not earn less than an Australian in the same job.
Relevant experience of at least 1 year in the nominated occupation or a related field (more below).
Health, character and English requirements met, plus adequate health insurance for your entire stay.
Any age. The 482 visa has no age requirement.

Open roles that may suit you: Australian sponsored jobs.

Experience, qualifications and skills assessment

Work history: a minimum of 1 year of relevant experience, in the nominated occupation or a closely related one, earned within the last 5 years. It does not have to be continuous, but it must total at least 12 months of full-time work.
Qualifications: you must hold the skills and qualifications your occupation demands, including any licence or registration required to practise it in Australia.
Skills assessment: certain occupations require a formal assessment, typically through VETASSESS or Trades Recognition Australia (TRA). If yours is one of them, the assessment must already be under way when you lodge, otherwise your visa application is invalid, and it must date from within the 3 years before you apply.
No assessment needed? Home Affairs may instead ask to see your qualification certificates, licences, employment references and CV as proof of your skills.

Official source: Core Skills stream page (Home Affairs).

The English test

Unless an exemption applies, the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams require you to meet the English requirement. Where your test was sat on or after 13 September 2025, these are the lowest acceptable scores for each component (as of October 2026, official page):

English test	Listening	Reading	Writing	Speaking
IELTS (General Training or Academic)	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0
PTE Academic	33	36	29	24
TOEFL iBT	8	8	9	14
OET	220	240	200	270

You must have sat the test no more than 3 years before applying.
Fully online or at-home tests, IELTS Online among them, do not count.
Further tests are also accepted, such as the Michigan English Test, CELPIP General and LANGUAGECERT Academic; their required scores are on the official page.
You are exempt if, for example, you hold a passport from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland, or you have finished at least 5 years of full-time secondary or higher study taught mainly in English.
In the Labour Agreement stream, the labour agreement itself may set the English requirement.

Health, insurance and police checks

Health: you, and every family member included in the application, must satisfy the health requirement, which normally involves health examinations. The results usually remain valid for 12 months.
Insurance: adequate health cover must be in place for your entire stay.
Character: applicants and family members who are 16 or older must satisfy the character requirement. In practice that usually means police certificates from each country, your home country included, where you have spent 12 months or more in total over the past 10 years since turning 16.

Official sources: Core Skills stream and Home Affairs character rules.

The process, from offer to grant

Local advertising first. In most cases the employer must advertise the role in Australia before nominating: at least 2 ads, each running for at least 4 weeks, during the 4 months leading up to the nomination (labour market testing rules).
Application and offer. You apply, typically do a video interview, and are offered the job.
Sponsor approval. If the business is not yet an approved sponsor, it becomes one.
Nomination. The employer nominates your role and passes you the Transaction Reference Number (TRN) for that nomination.
Your paperwork. Passport, evidence of skills (with a skills assessment where required), English results, police certificates, references from employers, and translations.
Lodgement. You apply online through ImmiAccount, quoting the nomination TRN, and pay the visa charge.
Biometrics and health checks when you are asked for them.
Outcome. No visa can be granted until the nomination is approved.
Arrival and first day. Work must begin no later than 90 days after you land in Australia, or after the grant if you are already there.

Official sources: how sponsoring a worker works and the Core Skills stream.

Processing times and fees

How long processing takes (as of October 2026, official page), according to the Home Affairs processing-time tool:

Stream of the 482	50% finalised within	90% finalised within
Core Skills	4 months	9 months
Specialist Skills	37 days	78 days
Labour Agreement	5 months	9 months

Treat these numbers as a guide only: they move frequently, and any single case may be quicker or slower. Build in time for the earlier stages as well, because the job search, sponsorship and nomination, skills assessment, English test and police certificates can each run for weeks.

What the visa costs (as of October 2026, official page): AUD 4,015 for the main applicant and for each family member 18 or older, and AUD 1,005 for each family member younger than 18. On top of that you cover your English test, health examinations, police certificates and biometrics. From 1 July 2026, eligible citizens of Timor-Leste and Pacific Island countries pay a reduced charge.

Rules while you hold the visa

Your work is limited to the nominated occupation and to your sponsor, or in some cases an associated entity of the sponsor.
Employment has to begin within 90 days.
Should your job with the sponsor end, you get up to 180 days to line up another sponsor or arrange to depart Australia.
The sponsor cannot recover sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs from you (obligations of sponsors). As a sponsored worker you also have workplace rights in Australia: read about your rights at work.

Partner and children

Your partner, and dependent children (yours or your partner's), can be part of your application.
Once in Australia, family members can work, study and live there.
They must either be included in the nomination or have the sponsor's written agreement to sponsor them.
Family cannot be added after lodgement; anyone joining you later applies separately as a subsequent entrant.
Every family member pays a visa charge (covered above), must meet the health requirement and, once 16 or older, the character requirement.

Moving on to permanent residence (subclass 186)

The subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme visa is a permanent visa, and its Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream is where most 482 holders go next. Key requirements (as of October 2026, official page):

You currently hold a subclass 482 or 457 visa, or an eligible bridging visa.
Within the 3 years before applying, you have completed 2 years in total of eligible sponsored employment.
The employer nominating you was your most recent full-time sponsor on that 482 or 457 visa, and has had a nomination for you approved in the 6 months before you apply.
In most cases you must be under 45 at the time of applying.
Your English is at least Competent, for instance IELTS 6 in listening, reading, writing and speaking (Competent English explained). This stream offers no English exemption.

Expect the 186 visa to cost from AUD 6,140 (as of October 2026, official page). Permanent residence rules are revised often, so check the official page before you build plans on them.

Preparing your application from Nigeria

Whether you lodge from Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt or anywhere else, the groundwork looks much the same. What follows is a general outline drawn from what the Department of Home Affairs asks for; use it for orientation, not as a personal checklist.

Your passport. Hold a valid one. If a renewal or replacement is coming up, Home Affairs suggests sorting it out before you apply so that your details line up.
Police clearances. Any country where, since your 16th birthday, you have lived for 12 months or more in total during the past 10 years must give you a police certificate, and Nigeria is no exception. For instructions per country, use the Home Affairs country list for police certificates. As a rule, a certificate counts for 12 months from the day it was issued (Home Affairs character rules).
Papers that prove your skills. Collect your trade and qualification certificates, plus whatever registration or licence your occupation calls for. Where your occupation needs a skills assessment, begin it as soon as you can.
Letters from past employers. Each reference belongs on company letterhead and should state your job title and the dates you worked there, along with the referee's name, position and contact details. Home Affairs also wants a CV that goes back at least 5 years.
English results. Sit an accepted test at a test centre (tests done fully online do not count) and hold on to your score report.
Anything not in English. Get it translated into English. A translator based outside Australia need not be accredited, yet every translation has to show their qualifications and experience, full name, address and phone number.
Digital copies. Make clear colour scans or photos of each document, and check that your name and date of birth are written the same way everywhere.

Separately, find out whether the Nigerian government has rules for citizens going abroad to work, and rely only on official government sources for that.

Fake offers and avoidable errors

A "guaranteed visa" is a red flag. According to Home Affairs, nobody is able to guarantee you an Australian visa, and Australia issues neither visa labels nor "work permits". Walk away from anyone selling a guarantee.
Money for a job or for sponsorship is off-limits. A sponsor may not shift the costs of recruiting, nominating or sponsoring you onto you. Requesting, offering or handing over any benefit in exchange for sponsorship breaks the rules, and having done so within the last 3 years can lead to you being refused the 482 visa.
Check who you pay for advice. Under Australian law, the only people allowed to charge for immigration assistance are Australian legal practitioners and registered migration agents (RMAs). Look an agent up on the OMARA register before dealing with them (Home Affairs guidance on picking an agent).
Government fees go through ImmiAccount only. That is where you pay the visa charge, and the government adds no extra fee for issuing a visa.
Avoidable errors: choosing an occupation your actual experience does not support; allowing an English result or police certificate to lapse; forgetting family members, who cannot be added once the application is lodged; and names or dates that differ from one document to the next.

Read further: visa scams (Home Affairs) and key facts about scams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the maximum stay on a 482 visa?

Up to 4 years. Staying longer on a 482 requires a new nomination from your employer and a new visa application from you.

How much experience is required?

A minimum of 1 year of relevant experience, in the nominated occupation or a related field, gained within the last 5 years. It must total at least 12 months full-time, though it need not be continuous.

What English score does the 482 visa need?

Unless you are exempt, IELTS 5.0 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking, for tests sat on or after 13 September 2025 (as of October 2026). PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, OET and other tests are accepted with their own scores; the Home Affairs English page lists them.

Am I too old for a 482 visa?

No. The Skills in Demand visa has no age requirement. For the permanent subclass 186 visa (TRT stream), however, you usually need to be under 45.

What does the 482 visa cost?

As of October 2026: AUD 4,015 for the main applicant and each family member 18 or older, and AUD 1,005 for each child under 18. Your own costs for police certificates, tests and health checks come on top. Details are on the Home Affairs page.

What if my job ends?

You get up to 180 days to find another employer willing to sponsor you, or to arrange to leave Australia.

Can a 482 visa lead to permanent residence?

It may. Once you have 2 years of sponsored work within the last 3 years, you could apply for the TRT stream of the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186), provided your employer nominates you and you satisfy the age and Competent English requirements.

Official sources

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