Employer sponsored migration
Subclass 482, 186 and 494 — from standard business sponsorship through to permanent residence, prepared to withstand a delegate's scrutiny.
Sponsorship is three approvals, not one application
Employers frequently discover this halfway through. A sponsored visa requires the Department to approve three separate things, and each can be refused independently:
- Sponsorship — that your business is a lawfully operating entity with the financial capacity and record to sponsor.
- Nomination — that this specific position is genuine, correctly classified, properly remunerated, and that any required labour market testing has been done compliantly.
- Visa — that the nominated person has the skills, experience, English, health and character to hold the visa.
The nomination is where most files fail, and it is the stage that rewards preparation most. A delegate assessing whether a position is genuine is looking at the shape of your business, the role's place in it, and whether the duties described could plausibly occupy a full-time employee at the classification claimed.
Visa subclasses we work with
| Subclass | What it is | Typically suits |
|---|---|---|
| 482 Skills in Demand |
Temporary sponsored work visa. Core Skills, Specialist Skills and Essential Skills streams, each with its own occupation list, income threshold and experience requirement. | Filling a role now, with a permanent pathway opening later through the transition stream. |
| 186 Employer Nomination Scheme |
Permanent residence. Temporary Residence Transition stream for employees already sponsored; Direct Entry stream for those with a skills assessment and qualifying experience. | Retaining an employee long term, or recruiting directly to permanent residence. |
| 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional |
Provisional regional visa sponsored by an employer in a designated regional area, with a pathway to permanent residence through Subclass 191. | Regional employers, and occupations with wider availability outside the metropolitan lists. |
Income thresholds, occupation lists, experience requirements and the Skilling Australians Fund levy are all indexed or amended from time to time. We confirm the figures that apply on the day we quote.
Occupation matching comes first
Before anything else, we test whether the role you have can be described honestly as the occupation you need. That means comparing the actual duties against the ANZSCO unit group, checking the occupation against the Core Skills Occupation List and any applicable state or labour agreement variation, and identifying where the description will attract questions.
Occasionally the honest answer is that the role does not fit any available occupation. We would rather tell you that in week one than have you find out at nomination refusal.
Labour market testing done in the right order
Labour market testing fails on technicalities more often than on substance. The recurring problems are ads placed on non-approved platforms, ads that omit the salary or salary range, ads that ran for less than the required period, and ads that fall outside the permitted window before lodgement.
We prepare the advertising copy and the placement plan before the ads run, keep the evidence in the form the Department expects, and build the testing summary into the nomination submission rather than attaching screenshots at the end.
After approval: obligations that keep running
Approval is not the end of the sponsor's exposure. Obligations continue throughout the sponsorship and can survive it — including paying the nominated salary, keeping the employee in the nominated occupation, keeping prescribed records, and notifying the Department of specified events within set timeframes. Monitoring is real, and breaches attract barring and civil penalties.
We issue a written obligations schedule when your sponsorship is approved and stay reachable for the questions that come up later — a restructure, a pay review, a resignation, a change of business address.
Questions we are asked before a file opens
Yes. There is no minimum size or trading history written into the sponsorship criteria. What matters is that the business is lawfully operating, that it has the financial capacity to employ the person at the nominated salary, and that the position is genuine within a business of that size. Small businesses are assessed more closely on exactly that last point, so the organisational context and financial evidence need to be prepared with more care, not less.
This is one of the most common reasons a nomination is refused. ANZSCO occupations are not a menu to combine. If the actual duties straddle two unit groups, the position must be classified by where its substance sits, and the description must reflect the real job rather than being drafted toward a convenient code. Where the fit is genuinely marginal, we say so and look at alternatives before lodging.
It affects timing and risk rather than eligibility. Current visa conditions, remaining validity, work rights, and whether any bar applies all shape the sequence. If a previous application has been refused or a visa cancelled, that must be dealt with first — see Refusals & appeals.
Government charges (application charges and the Skilling Australians Fund levy) are set by the Department and payable regardless of who prepares the file. Our professional fees are quoted as a fixed amount per stage after the initial assessment, so you know the total before you engage us. Certain costs must by law be borne by the sponsor and cannot be passed to the employee; we set that out in writing at the start.
Either. Some employers want the file run end to end; others have internal HR and want us on occupation classification, labour market testing compliance and the submission itself. We scope it at the assessment stage.
Tell us about the role.
Send through the position and a short description of the business. We will tell you whether sponsorship is viable and what it would take.