482 Visa Eligibility
482 Visa Requirements
& Eligibility
A complete checklist of what you, your occupation, and your employer each need to satisfy before a 482 Skills in Demand nomination can be lodged. If any of these are missing, the application cannot proceed — and an honest agent will tell you so before taking any money.
Get My Free Eligibility Assessment482 Visa Eligibility at a Glance
Before checking each requirement in detail, here is the summary checklist. Every item below must be satisfied at the time of nomination lodgement. If any cannot be ticked, the application cannot proceed — and an honest agent will tell you so before taking any fees.
Your occupation appears on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL), or you qualify under the Specialist Skills stream (salary ≥ $135,000) or a Labour Agreement
You have at least 1 year of full-time paid work experience in your nominated ANZSCO occupation, verifiable through employment records
You hold a current skills assessment from the relevant assessing body, if your occupation requires one (not all do — your consultant confirms)
You meet the English language benchmark for your stream and occupation
Your sponsoring employer holds Standard Business Sponsorship (SBS) approval, or has applied for it as part of the process
Your employer has lodged (or is ready to lodge) a valid nomination for the specific position you will fill
The salary offered meets or exceeds the relevant income threshold — verify the current CSIT and Specialist Skills minimum at homeaffairs.gov.au
Occupation Eligibility
The 482 visa does not cover every skilled occupation — only those on the relevant occupation list or covered by a Labour Agreement. Confirming occupation eligibility is the first step in any assessment, because if your occupation is not eligible, none of the other requirements matter.
The Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL)
The CSOL is the primary list of occupations eligible for the 482 Core Skills stream. It was introduced in December 2024, consolidating the previous MLTSSL (Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List) and STSOL (Short-term Skilled Occupation List) into a single, current list. Occupations are listed by ANZSCO code — the six-digit Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations code.
A common source of confusion: job titles do not map neatly to ANZSCO codes. A 'Software Developer' might fall under multiple codes (for example, 261313 Software Engineer, 261312 Analyst Programmer, or 261314 Software Tester), and only some of those codes may appear on the CSOL. The mismatch between a day-to-day job title and the precise ANZSCO code is one of the most common sources of incorrect eligibility assessments — including incorrect assessments done without professional review. Your RedBridge consultant confirms the correct code for your specific duties before any nomination is prepared.
How to Check If Your Occupation Is Listed
The Department of Home Affairs publishes the current CSOL on homeaffairs.gov.au. You can also look up ANZSCO codes using the Australian Bureau of Statistics ANZSCO classification tool. However, finding your occupation on the list is not the complete eligibility check — you also need to confirm that your actual work experience and duties align with the ANZSCO definition of that occupation.
The Department assesses your experience against the ANZSCO definition, not against your job title or employer's internal classification. Discrepancies between your actual duties and the ANZSCO definition are a common refusal ground — particularly in occupations like ICT, where the line between 'software engineer', 'systems analyst', and 'ICT consultant' is often blurred in practice. This is where a professional review adds real value before you commit to an application.
Skills Assessment Requirements
Not all 482 applications require a formal skills assessment. Whether you need one depends on your nominated ANZSCO occupation and, in some cases, your nationality. This is one of the first things your consultant confirms at the eligibility stage — because if an assessment is required and you do not have a current one, the nomination cannot be lodged.
When a Formal Skills Assessment Is Required
Skills assessments are mandatory for certain occupations as a condition of 482 nomination. The relevant assessing body depends on your occupation:
ICT occupations — Australian Computer Society (ACS)
Engineering occupations — Engineers Australia (EA) or VETASSESS for some codes
Accounting occupations — CPA Australia, CA ANZ (CAANZ), or Institute of Public Accountants (IPA)
Marketing, management, and many professional/managerial occupations — VETASSESS or Australian Marketing Institute (AMI)
Automotive and trades occupations — Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) or VETASSESS
Some occupations that previously required a skills assessment under the TSS framework were reclassified under the CSOL reforms. If you received an eligibility assessment before December 2024 that indicated a skills assessment was required, it is worth re-confirming whether this still applies under the current rules.
How Long Assessments Take and What to Prepare
Skills assessment processing times vary significantly by body and current backlog. As general guidance based on typical timelines: ACS assessments typically take 4–8 weeks from a complete submission; VETASSESS professional assessments commonly take 10–16 weeks; Engineers Australia assessments vary by pathway but generally 6–12 weeks; TRA trade assessments depend on the pathway used. These are indicative only — each body publishes its current processing times on its website.
The practical implication: if your occupation requires an assessment and you have not started one, your timeline to lodgement will extend by several months. RedBridge factors this into your pathway plan from the first consultation, so nothing is waiting at the critical moment. If you already have a skills assessment, confirm the expiry date — most assessments are valid for three years from the date of issue.
English Language Requirements
All 482 applicants must satisfy an English language benchmark unless a specific exemption applies. The applicable benchmark and accepted test types depend on your stream and, in some cases, your specific occupation.
For the Core Skills stream, the typical standard is 'vocational' English: IELTS (Academic or General Training) 5.0 in each band; PTE Academic 36 in each communicative skill; OET B in each sub-test (for health and medical occupations); or TOEFL iBT at the applicable score — confirm current thresholds at homeaffairs.gov.au. Some occupations require the higher 'competent' English standard, typically IELTS 6.0 in each band or equivalent.
Exemptions exist for citizens of countries including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the Republic of Ireland, where the applicant holds that country's passport. Australian citizens and permanent residents are exempt. However, passport-based exemptions do not automatically apply in all circumstances — confirm at your eligibility consultation.
English test results must be within three years of the nomination lodgement date. If your results are approaching or have passed this window, you will need to resit before the nomination can be lodged. Factor this into your timeline planning.
Work Experience Requirements
The 482 requires at least one year of full-time, paid work experience in your nominated ANZSCO occupation. This is a minimum — some occupations or streams require more. The experience must be in the specific occupation you are being nominated for, not just broadly related work.
Part-time work can be counted if the cumulative hours are equivalent to full-time within the required period. Casual work is acceptable if it is verifiable and in your nominated occupation. Volunteer work, unpaid internships, and shadow placements do not count. Overseas experience is accepted provided it is verifiable, in the nominated occupation, and within the reference period — typically within the five years prior to nomination lodgement.
Documentation is the critical variable. Your experience needs to be demonstrated through a combination of employment contracts, payslips, reference letters on company letterhead, position descriptions, and where relevant, statutory declarations. Applications fail on this point more often than applicants expect — particularly where employers cannot be contacted for references, payslips are missing for some periods, or where experience was gained in a family business. The Department assesses what is in the application, not what you feel is self-evident.
If you are currently employed in Australia and are being sponsored by a different employer, your full employment history still needs to be documented. Time spent in the same role but with a different job title (for example, after a promotion or team restructure) counts if the underlying ANZSCO duties are consistent.
What Your Employer Needs in Place Before You Apply
The 482 visa involves three separate legal applications — Standard Business Sponsorship (SBS), nomination, and the visa itself — and two of those three are the employer's responsibility. Employers who have not been through this process before often underestimate the time and complexity of their obligations.
Approved Sponsor Status
Your employer must hold approved Standard Business Sponsorship (SBS) status before a nomination can be lodged. SBS approval is employer-specific and application-based. The employer submits a SBS application to the Department of Home Affairs, which typically takes 4–8 weeks to process if the application is complete and the business meets all criteria.
An employer who is already SBS-approved can proceed directly to nomination. SBS approval lasts for five years and must be renewed before it lapses — a lapsed SBS means the employer cannot lawfully lodge a nomination. Before RedBridge introduces any client to an employer in our network, we confirm active SBS status. Applications submitted under a lapsed or withdrawn SBS are invalid.
Nomination Requirements
Once SBS is in place, the employer lodges a nomination specifying the role, the ANZSCO occupation code, the location, and the salary. The nomination must satisfy Labour Market Testing (LMT) requirements, demonstrating that the employer made genuine efforts to recruit from the local labour market before turning to overseas sponsorship.
The nomination application fee and the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy are paid by the employer at lodgement. The visa application can be lodged concurrently with or after the nomination. The Department assesses both applications, and the nomination must be approved before the visa can be granted. For a full breakdown of nomination and SAF levy costs, see the 482 Visa Cost & Fees page.
Common Reasons Applications Are Refused
Refusals are avoidable in most cases — they occur because of incomplete documentation, an incorrect occupation classification, work experience that does not match the ANZSCO definition, or an employer who is not genuinely SBS-compliant. Understanding the common failure points helps you avoid them.
Occupation mismatch — the applicant's actual duties do not align with the ANZSCO definition of the nominated occupation, as the Department assesses it
Insufficient or undocumented work experience — a general claim of 'X years of experience' without supporting payslips, contracts, and references
Missing or expired skills assessment — the nomination was lodged without a required skills assessment, or the assessment has passed its three-year validity period
English language test results outside the three-year window at the time of nomination
Employer non-compliance — the sponsor's SBS has lapsed, the Labour Market Testing evidence was inadequate, or the nomination documentation was incomplete
Salary below the relevant income threshold (CSIT or Specialist Skills minimum) at the time of nomination lodgement
A professionally prepared application addresses each of these points before lodgement. Insight Idea, RedBridge's licensed migration agent partner (MARN: 1467870), reviews applications specifically for these failure points before submission.
Next Steps — Checking Your Eligibility with RedBridge
The checklist above covers the formal requirements. What it cannot tell you is whether your specific work experience record, ANZSCO occupation code, employer situation, and timeline add up to a viable application — because that depends on the specific facts of your case.
RedBridge offers a free eligibility assessment where your consultant reviews your occupation, experience history, skills assessment status, and employer situation against the current requirements. If you qualify, we map out the pathway and next steps. If you do not qualify, we tell you clearly — including what would need to change and on what timeline — before any fees are discussed.