Skills in Demand (482) · Permanent residence
482 holder: permanent residence without your employer
The 482 to 186 pathway assumes one thing the visa cannot guarantee: that the employer will nominate you when the two years are up. Many will not, some cannot, and some say yes in year one and change their minds in year two. The routes on this page do not depend on them. Most of them can be run while you hold the 482, several of them in parallel, and the right order is set by two dates: how long the 482 has left, and how far you are from 45.
By Keshab Chapagain, registered migration agent (MARN 1576536) since 2015 · WIDEN, Sydney · Reviewed October 2026
Keshab Chapagain · MARN 1576536 · Registered since 2015 - While holding the 482
- 189 / 190 / 491 on points
- Direct Entry 186
- Any employer, 3 years experience, skills assessment
- Transition 186
- 2 years on a 482 with approved sponsors
- Age line
- Under 45 at application for all permanent skilled routes
- If you change jobs
- 180 days to be nominated
The migration agent that other migration agents learn from. WIDEN is an OMARA-approved CPD provider — our training is rated ★4.8 by 40+ registered migration agents.
About the CPD →MARN 1576536
Thirty minutes to find the permanent route that does not depend on your employer.
In the consultation I score your points with your Australian experience, check the occupation against the 189, 190 and 491 lists and the states' criteria, test the Direct Entry position, read the age line against your 482 end date, and tell you which routes to run and in what order. You leave with a written summary.
What it costs. $330 inc. GST for 30 minutes by video with Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536), credited in full against our professional fee if you engage WIDEN for the application.
The two dates
Every permanent skilled route here, the 189, 190, 491 and both 186 streams, requires you to be under 45 when the visa application is made, with narrow exemptions. For the points-tested visas the application cannot be made until you are invited, so the expression of interest has to be lodged with enough margin for the invitation to arrive before the birthday. The second date is the 482 end date: an application lodged onshore before it carries a bridging visa; after it, nothing does. Someone at 42 with eighteen months left on a 482 has a different plan from someone at 35 with three years left, and the plan is set by those two numbers before anything else.
Points-tested: 189, 190 and 491
A 482 holder is usually closer to 65 points than they think. Years of skilled employment in Australia score points of their own, on top of overseas experience; a Proficient or Superior English test adds 10 or 20; a partner with their own skills assessment and English adds more. The 189 needs no state and no employer but is the most competitive; the 190 needs a state nomination, which most states weight towards people already living and working there, which a 482 holder is; the 491 is the regional, provisional version. None of them involves your employer, and your employer does not need to know. The application is lodged in Australia when the invitation comes; if the 482 ends first, the lodged application carries a bridging visa, and if the permanent visa is granted first, it simply replaces the 482. Under the processing priorities in force since 19 September 2026, onshore primary applicants are the second group, behind priority-sector occupations and ahead of everyone offshore. Score it on the points calculator and read the 190 guide.
Direct Entry with another employer
The 186 Direct Entry stream does not need two years with a sponsor. It needs a positive skills assessment in the nominated occupation, at least three years of relevant full-time experience, Competent English, age under 45, and an employer prepared to nominate you for a permanent, full-time position at the market rate. That employer can be a different business from your current sponsor, and it does not have to have sponsored anyone before. In practice it is the route for an experienced worker whose current employer will not commit, when another one will. The nomination and the application are decided together, and the nominated position has to be genuine and ongoing; a position created to carry the nomination is the pattern the Department refuses. See the 186 guide.
Transition with a new sponsor
If your current employer will not nominate but another approved sponsor will take you on a 482, the two-year clock does not restart. Time on a 482 with approved sponsors in the nominated occupation counts towards the Transition stream's two years, including time with the previous sponsor, and the new employer nominates you for the 186 once the two years are reached and they are your sponsor. Changing sponsor starts the 180-day period, during which you may work anywhere, and the new nomination (or a new 482 where the occupation changes) has to be lodged inside it. The rule is set out on 482 visa and your job has ended. Do not resign until the new employer's nomination is confirmed in writing.
Regional employer: the 494
An employer in a designated regional area can nominate you for the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (494) visa, which needs a skills assessment and three years of experience like Direct Entry, and leads to permanent residence through the 191 after three years working in the region. It is the route when the willing employer is regional and the metropolitan one is not.
Partner
If you are married to, in a registered relationship with, or have lived for 12 months as the de facto partner of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, the partner visa does not depend on your employer, your occupation or your age. It is lodged in Australia while the 482 is in force and carries a bridging visa with work rights once the 482 ends. The 820/801 guide covers the evidence.
Running them together
- Skills assessment in your occupation, now. It serves the 189, 190, 491, Direct Entry and 494 alike and takes months.
- English test if a higher band is within reach.
- Expression of interest for the 189, and the 190 and 491 in the states whose lists carry the occupation.
- Keep working for the current sponsor: every month counts towards the Transition two years whether or not they will nominate.
- Ask the question directly at the eighteen-month mark. A no is useful information: it is when Direct Entry with another employer, or a new 482 sponsor, goes from option to plan.
- Book the consultation before the eighteen-month mark, so the routes are already running when the answer comes.
Not sure which visa fits you?
Answer three questions. An automated guide points you to the route that usually applies. General information only.
Ask Keshab a question — it costs nothing
Tell Keshab your situation and your question. Keshab reads it personally and replies within a business day. Asking costs nothing. Advice on your own case is the paid consultation.
Ready now? Skip the form. Pick a time and talk to Keshab directly — your documents on the table, a straight answer, and a written summary afterwards. $330 inc. GST, credited toward your fee if you engage.
Pick a time — no enquiry needed →Questions we get asked first
Can my employer be made to nominate me for the 186?
No. Nomination is the employer's decision and there is no obligation to make it. What you can do is run the routes that do not need them: a points-tested visa while you hold the 482, a Direct Entry nomination from a different employer, or a new 482 sponsor with whom the two-year clock continues.
Can I apply for a 189 or 190 while on a 482?
Yes. You lodge an expression of interest, wait for an invitation, and lodge the application in Australia. It does not affect the 482. If the permanent visa is granted first, it replaces the 482; if the 482 ends first, the lodged application carries a bridging visa. Onshore primary applicants sit ahead of offshore ones under the processing priorities in force since 19 September 2026.
Does my time with this employer count if I move to a new sponsor?
For the 186 Transition stream, time on a 482 with an approved sponsor in the nominated occupation counts towards the two years, including time with a previous sponsor. The employer who nominates you for the 186 must be your current sponsor at that point. Time between sponsors, and work for a non-sponsor employer, does not count.
What is Direct Entry?
The 186 stream that does not need two years with the sponsor. It needs a positive skills assessment in the occupation, at least three years of relevant full-time experience, Competent English, age under 45 at application, and an employer willing to nominate you for a permanent position. That employer does not have to be your current sponsor, and it does not have to have sponsored anyone before.
What if I resign to take a better job?
Resignation starts the same clock as redundancy: up to 180 days to be nominated by the new employer, during which you may work anywhere. Do not resign before the new employer has confirmed in writing that they will nominate you and that they are, or will become, an approved sponsor. The 180-day rule is on its own page.
What does the consultation cost?
A$330 inc. GST for 30 minutes by video, A$550 for 60 minutes where the points, the employers and the age line have to be worked through together. Credited in full against our professional fee if you then engage WIDEN.
Keep reading