Key Takeaways

• There are three separate applications: sponsor approval, nomination, and the visa itself.
• The nomination is the most complex step — this is where most refusals happen.
• Government fees alone can exceed $10,000 depending on the stream and business size.
• Labour Market Testing (LMT) must be completed before you lodge the nomination, not after.
• Processing times I am currently seeing: sponsor approval 2–6 weeks, nomination 4–12 weeks, visa 4–16 weeks.
• My nomination document preparation service is $1,200 — more on that below.

Understanding the 482 Visa Streams Before You Start

The Temporary Skills Shortage (subclass 482) visa has three streams, and picking the wrong one wastes everyone’s time. The Skills in Demand stream replaced the old TSS Medium-Term stream from late 2024 and covers most professional and trade occupations. The Labour Agreement stream applies when there is a formal agreement between the employer and the Department. And there is also a Core Skills stream for higher-paying positions.

For most of my employer clients — restaurants, construction firms, IT companies, aged care providers — we are working within the Skills in Demand or Core Skills stream. You can read a detailed breakdown of the subclass options on our 482 Skills in Demand visa page. I strongly recommend understanding which stream applies before you spend a dollar on anything.

Step 1 — Become an Approved Standard Business Sponsor (SBS)

You cannot nominate anyone until your business is an approved sponsor. This surprises a lot of first-timers. The sponsorship application is lodged through ImmiAccount and the current government fee is $420.

What the Department looks at here:

• Lawfully operating business — you need an ABN, current business registration, and evidence the business is genuinely trading. I always include recent BAS statements, bank statements, and an ASIC extract.
• No adverse information — the Department checks whether the business or its directors have any compliance issues, WorkCover claims, Fair Work matters, or adverse migration history.
• Training benchmark — you must show you are investing in training Australian workers. This is commonly satisfied through payroll tax contributions, industry association membership, or documented staff training expenditure.

I had a client run a small accounting firm in Burwood who was rejected at this step because they could not demonstrate the training benchmark. They had no documented training records and had never thought about it. We fixed that, reapplied, and got approved within three weeks. Do not rush this step.

Current processing time I am seeing: 2 to 6 weeks for straightforward applications.

Step 2 — Complete Labour Market Testing (LMT)

This is the step employers most commonly get wrong, and it can torpedo your entire nomination. Labour Market Testing must be done before you lodge the nomination, and the advertising must meet strict requirements.

The rules I follow with my clients:

• Advertise the position for a minimum of 28 days on at least two platforms. One must be Seek, Indeed, or LinkedIn. The other can be a professional association site or similar.
• The ad must include the job title, duties, salary or salary range, skills/experience required, and the employer’s name.
• LMT must have been conducted within four months before you lodge the nomination.
• You need to document all responses and explain why Australian applicants were not suitable.

I once had a café owner in Marrickville who ran an ad but forgot to include the salary range. The Department issued a Request for Further Information (RFI) asking for evidence of compliant LMT. We had to re-advertise and delay the nomination by six weeks. That is a costly mistake when your worker is waiting overseas.

Some occupations are exempt from LMT — mainly where the worker earns above the high-income threshold — but do not assume yours qualifies without checking.

Step 3 — Lodge the Nomination (The Most Important Step)

The nomination is where I spend most of my time with employer clients, and it is where I see the highest rate of refusals. The nomination fee is currently $330 for the base application, but the real cost is the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy.

The SAF levy is not optional and it is not small:

• Small businesses (turnover under $10 million): $1,200 per year of the visa period
• Large businesses: $1,800 per year of the visa period

So if you are a large business nominating someone for a four-year visa, you are paying $7,200 in SAF levy alone, on top of the nomination fee and agent fees. I always make sure clients understand this upfront because I have seen people fall off their chairs when they see the total.

The nomination must establish:

• Genuine position — the role must genuinely exist and be required by the business. I prepare a detailed position description and statutory declaration for this.
• Occupation match — the nominated occupation must align with the ANZSCO code and the duties of the role. A common mistake is trying to squeeze a role into an ANZSCO code it does not actually fit.
• Market salary rate — the salary must meet both the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT, currently $73,150) and the market salary rate for the occupation. I conduct a salary analysis using ABS data, industry awards, and comparable job ads.
• Terms and conditions no less favourable — you cannot pay the overseas worker less than you would pay an Australian doing the same job.

My nomination document preparation service is $1,200. This includes drafting the position description, the salary analysis, the statutory declaration, and reviewing your LMT evidence before it goes to the Department. I do this because a weak nomination package is the single biggest cause of delays and refusals I see, and fixing a problem after the fact costs far more than getting it right the first time.

You can find more about how I approach nominations through my 482 visa services page.

Current nomination processing time I am seeing: 4 to 12 weeks, though complex cases take longer.

Step 4 — The Worker Lodges Their Visa Application

Once the nomination is approved (or sometimes concurrently — I will explain that below), the worker lodges their own subclass 482 visa application. The visa application charge is $3,115 for the primary applicant as of 2024, with additional charges for secondary applicants.

What the worker needs to demonstrate:

• Skills and qualifications — typically two years of relevant work experience in the nominated occupation, plus any required qualifications.
• English language proficiency — an IELTS, PTE, or TOEFL result is usually required unless an exemption applies (passport holders from the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland are generally exempt).
• Health and character requirements — medicals through a panel physician and police clearances from each country they have lived in for 12 months or more in the past 10 years.

I had a chef client from Nepal who had all the right qualifications and experience, but his police clearance from a country he had briefly worked in took three months to arrive. We lodged everything else and waited. That is normal — the Department will not finalise the visa until all checks are complete.

Current visa processing time I am seeing: 4 to 16 weeks, depending on the occupation and country of application. IT and engineering roles in countries with high-volume applications can sit at the longer end.

Can You Lodge Sponsor, Nomination and Visa at the Same Time?

Yes — and in most cases I recommend it, particularly when there is time pressure. The three applications can be lodged concurrently. The risk is that if the nomination is refused, the visa application fee is not refunded. That is why the quality of the nomination package matters so much. When I know the nomination is strong, concurrent lodgement saves weeks.

Total Cost Summary for Employers

Here is a realistic cost breakdown I give clients in consultations:

• Sponsor application fee: $420
• Nomination fee: $330
• SAF levy (small business, 4 years): $4,800
• SAF levy (large business, 4 years): $7,200
• Visa application charge (primary applicant): $3,115
• Nomination document service (Widen Migration Experts): $1,200
• Full migration agent fees (sponsor + nomination + visa): typically $3,000–$5,000 depending on complexity

The total government fees alone for a small business sponsoring one worker on a four-year visa are around $8,665. I always tell employers to budget for this before they make any promises to a candidate.

Common Mistakes I See Employers Make

After hundreds of these applications, here are the errors that keep coming up:

1. Starting LMT after finding the candidate — LMT has to look genuine. If you advertise for two days and immediately nominate the overseas worker you already had in mind, the Department may question the integrity of the process.
2. Using the wrong ANZSCO code — the occupation must match the worker’s actual duties. I have seen nominations refused because the employer used a code that was close but not accurate.
3. Underestimating the salary requirement — paying the TSMIT minimum is not enough if the market rate for the role is higher. The Department compares both.
4. Not keeping sponsorship obligations — once approved, sponsors have ongoing obligations including notifying the Department of changes to the worker’s employment, not recovering visa costs from the worker, and ensuring equivalent terms and conditions. Breaching these can result in sanctions.
5. Assuming skill assessment is not required — some occupations require a formal skills assessment from a relevant assessing authority before the visa can be granted. This can add months if not planned for early.

Should You Use a Migration Agent?

I am obviously not a neutral voice here, but I will give you my honest view. For straightforward cases — a well-known occupation, a worker with clean history and strong English, an established business — some employers manage the process themselves. The Department’s online system is functional.

Where I add real value is in the nomination package, identifying occupation risks before lodgement, handling RFIs quickly when the Department asks for more information, and making sure the salary analysis will withstand scrutiny. The $1,200 nomination document service I offer exists specifically for employers who want to do most of the process themselves but want a professional to build the nomination correctly.

If you want end-to-end help, I handle that too through my full migration services at Widen Migration Experts. The best starting point is a consultation where I look at the specific occupation, the worker’s profile, and the business circumstances before giving you a straight answer on risks and timeline.

Final Thoughts

Sponsoring a worker on a 482 visa in Australia is absolutely achievable for employers who have never done it before — but it requires proper planning, realistic budgeting, and attention to the nomination stage above all else. Get the Labour Market Testing right, get the salary analysis right, and get the position description right. Everything else is process.

If you are ready to start or just want to understand whether your position and candidate are viable, reach out to me directly. I offer fixed-fee consultations and I will tell you upfront whether it is worth proceeding.