Labour market testing exemptions for a 482 nomination: trade obligations by nationality, intra-corporate transfers, and claiming one safely

MARN 1576536

What the requirement is

A sponsor nominating a position for a 482 must, unless an exemption applies, have tested the Australian labour market by advertising the position in the manner the Minister's instrument specifies, for the period it specifies, within the months before the nomination, and must attach the advertisements and a summary of the responses. The requirement exists so that the position is offered to Australians first, and the Department refuses nominations where the advertising is missing, late, in the wrong place, for the wrong salary, or for a different position. The Act provides that the requirement does not apply where it would be inconsistent with Australia's international trade obligations, and the regulations and instruments add other exemptions and alternatives. The testing guide sets out the advertising; this page is about when it is not needed.

The international trade obligation exemption

Australia's free trade agreements contain chapters on the temporary entry of business persons, in which Australia commits not to require labour market testing as a condition of entry for specified classes of the other party's nationals: typically business visitors, intra-corporate transferees, independent executives and contractual service suppliers, and under some agreements all nationals being sponsored for skilled work. Where a nomination falls within such a commitment, requiring testing would breach the agreement, and the Act says the requirement does not apply. The Department publishes the agreements and the classes of person each covers, and a sponsor reads the current list for the nominee's nationality and the nominee's circumstances, because the exemption for a Chinese intra-corporate transferee is not the same as the exemption for a British national being hired from the open market.

The agreements and the nationalities

At the date of this page, the nationalities the Department's list treats as covered, in whole or for specified classes, include citizens of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei, together with the nationals of parties to the regional agreements Australia has joined, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and the ASEAN and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreements, each according to its own terms. For some of these the commitment covers any national nominated for a 482; for others it is confined to intra-corporate transferees, executives or contractual service suppliers, and a national hired from the open market is not covered. A nominee who holds two nationalities can be nominated on the one that is covered. The list changes as agreements enter into force and the Department updates its page, and the list on the day of nomination is the one that applies; the names on this page are an orientation, not the authority.

Intra-corporate transfers

An intra-corporate transferee is an employee of a company overseas who is transferred to that company's Australian branch, subsidiary or affiliate, usually as an executive, a manager or a specialist with knowledge of the company's products or processes, after a period of employment with the overseas entity that the agreement specifies, often one year. Most of the agreements cover intra-corporate transferees of the other party's companies, so a transfer from a Japanese parent to its Australian subsidiary, or from a Singaporean head office to its Australian branch, is exempt. The evidence is the nominee's employment with the overseas entity, the corporate association between the entities, and the nominee's nationality where the agreement turns on it; a transfer of a third-country national by a Japanese company is examined on the agreement's wording. The sponsor in Australia must still be an approved sponsor, and the position must still be genuine and paid at the market rate; only the advertising falls away.

The other exemptions

The instruments in force at any time have exempted other nominations from advertising, and the list has changed with each instrument. In recent years it has included nominations where the annual earnings are at or above a high threshold; nominations of medical practitioners in certain circumstances; nominations of a worker already employed by the sponsor on a 482 in the same position where the nomination is needed because of a change in the sponsor's structure or a change of the visa's terms; and nominations where a disaster or an emergency makes advertising impracticable. Each exemption is specific and each has been added or removed as policy changed, so a sponsor does not rely on an exemption remembered from a previous nomination; the instrument current at lodgement is read, and the consultation reads it.

Alternative evidence

Where no exemption applies but the standard advertising is not the way the position is filled, the instruments have allowed alternative evidence for some positions: for example, for certain highly specialised or senior positions, or for positions filled through a recruitment agency or a professional body's register, evidence of that process in place of the standard advertisements. Alternative evidence is accepted only where the instrument permits it for the position in question, and a sponsor who relies on it without that permission is treated as having done no testing. It is the narrowest of the routes and the one most often misused.

Claiming an exemption in the nomination

The nomination form asks whether labour market testing was undertaken and, if not, why, and the exemption is claimed there with the evidence attached: the nominee's passport for a nationality-based claim, the employment and corporate records for an intra-corporate transfer, the contract or the earnings for a threshold-based claim, and a short submission identifying the agreement or the instrument and the provision relied on. A claim without the submission is a claim the officer has to construct, and officers refuse rather than construct. A sponsor that is exempt and also advertised attaches both, which costs nothing. The nomination checklist lists the documents.

Claiming wrongly

A nomination that claims an exemption the Department does not accept is assessed as a nomination without testing, and refused on that criterion. The Skilling Australians Fund levy paid with it is refunded only in the limited cases the Act allows, which a refusal on testing is not, so the levy is lost. The worker's visa application, if lodged, is refused with the nomination, and the worker's position, if they are in Australia on a visa that is ending, is damaged. The sponsor can advertise and nominate again, with a new levy and a new nomination charge, after the four weeks of advertising. The refusal is reviewable where the Department misread the agreement, and the nomination refusal guide sets out the review; where the sponsor simply misread it, review fails.

Deciding whether to advertise anyway

1. Identify the nominee's nationality or nationalities, and whether the nomination is a transfer from an associated entity overseas.
2. Read the Department's current list of agreements and the classes each covers, against the nominee's circumstances, on the day.
3. If the exemption is clear, claim it with the evidence and the submission.
4. If it is arguable, advertise for the required period and lodge with both the exemption claim and the advertisements, so that the nomination survives either way.
5. If no exemption applies, advertise properly, and do not rely on alternative evidence unless the instrument names the position.

Book a consultation — $330 inc. GST, credited

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Section 140GBA of the Migration Act 1958 (labour market testing and the international trade obligations exception), the determinations made under it specifying the manner of testing and the exemptions, and the Department’s published list of international trade obligations, as in force at the date above; the nationalities and classes named on this page are an orientation and the Department’s current list and the text of each agreement govern. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each nomination; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.