Sponsored work · A second job
A second job on a 482 or 494: why the condition forbids it, who is exempt, and the lawful ways to earn more
Sponsored workers are paid the nominated salary and no more, and in an expensive city the question of a second job arrives within months. The answer is that the visa does not allow one: condition 8607 confines the holder to the nominated occupation and to the sponsor, so that any work for anyone else, however few the hours and however unrelated or related the work, is a breach. A short list of occupations is exempt from the sponsor limb, and medical practitioners and senior executives on that list can work for others in the same occupation. The 180-day allowance that people cite is for the gap between sponsors, not for moonlighting. The partner on the secondary visa, by contrast, can work for anyone. This guide sets out the condition, the exemptions, what the Department counts as work, how breaches come to light and what they cost, and the four lawful ways a sponsored worker earns more.
By Keshab Chapagain, registered migration agent (MARN 1576536) since 2015 · WIDEN, Sydney · Reviewed October 2026
Keshab Chapagain · MARN 1576536 · Registered since 2015 - Condition 8607
- Nominated occupation only; sponsor or associated entity only
- A second job
- A breach, whatever the hours or the field
- Exempt occupations
- Medical practitioners, senior executives and others on the instrument: other employers, same occupation
- The 180 days
- For the gap between sponsors, not concurrent work
- Secondary holders
- No work condition
- Lawful ways
- Overtime, a raise, a new nomination, a different visa
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What condition 8607 says
Condition 8607, attached to every primary 482, requires the holder to work only in the occupation nominated, and, unless the occupation is one the instrument exempts, only for the sponsor or an associated entity of the sponsor; to commence work within 90 days; and, if employment with the sponsor ends, to find a new sponsor or another visa within the allowed period, during which the holder may work for any employer. Condition 8608 does the same for the 494 with the regional location. The condition exists because the visa was granted on a nomination by a particular employer for a particular position, and the programme assumes the holder is in it; a holder working elsewhere is outside the thing the visa was granted for. The conditions guide sets out the full text.
What counts as work
Work is an activity that, in Australia, normally attracts remuneration, and the Department applies that definition without regard to hours, to whether the work is declared, or to what it is called. A Saturday shift in a shop, driving for a rideshare or delivery platform, cleaning, tutoring, freelancing on an online platform, selling at a market, running an online store, consulting for a former employer overseas, managing a rental property as a business, and cash work of any kind are all work. Unpaid volunteering for a charity, in a role that is normally voluntary, is not; an unpaid internship in a role that is normally paid is. Passive investment, holding shares or a rental property through an agent, is not work; being the hands in the business is. The business-on-a-visa guide applies the definition to self-employment, and the remote work guide to an overseas employer, which is a second employer like any other.
The exempt occupations
A legislative instrument lists occupations for which the sponsor limb of 8607 does not apply, so that a holder nominated in one of them may work in that occupation for employers other than the sponsor while remaining in the occupation. The list has included medical practitioners across the specialties, chief executives and managing directors, general managers and corporate general managers, and certain academic, research and specialist positions, and it is read from the instrument in force at the time rather than from memory. A general practitioner sponsored by one clinic may work sessions at another; a hospital-sponsored specialist may hold rooms privately; a managing director may hold a second directorship. The exemption is from the employer limb only; the exempt holder still works only in the nominated occupation. Everyone else is bound by both limbs.
Same occupation, different employer
The commonest misunderstanding is that the condition is about the occupation alone, so that a chef may cook anywhere and a mechanic may fix cars anywhere. The condition has two limbs, and the second is the sponsor. A chef sponsored by one restaurant who cooks at a second on Sundays is in the nominated occupation and in breach of the employer limb, unless the second restaurant is an associated entity of the first, which means a company in the same corporate group under the Corporations Act definition, not a friend's business or a franchise of the same brand under different ownership. The sponsor's consent does not change the condition, because the condition is the Department's and the sponsor cannot waive it; a sponsor who tells a worker it is fine to pick up shifts elsewhere has given advice the sponsor is not entitled to give.
The 180 days
Since December 2024 a 482 holder whose employment with the sponsor has ended may work for any employer, in any occupation, for up to 180 days at a time and 365 days in total across the visa, while a new sponsor is found or another visa arranged. The allowance begins when the sponsored employment ceases and is for that situation. A holder who is still employed by the sponsor has not ceased employment, the allowance is not running, and a second job during the sponsorship is a breach of the condition in the ordinary way. A holder who resigns from the sponsor to work elsewhere is within the allowance for the period, but has started the clock on the visa and has given up the sponsorship the permanent visa depends on, which is a different decision from taking a second job. The 180-day guide sets out the allowance.
How breaches are found
The Department matches visa records against tax data, so that a second employer's income statement, a rideshare platform's reporting to the Tax Office, or an ABN with income against it appears against a visa with condition 8607; it receives reports from the public, from competitors and from the sponsor; it audits sponsors and reads the payroll; and it asks, at the permanent stage, for the holder's full tax history, in which a second income is visible. Cash work without records is found less often, and is still a breach, and the worker who relied on it has an income they cannot show and an employer who was committing offences of their own. The holder's own later applications ask about compliance with conditions, and a false answer is a second problem.
What a breach costs
A breach of 8607 is a ground for cancellation under section 116, with notice and a response, and the Department weighs the breach's extent and the holder's circumstances; a few shifts, stopped and explained, is often a warning, and a sustained second job is often a cancellation, which brings the three-year exclusion on temporary visas and the section 48 bar onshore. Short of cancellation, the breach is on the record for the 186 transition stream, which requires the holder to have complied with the visa's conditions, and for every later application, which asks. A holder who has worked a second job and wants to stop the problem growing stops the second job, keeps the records, and takes advice on whether and how to address it before the Department raises it; the consultation does that reading. A sponsor is not liable for the worker's second job unless the sponsor arranged it, but a sponsor who knew and said nothing has a monitoring problem of its own.
Your partner and children
The secondary 482 and 494 visas carry no work condition. A partner can work full-time for one employer, part-time for three, drive for a platform, freelance and run a business, at the same time, and an adult child included in the visa likewise. The family's second income is the partner's, lawfully, and the partner's Australian employment is the family's own route to a visa in their own right if the sponsorship ends. A child under 18 is subject to the state's child employment rules. The one thing the partner's work does not do is extend the family's visa, which runs with the primary holder's sponsorship.
The lawful ways to earn more
- Overtime and additional hours with the sponsor, in the nominated occupation, paid under the award or the contract, which is within the condition.
- A higher salary, negotiated with the sponsor; where the role has grown, a new nomination at the higher salary and, if the occupation has changed, in the new occupation, which the new nomination guide covers.
- A new sponsor who will pay more, by nomination and transfer, with the allowance covering the gap.
- A different visa with unrestricted work, where one is open: a partner visa, a points-tested visa on invitation, or permanent residence through the 186, after which the condition falls away.
- The partner's income, which is unrestricted and is where most sponsored families find the second wage.
A sponsor paying less than the nominated salary is a different problem with a different remedy: the underpayment guide.
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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Conditions 8607 and 8608 in Schedule 8 to the Migration Regulations 1994, the legislative instrument specifying the occupations exempt from the sponsor limb, the definition of work in regulation 1.03, and section 116 of the Migration Act 1958, as in force at the date above; the exempt occupations are those in the instrument current at the time and the instrument governs. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each matter; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.
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Can I take a second job on my 482?
Not for another employer, and not in another occupation, for almost everyone. Condition 8607 requires the holder to work only in the nominated occupation and only for the sponsor or an associated entity, and a second job with a different employer is work for someone else; casual shifts, weekend work, rideshare driving, food delivery, freelancing and a side business are all work, and all breaches, whatever the hours and whether or not the sponsor agrees. The exception is a short list of occupations whose holders may work for other employers in the same occupation.
Which occupations are exempt?
The regulations list occupations for which the sponsor limb of 8607 does not apply, so that the holder may work in the nominated occupation for employers other than the sponsor; the list includes medical practitioners, chief executives and managing directors, general managers and corporate general managers, and some academic and specialist roles, and it is read from the instrument in force. A general practitioner on a 482 can work at a second practice; an accountant cannot work for a second firm.
What if the second job is in the same occupation?
Still a breach, unless the occupation is on the exempt list. The condition has two limbs, the occupation and the employer, and a chef sponsored by one restaurant who cooks at another on Sundays satisfies the first and breaches the second. An associated entity of the sponsor, a company in the same group, is within the condition; an unrelated business in the same trade is not.
I thought I had 180 days to work for anyone?
The 180-day allowance applies when the holder has ceased employment with the sponsor: for up to 180 days at a time, and 365 days in total over the visa, the holder may work for any employer in any occupation while arranging a new sponsor. It is for the gap between sponsors. It does not allow a second job while the holder is still employed by the sponsor, and a holder who treats it as a licence to moonlight has misread it.
Can my partner work a second job?
Yes. A partner or adult child on the secondary 482 or 494 holds a visa with no work condition and can hold any number of jobs for any employer, run a business, or freelance. Many families earn the second income that way, and it is the lawful answer to the question most 482 holders are really asking.
What does the consultation cost?
A$330 inc. GST for 30 minutes by video with Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536), credited in full if you engage WIDEN. For a 482 holder who needs more income the session confirms whether the occupation is exempt, what the lawful options are with the sponsor and beyond, and, if a second job has already been worked, what the breach does and how to stop it becoming a cancellation.
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