The Skilling Australians Fund levy: what the employer pays, why it is paid before anything is decided, and the narrow cases in which it comes back

MARN 1576536

What the levy is and the amount

The Skilling Australians Fund levy, in the legislation the nomination training contribution charge, replaced the old training benchmarks in 2018: instead of showing that it spent a percentage of payroll on training Australians, a sponsor pays a charge on each nomination into a fund for apprenticeships and training. It is payable on every nomination for the 482, the 186 and the 494, in every stream including labour agreement streams, and it is in addition to the sponsorship application charge and the nomination charge. For a 482 it is calculated on the period the employer nominates, A$1,200 for each year where the business turns over less than A$10 million and A$1,800 for each year otherwise, so a two-year nomination is A$2,400 or A$3,600 and a four-year nomination A$4,800 or A$7,200; a part year is charged as a year, in the ordinary case. For a 186 or 494 it is a one-off A$3,000 or A$5,000. These are the figures at the time of writing, and the cost guide keeps the full list of charges current.

Turnover and the two rates

The rate turns on the annual turnover of the sponsoring business, and the Department reads it with the turnover of the business's associated entities, so a subsidiary of a large group pays the higher rate although its own turnover is small, and a business that is part of a franchise or a corporate group answers the question for the group it belongs to. Turnover is declared in the nomination, in the most recently completed financial year, and the declaration is one the Department can check against the financial statements the business supplied for the sponsorship and against the tax office; a business that declares under A$10 million to save A$600 a year and is found to be over it has made a false statement in a nomination, which is adverse information for every nomination after it. A business near the threshold, or whose turnover has crossed it since the sponsorship was approved, declares the current figure, and the consultation reads which rate applies before the nomination is lodged.

Paid at nomination, not at grant

The levy is paid in full when the nomination is lodged, with the nomination charge, and the nomination is not validly made without it; it is not paid on approval, not paid on the visa grant and not paid by instalments. That timing is the whole difficulty of the levy for an employer: the money leaves the business before the Department has looked at the position, before the worker's visa has been assessed, and months before the worker starts, and if the nomination or the visa then fails for a reason outside the refund cases, the money is gone. An employer who is uncertain whether the position, the salary or the testing will be approved is paying the levy on that uncertainty, which is why the nomination is prepared properly before it is lodged rather than lodged and fixed in a request for information; the nomination checklist sets out what is read first.

A second nomination for the same worker

The levy attaches to the nomination, not to the worker, so every new nomination carries it: a new 482 nomination for the same worker on promotion or a change of duties substantial enough to need one, a new nomination at the end of the first 482 for a further term, a nomination by the new entity after a business is sold or restructured, and the 186 or 494 nomination that moves a 482 worker to permanent residence, which carries the one-off permanent levy regardless of what was paid for the 482. A worker nominated for two years, re-nominated for two more and then nominated for the 186 has cost a business under the threshold A$2,400, A$2,400 and A$3,000 in levy alone, and a business over it A$3,600, A$3,600 and A$5,000. An employer choosing the nominated period for a first 482 weighs the levy on a four-year nomination against the levy on two nominations of two years, and weighs both against the two years the 186 transition stream requires; the promotion guide covers when a change of duties means paying again, and the consultation plans the sequence.

The ban on recovering it from the worker

A sponsor must not recover, transfer or take any action that would result in another person paying the costs of becoming or being a sponsor, which include the sponsorship charge, the nomination charge, the levy and the professional fees for the sponsorship and nomination, and must not seek to recover them from the worker or from anyone else. The prohibition reaches every route an employer thinks of: a deduction from wages, a salary set below the nominated figure to make room for it, a loan the worker repays, a bond or a security held against it, a contract clause that the worker repays the costs if they leave within a period, a recruitment fee charged to the worker offshore by an agent the employer uses, and an arrangement with the worker's family. The worker's own visa application charge, the health examinations, the police certificates and the skills assessment are the worker's costs and may be paid by the worker, or by the employer if it chooses, and the deductions guide draws the line between the two. A breach is a sponsorship obligation breach with civil penalties, it is adverse information at the next nomination and the renewal, and it is the breach the Department finds most often in the payslips it asks for in monitoring, because the deduction is sitting in them.

The circumstances in which it is refunded

The regulations prescribe the circumstances in which the levy may be refunded, and the refund is at the Department's discretion within them, on a written request by the person who paid. Read with the Department's practice, the cases are these. The sponsorship application lodged with the nomination is refused, or withdrawn, so that the nomination cannot be approved: the levy on the nomination is refunded. The nomination is approved and the worker's visa is refused on health or character grounds: refunded. The nomination is approved, the visa is granted, and the worker does not commence employment with the sponsor: refunded, on the employer's notification that the worker did not start. The nomination was for a 482 period of more than twelve months, the worker commenced and then left the sponsor within the first twelve months: the levy for the unused full years is refunded, with the employer's 28-day notification of the cessation as the record. The nomination was lodged in error by the Department, or the levy was paid twice: refunded. A sponsor whose worker has ceased within the first year, or never started, claims promptly, because the record of notification is what the refund is decided on, and the resignation guide sets out the notification that goes with it. The list is the regulations' and the Department applies it narrowly; an employer should read its own case against the current text rather than against this summary.

The refusals and withdrawals that get nothing back

A nomination refused on its merits, because the Department was not satisfied about the position, the salary, the labour market testing, the genuineness of the need or the occupation, is not a refund circumstance, and neither the levy nor the nomination charge is refunded, which is the point the Department made in writing when the levy was introduced and has not moved from. A nomination withdrawn because the employer found an Australian, changed the role, could not answer a request for information or simply reconsidered is not a refund circumstance either, outside the narrow cases above, and a withdrawal made to avoid a refusal does not convert the refusal case into a refund case. A visa refused on any ground other than health or character, the worker's English, the worker's skills and experience, a false document, the worker's immigration history, is not a refund circumstance, and a worker who withdraws the visa application for their own reasons after the nomination was approved is not one. A nomination that lapses because the sponsorship expired before it was decided, which the renewal guide covers, is in the ordinary case not one. In each of those the employer has paid the levy for a worker it did not get, which is why the question is answered before the nomination is lodged and not after.

How the refund is claimed

The refund is requested by the person who paid the levy, the sponsor, in writing through the Department's refund request process, identifying the nomination, the circumstance relied on and the evidence of it: the sponsorship refusal or withdrawal, the visa refusal decision stating the health or character ground, the employer's notification that the worker did not commence or ceased and the date, and the payment record. The nomination charge is not claimed with it, because it is not refundable in those circumstances, and the worker's visa application charge is a separate request by the worker under its own rules, which the refund guide covers. The request is decided on the record, so a sponsor that gave its 28-day notification late, or did not give it, has weakened the claim; the Department's discretion within the prescribed cases is exercised against a sponsor whose own conduct produced the circumstance, which is the fraud and exploitation point the regulations were written to allow. Processing is weeks to months, and the refund is paid to the payer.

Budgeting the levy across a sponsorship

For a business planning to sponsor, the levy is the largest government cost and the one most often left out of the number the owner has in mind. A single 482 worker on a four-year nomination, for a business under the threshold, costs A$420 for the sponsorship, A$330 for the nomination and A$4,800 in levy, before the professional fees, before the salary at or above market and the threshold, and before the worker's own charge of A$4,015, which the employer may pay but need not; a business over the threshold pays A$7,200 in levy. A business planning the 186 at two years adds A$3,000 or A$5,000. A business nominating three workers pays the levy three times, and a business whose first nomination is refused on its merits pays it again for the second attempt. Against that, the levy is paid once per nomination however long the worker stays within it, the four-year nomination is not more expensive per year than two two-year nominations and saves a nomination charge and a round of professional fees, and the full engagement fee in the box below is quoted so the business can see the whole cost on one page before it commits. The fee page has the professional side.

The levy checklist

1. Work out the rate from the group's turnover, not the entity's, and declare it accurately.
2. Count the levy for the nominated period into the cost of the position before the nomination is lodged, and choose the period with the 186 timing in mind.
3. Have the nomination read for the merits before paying, because a refusal on the merits refunds nothing.
4. Never recover any part of it from the worker, by deduction, loan, bond, salary or contract clause.
5. Give every 28-day notification on time, in writing, because the refund for a worker who never started or left in year one is decided on it.
6. On a sponsorship refusal, a health or character refusal, a no-show or a first-year departure, request the refund in writing with the evidence, promptly.

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case, and not tax advice. The Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Act 2018, the nomination training contribution charge provisions and the refund circumstances in Division 2.19 and regulation 2.73AA of the Migration Regulations 1994, and the sponsorship obligation not to recover costs in regulation 2.87, as in force at the date above; the levy and charge figures are the published figures at the date above and the Department’s current price list and the regulations govern. Refunds are at the Department’s discretion within the prescribed circumstances. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.