Sponsoring a chef or cook on a 482: the venue caveat, the salary floor, experience and the skills assessment

MARN 1576536 · Checked against Home Affairs and IMMI 18/039 on 8 November 2026; caveat text read 6 November 2026

The listing

Chef (ANZSCO 351311) and Cook (351411) both appear on the Home Affairs Core Skills Occupation List, so either can be nominated in the Core Skills stream of the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa by an approved sponsor. The two are separate occupations with different duties and skill levels in ANZSCO, so the nomination names the one the position actually is, and the evidence of the worker's experience has to match the occupation chosen.

The venue caveat

Both occupations carry caveats on the Department's list. For the 482 Core Skills stream, the Department's text for Chef reads:

• Excludes any position involved in mass production in a factory setting
• Excludes any position in a limited service restaurant. A limited service restaurant includes, but is not limited to: a fast food or takeaway food service a fast casual restaurant a drinking establishment that offers only a limited food service a limited service cafe, including a coffee shop or mall cafe a limited service pizza restaurant.

The same exclusions appear against Cook. In practice the question is what kind of food service the position is in. A takeaway or fast food outlet, a fast-casual restaurant, a drinking establishment with only limited food, and a limited-service cafe or pizza restaurant are named in the caveat; a full-service restaurant is not. The Department looks at how the business actually operates, so the menu, the service model and the venue itself are part of the evidence. The caveats guide lists every occupation with a caveat.

Salary: the threshold and the market rate

Home Affairs requires a Core Skills nomination to pay the annual market salary rate for the occupation and no less than the Core Skills Income Threshold. From 1 July 2026 the threshold is A$79,423. The market rate is what an Australian chef or cook in the same position and location is paid, shown by the business's own pay for comparable staff or by other evidence of the going rate. Where the market rate is higher than the threshold, the market rate is the floor. The salary checker sets out the thresholds for each stream.

Experience

The worker needs at least one year of relevant experience in the occupation or a related field, gained in the last five years, with part-time or casual work counted at its full-time equivalent. For kitchens the duties matter more than the title: experience has to show the work of the nominated occupation at its skill level. The work experience guide covers how the rule is applied.

The mandatory skills assessment

Chef and Cook are on the list in IMMI 18/039, the instrument that makes a Trades Recognition Australia skills assessment mandatory for some 482 applicants. For these two occupations it applies to holders of passports from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and Zimbabwe, unless an exemption in the instrument applies. Where it applies, the assessment must have been started before the visa application is lodged, and within the three years before it, or the application is not valid. The skills assessment guide sets out the exemptions.

The employer side

The business needs to be an approved sponsor, and the nomination needs labour market testing unless an exemption applies. The sponsorship and nomination charges and the Skilling Australians Fund levy are the employer's costs and cannot be passed on to the worker. The cost guide sets out what the employer pays.

Check the kitchen before you advertise

A consultation reads the venue against the caveat, sets the salary against the threshold and the market rate, and checks whether the candidate's passport triggers the skills assessment, before the position is advertised.

Book a consultation — A$330 inc. GST, credited

General information only, current at 8 November 2026; not advice on your own case. Department of Home Affairs Core Skills Occupation List, 482 Core Skills stream eligibility page and income threshold notice for 1 July 2026; Migration (IMMI 18/039) Instrument 2018, compilation 2; caveat text from the Department's skilled occupation list as read on the date shown above. 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.