The Skills in Demand (482) visa: moving to Australia from the UK

What the 482 visa is

This is the visa that takes UK electricians, chefs, carpenters, welders, nurses and engineers to Australia on a sponsored job. In short:

The Skills in Demand (SID) visa, subclass 482, lets an Australian employer sponsor a skilled worker when it cannot find a suitably skilled Australian for the role. It is a temporary visa lasting up to 4 years. Staying longer on a 482 means a new nomination from the employer and a new application from you.

It has three main streams:

• Core Skills. Occupations on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). Most of the trade, hospitality and building roles on this site sit here.
• Specialist Skills. Higher-paid roles in certain occupation groups, where pay meets the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (AUD 146,576 (as of October 2026, official page)). Trades workers, machinery operators and labourers cannot use it.
• Labour Agreement. Workers nominated by an employer that has a labour agreement with the Australian Government, which can set its own requirements.

Core Skills stream: what you need

You have to meet every one of these.

• An employer who sponsors you. It is an approved sponsor, or has applied to become a Standard Business Sponsor, and it nominates you for the role.
• A listed occupation. The role is on the Core Skills Occupation List and genuinely needs your skills.
• The right pay. You receive the Annual Market Salary Rate, which cannot sit below the Core Skills Income Threshold: AUD 79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 (as of October 2026, official page). Your pay must also match what an Australian doing the same job earns.
• Experience. At least 1 year of relevant work in the nominated occupation or a closely related one (details below).
• English, health and character. You meet all three, and hold adequate health insurance for your whole stay.
• Age. There is no minimum or maximum age for the 482.

See how you measure up against real roles: sponsored jobs in Australia.

Experience, qualifications and skills assessment

Australia judges what you have done on the job, not just the certificates in your folder.

• Experience: at least 1 year in the nominated occupation or a related field within the last 5 years. Gaps are fine, as long as the total adds up to at least 12 months full-time.
• Qualifications: whatever your occupation calls for. If the work needs an Australian licence or registration, you need that too: some trades, such as electrical and plumbing work, need a state licence, and nurses register with the Australian regulator because UK registration does not transfer automatically.
• Skills assessment: some occupations need one, usually from VETASSESS or Trades Recognition Australia (TRA). UK qualifications such as NVQs, SVQs and City & Guilds awards, or a completed apprenticeship, are generally assessed again. Where your occupation needs an assessment, it must be under way when you lodge or the application is invalid, and it must be dated within the 3 years before you apply. Start it early.
• No assessment required? Home Affairs may still want other evidence, such as certificates, licences, references and your CV.

English requirements and the UK passport

Both the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams need English unless you are exempt, and a current UK passport is one of the exemptions (more below). For anyone who does need a test, these are the minimum scores in each component for tests taken on or after 13 September 2025 (as of October 2026, official page):

• Who is exempt: holders of a passport from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, the US or the Republic of Ireland, and anyone who has done at least 5 years of full-time study at secondary level or above, mostly in English. Employers and registration bodies can still ask for their own English evidence.
• How recent: a test result must come from the 3 years before you apply.
• Where: at a test centre. Tests sat at home or entirely online, IELTS Online included, do not count.
• Other tests: Home Affairs also accepts CELPIP General, LANGUAGECERT Academic, the Michigan English Test and others, each with its own minimums on the official page.
• Labour Agreement stream: the agreement can set a different level.

Health, insurance and police checks

• Health: everyone on the application must meet the health requirement, usually by having health examinations, and the results generally stay valid for 12 months.
• Insurance: you need adequate health cover from the day you arrive, for your entire stay.
• Character: this covers you and every family member aged 16 or over. Normally it means police certificates from each country where you have spent 12 months or more in total in the 10 years since you turned 16. For your time in the UK that is a police certificate from ACRO Criminal Records Office; time abroad long enough to count needs that country's certificate as well.

Step by step: from the advert to your first shift

1. Labour market testing. As a rule the employer runs 2 or more job ads in Australia, each for at least 4 weeks, within the 4 months before it nominates (labour market testing).
2. Selection. You apply, interview (often by video call from the UK) and receive an offer.
3. Sponsor approval. The employer becomes an approved sponsor, if it is not one already.
4. Nomination. The employer lodges a nomination and gives you its Transaction Reference Number (TRN).
5. Your documents. Passport, proof of skills (with a skills assessment where needed), English evidence or your passport exemption, your ACRO and any other police certificates, references and any translations.
6. Lodging. You apply in ImmiAccount with the TRN and pay the visa charge.
7. Biometrics and health examinations, whenever Home Affairs asks for them.
8. The decision. A visa cannot be granted until the nomination is approved.
9. Starting work. You must start within 90 days of arriving in Australia (or of the grant, if you are already there). Plan your notice period, your flat or house and your flights around that date.

How long it takes and what it costs

Processing times (as of October 2026, official page), from the Home Affairs processing-time tool:

The tool changes often, and a single case can move faster or slower. Allow for the time before lodging as well: finding the job, sponsorship and nomination, a skills assessment or licence, and police certificates can each take weeks.

The visa charge (as of October 2026, official page): AUD 4,015 for the main applicant, and the same for each family member aged 18 or over; AUD 1,005 for each family member under 18. Health examinations, police certificates, biometrics and any English test cost extra. From 1 July 2026 a reduced charge applies to eligible citizens of Timor-Leste and the Pacific Island countries.

Living and working on a 482

• Your job. You work in the nominated occupation for your sponsor (or, in some cases, an associated entity).
• Your start date. Within 90 days.
• If the job ends. You have up to 180 days to find another sponsor or arrange to leave Australia.
• Costs and rights. The sponsor pays its own sponsorship, nomination and recruitment costs and cannot recover them from you (sponsor obligations). You have the same workplace rights as anyone else working in Australia: see worker rights.

Bringing your partner and children

• Who can come: your partner, and dependent children, whether yours or your partner's.
• What they can do: live, work and study in Australia once their visas are granted.
• The sponsor's part: it includes each family member in the nomination, or agrees in writing to sponsor them.
• Put everyone on at the start: nobody can be added after you lodge. Anyone joining later applies separately, as a subsequent entrant.
• Charges and checks: a visa charge for each person (see above), health checks for all, and character checks from age 16.

From a 482 to permanent residence (subclass 186)

Most 482 holders who settle for good do it through the Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream of the Employer Nomination Scheme visa, subclass 186, which is a permanent visa. The requirements (as of October 2026, official page):

• Your visa now: a subclass 482 (or a 457), or an eligible bridging visa.
• Time with your sponsor: at least 2 years of eligible work for them in the 3 years before you apply.
• Your employer: your latest full-time sponsor on a 482 or 457, whose nomination of you was approved in the 6 months before you apply.
• Age: usually under 45 when you apply.
• English: at least Competent English, for example IELTS 6 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking (Competent English). That page lists the ways to show it, and for many visas a current UK passport counts.

The 186 visa charge starts at AUD 6,140 (as of October 2026, official page). The rules change from time to time, so check the official page before planning your future around them.

Preparing in the UK

None of this has to wait until the visa stage: most of it can be sorted while interviews are still going on. Each point follows the general rules of the Department of Home Affairs (the Australian department that decides visas), as they apply to someone moving from the UK.

1. Passport first. The name on it should match your certificates, and any marriage certificate or deed poll that explains a change. If it runs out soon, Home Affairs advises renewing before you apply, so the visa is linked to the passport you will actually fly on.
2. Police certificates. Australia wants one from every country where you have spent 12 months or more in total over the past 10 years, counted from age 16. For your time in the UK that is a police certificate from ACRO Criminal Records Office; a few years working in Spain or Dubai, say, may need a certificate from there as well. How each country handles it is on the Home Affairs police certificate list. A certificate is usually accepted for 12 months from its issue date (character requirements).
3. Qualifications and tickets. NVQ or SVQ certificates, City & Guilds results, apprenticeship completion papers, degrees, licences and cards. UK qualifications are usually assessed again in Australia, and some trades such as electrical and plumbing work also need a state licence, so if your occupation needs a skills assessment, get it moving early.
4. A reference from each employer. On company letterhead and signed, giving the signer's name, position and contact details, your job title and the dates you started and left. Home Affairs also asks for a CV in English that covers at least your last 5 years of work.
5. English. For many Australian work visas a current UK passport counts as meeting the English language requirement, so read the visa's own page before you book any test. Employers and registration bodies can still set their own English rules.
6. Translations, if any. UK documents are already in English, so this rarely comes up. For a paper in another language, a translator working outside Australia needs no Australian accreditation, but the translation must show their full name, address, phone number, qualifications and experience. You may still be asked for certified copies of originals.
7. Colour scans. Scan every page clearly and completely; it makes the online form far less of a chore.

Still in a job here? Keep working until Australia makes its decision, and look up the notice period in your contract so you can hand in your notice at the right moment.

Scams and mistakes that cost visas

Scams aimed at people planning a move to Australia tend to follow one script: a message on social media or a slick website promises a sponsored role or a visa, as long as you pay first. Deal only with genuine employers, and never pay anyone to "secure" a job or a visa.

• Nobody can guarantee a visa. Home Affairs is clear about it. Australia does not sell "work permits" or stick visa labels in passports either, so anyone offering one is not telling the truth.
• Paying for sponsorship is a breach. Sponsors cannot pass their sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs on to you. Asking for, offering or paying a benefit in return for sponsorship breaks the rules, and having done so in the past 3 years can stop a 482 from being granted.
• Check who may charge for advice. In Australia, only registered migration agents (RMAs) and Australian lawyers can charge for immigration help. Look them up on the OMARA register before you pay (choosing a migration agent).
• The visa charge goes through ImmiAccount. No extra government fee exists for "issuing" a visa.
• Slip-ups that sink applications: nominating an occupation your real work history does not back up; an English result or police certificate that has expired; leaving a partner or child off the form (nobody can be added after lodging); and names or dates that differ between documents.

Home Affairs' own guidance: visa scams (Home Affairs) and what you need to know (Home Affairs).

Frequently asked questions

How long is a 482 visa granted for?

Up to 4 years. To stay longer on a 482, your employer has to nominate you again and you have to make a new application.

How much experience does the 482 ask for?

At least 1 year in the nominated occupation, or a related one, within the last 5 years. Breaks are fine if the full-time total comes to 12 months or more.

Do I need IELTS or PTE if I hold a UK passport?

Usually not for the 482, because a current UK passport is one of the exemptions (as of October 2026). If you are not exempt, a test taken on or after 13 September 2025 needs IELTS 5.0 in each part, or PTE Academic 33 for listening, 36 for reading, 29 for writing and 24 for speaking. The details are on the Home Affairs English page. Your employer or registration body may still ask for its own evidence.

Which police certificate do I need from the UK?

A police certificate from ACRO Criminal Records Office, plus one from any other country where you lived for 12 months or more in total during the last 10 years since age 16. The Home Affairs country list explains the UK process.

I am a nurse registered in the UK. Can I start straight away?

Not straight away. UK registration does not carry over automatically, so you register with the nursing regulator in Australia first. The job ad says what the employer needs.

Is there an age limit?

Not for the 482. The permanent subclass 186 (TRT stream), however, usually requires you to be under 45.

What does the 482 cost?

As of October 2026, AUD 4,015 for the main applicant and for each family member aged 18 or over, and AUD 1,005 for each child under 18. Tests, health examinations and police certificates are extra. See the Home Affairs page.

What if I lose my sponsored job?

You have up to 180 days to find a new sponsoring employer or arrange to leave Australia.

Could I stay in Australia permanently later on?

Possibly. After 2 years of sponsored work in the last 3 years, the TRT stream of the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) may be open to you, provided your employer nominates you and you meet the age and Competent English requirements.