Losing your job on a subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) visa does not cancel the visa. It starts a clock. The clock is written into condition 8607, which sits on every primary 482 visa, and it gives you up to 180 consecutive days without working for your sponsor before you are in breach. What happens after a breach is a separate decision, made by the Department under the Migration Act, and it is not automatic.
This article quotes the condition as it stands, explains the two limits inside it, sets out what your former employer must tell the Department and when, and walks through the four realistic options. The 482 visa itself, its streams and charges, are on our 482 visa page. How time with more than one employer counts towards permanent residency is on the 482 to 186 pathway.
Verified against the Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation No. 289 (F2026C01017, compilation date 2 October 2026), Schedules 2, 8 and 13 and Part 2A, and the Migration Act 1958, Compilation No. 172 (C2026C00461, compilation date 8 October 2026).
The short answer
| Question | Answer | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Is my visa cancelled when my job ends? | No. Nothing in condition 8607 ends the visa | Sch 8, cl 8607 |
| How long can I be out of work for my sponsor? | Up to 180 consecutive days, and no more than 365 days in total across the visa | Sch 8, cl 8607(5) |
| Who tells the Department? | Your sponsor must, within 28 days of your employment ceasing | reg 2.84(3)(a) and (6) |
| Can I work for someone else while I look? | Not under 8607, unless an exception in 8607(3) applies | Sch 8, cl 8607(2) and (3) |
| Can the Department cancel the visa if I breach? | It may. Section 116 is a discretion, and a written notice comes first | Act, ss 116 and 119 |
What condition 8607 actually says
Clause 482.611 of Schedule 2 provides that if the applicant satisfies the primary criteria, "condition 8607 must be imposed". It is not optional, and it is on the visa whether or not your grant letter spelled it out. Schedule 8 then defines the condition in six subclauses.
| Subclause | What it requires, in plain terms |
|---|---|
| 8607(1) | You must work only in the nominated occupation: the occupation in the nomination identified in the application for your most recent 482 visa |
| 8607(2) | Unless (3) applies, you must work only for the person who nominated you (Labour Agreement stream), or only in a position in that person's business (Specialist Skills or Core Skills stream, where the sponsor was an overseas business sponsor), or in that person's business or an associated entity's business (Specialist Skills or Core Skills stream, other sponsors) |
| 8607(3) | The employer restriction in (2) does not apply if your occupation is one specified by the Minister in an instrument under subregulation 2.72(13), or if you are "continuing to work for a person for the purpose of fulfilling a requirement under a law relating to industrial relations and relating to the giving of notice" |
| 8607(4) | You must start work within 90 days of arriving (visa granted offshore) or within 90 days of grant (visa granted onshore), subject to (6) |
| 8607(5) | You may stop working in accordance with (1) and (2) for a period, but "any such period must not exceed 180 consecutive days", and the total number of days you are not working in accordance with (1) and (2) "must not exceed 365 during the visa period" |
| 8607(6) | If your occupation needs a licence, registration or membership, you must hold it within the same 90-day window, keep holding it, comply with it and tell Immigration in writing if it is refused, lapses or is revoked |
Two points follow from the wording that firm blogs tend to miss.
First, the condition does not say "180 days to find a new sponsor". It says you may cease to work in accordance with (1) and (2) for a period of up to 180 consecutive days. The condition is about working, not about lodging paperwork. On the plain words, what has to happen inside the 180 days is that you are back working in accordance with (1) and (2), which in practice means a new nomination has been approved and you have started. Lodging a nomination on day 179 does not, by itself, satisfy the condition.
The Department's own plain-English 482 page puts it as "you have up to 180 days to find a new employer or make arrangements to leave Australia". That is a fair summary, but the condition itself is about working, and the summary is not the rule.
Second, the 180 days is not the only number. Subclause (5)(b) adds a 365-day total across the whole visa period. A person who has already had, say, five months out of work earlier in the visa does not get a fresh 180 days the second time: the total matters as well as the consecutive run.
One version of the condition for older visas
Schedule 13, clause 14503(4) says that despite the December 2024 amendments to clause 8607, "that clause, as in force immediately before 7 December 2024, continues to apply" to a visa granted before 7 December 2024, or granted later on an application lodged before that date, as if the amendments had not been made. If your 482 falls into either group, it is a Temporary Skill Shortage visa and the earlier wording of 8607 governs it. We have not reproduced the earlier wording here. Check your grant notice for the grant date and, if it is before 7 December 2024, confirm the period that applies to you before relying on any figure on this page.
Resignation, dismissal, redundancy: does it matter how the job ended?
For the condition, no. Subclause 8607(5) talks about a period when the holder does not work in accordance with (1) and (2). It does not ask why. A resignation, a dismissal and a redundancy all start the same clock on the same day: the last day you worked for the sponsor in the nominated occupation.
How the job ended does matter in two other places.
Notice periods. Subclause 8607(3)(b) carves out time spent "continuing to work for a person for the purpose of fulfilling a requirement under a law relating to industrial relations and relating to the giving of notice". If you resign and work out a notice period required by law, those days are still days worked, and the employer restriction in (2) does not bite on them. The 180-day period runs from the end of the notice period, not from the day you handed in your resignation. If you were dismissed with notice paid out instead of worked, you stopped working on the day you stopped, and that is when the clock starts.
Your sponsor's report. The employer's obligation to notify the Department, covered next, applies to the "cessation, or expected cessation" of your employment. A redundancy with a set end date is an expected cessation and can be reported before it happens.
Your sponsor must tell the Department within 28 days
The reporting duty sits on the employer, not on you. Regulation 2.84 applies to "a person who is or was an approved work sponsor". Under subregulation 2.84(3)(a), a standard business sponsor or a party to a work agreement must notify Immigration of "the cessation, or expected cessation, of a primary sponsored person's employment with the person". Item 1 of the table in subregulation 2.84(6) sets the time: "within 28 days of the primary sponsored person ceasing employment".
Subregulation 2.84(5) adds that the sponsor may notify the final date before it arrives, and if you do not in fact leave on that date, the sponsor must notify the continued employment or the new date.
Three practical consequences:
- Assume the Department knows. A sponsor that fails to report is in breach of its own obligations. Plan on the basis that the Department has your cessation date on file from about four weeks after your last day.
- The clock does not wait for the report. Condition 8607(5) counts from when you stop working, not from when the sponsor notifies. The two periods run separately.
- The sponsor's report is not a cancellation. It is information. What the Department does with it is the subject of the next section.
Nothing in condition 8607 requires you to notify the Department that your job has ended. Your own notification duties are the ones in your conditions: for example condition 8607(6) on licences, and any address-change condition on your visa. Check your grant notice. Separately from your conditions, the Department asks visa holders to tell it through ImmiAccount about a change of employer or employment status. That is a request on its website, not a condition, but it costs nothing to comply.
Can the Department cancel the visa?
It may. It is not required to, and it cannot do so without writing to you first.
Section 116(1) of the Migration Act says the Minister may cancel a visa if satisfied of one of a list of grounds. Two are relevant here:
| Ground | Wording in s 116(1) | How it applies |
|---|---|---|
| (a) | "the decision to grant the visa was based, wholly or partly, on a particular fact or circumstance that is no longer the case or that no longer exists" | The visa was granted on the basis of an approved nomination by a particular employer. That employment has ended |
| (b) | "its holder has not complied with a condition of the visa" | Available once 180 consecutive days, or 365 days in total, have passed without work in accordance with 8607(1) and (2) |
Ground (a) is the one people overlook. It does not depend on the 180 days running out. On its words it can be considered as soon as the circumstance the grant was based on no longer exists. Nothing in the Act requires the Department to wait for the 8607(5) period to end, so do not treat the 180 days as a promise that nothing will happen before then.
Three further points from the Act:
- A notice comes first. Section 119(1) requires that, if the Minister is considering cancelling a visa under s 116, the holder must be notified in writing that there appear to be grounds, be given particulars, and be invited "to show within a specified time" that the grounds do not exist or that there is a reason the visa should not be cancelled. That letter is your chance to put a new nomination, a pending visa application or your departure plans on the record. Do not ignore it, and do not let the specified time pass.
- Discretion runs both ways. Section 116(2) says the visa is not to be cancelled if prescribed circumstances exist in which a visa is not to be cancelled, and s 116(3) says it must be cancelled where prescribed circumstances require it. Whether either applies is a question about your case.
- Where you are matters. Section 117(1) lists when a visa may be cancelled under s 116(1), including while the holder is in the migration zone. A 482 is a temporary visa, so the protection in s 117(2) for permanent visa holders in the migration zone does not apply.
Your four options
| Option | What it involves | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| 1. A new sponsor nominates you | A new standard business sponsor (or a party to a work agreement) lodges a nomination naming you. Regulation 2.72(1)(b)(iia) expressly allows a nomination of "a holder of a Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) visa" | The condition is satisfied when you are back working in accordance with 8607(1) and (2), not when the nomination is lodged. Build in the time the nomination will take |
| 2. Apply for a different visa | Any visa you are eligible for, lodged while the 482 is still in effect. A valid onshore application generally attracts a bridging visa, explained on our bridging visas page | When a bridging visa comes into effect, and what it permits, is on that page. If the 482 is later cancelled, the position changes, and the section below on s 48 applies |
| 3. Leave Australia | Depart before the period runs out, or before a cancellation decision is made | A visa that is still in effect when you leave is not the same as a visa that was cancelled. Leaving on your own terms keeps the record clean and keeps offshore applications open |
| 4. Do nothing | Stay, not working, past 180 days and wait | This is the option that produces a s 116(1)(b) ground, a s 119 notice and, if cancelled while you are onshore without another substantive visa, the s 48 bar |
Changing employer without a new visa
A current 482 holder does not apply for a new visa when moving to a new sponsor. The new employer lodges a nomination naming you: regulation 2.72(1)(b)(iia) expressly covers a nomination of "a holder of a Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) visa". Regulation 2.86(3) then moves the sponsorship obligations across on "the day on which the Minister approves a nomination ... by another approved work sponsor in which the primary sponsored person is identified", and the Department's sponsorship-obligations page says the same: your former employer's obligation to keep you in the nominated occupation ends on the day a different sponsor's nomination for you is approved. Regulation 2.75(2) sets out when an approved nomination ceases, including twelve months after approval if no visa application is made on it.
Be clear about what that does and does not come from. Condition 8607 itself still refers to "the nomination identified in the application for the most recent Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) visa granted to the holder". The Regulations do not contain a sentence saying you may start with the new employer the day the nomination is approved. That is how the Department administers the condition, and its own pages are written on that basis. Start only after the approval notice is issued, keep a copy of it, and do not rely on a lodged-but-undecided nomination.
Two things to check before you accept a new offer. The occupation on the new nomination must be the one you will actually do, and it must be one the new employer can nominate in the stream that applies. And if you are working towards the 186 TRT stream, which employer nominates you for the 186 visa, and when, affects the two-year count: see the 482 to 186 pathway.
Can I work for the new employer while the nomination is pending?
Not under condition 8607 as written. Subclause 8607(2) restricts you to the nominating sponsor's business until subclause (3) applies, and (3) applies only to an instrument-listed occupation or to a notice period under industrial law. A pending nomination is neither. Starting early is a breach of condition, and a breach is a s 116(1)(b) ground. The practical answer is to agree a start date with the new employer that follows approval.
The same applies to casual or gig work in the meantime. Condition 8607(1) and (2) restrict you to the nominated occupation for the nominating sponsor. Work outside that is work outside the condition.
What a cancellation does to your next application
If the 482 is cancelled under s 116 while you are in Australia and you do not hold another substantive visa, section 48(1) of the Act applies. A non-citizen in the migration zone who does not hold a substantive visa and whose visa "was cancelled under section 109 ... 116 ..." may apply only for a visa of a class prescribed for the purposes of that section, "but not for a visa of any other class". That is the section 48 bar, and it removes most onshore options at a stroke. What it covers and what it leaves open is set out in the section 48 bar explained.
This is why Option 4 is the dangerous one. Every other option keeps you off s 48. A person who lodges a new visa application, or leaves, while still holding the 482 is in a different legal position from a person whose 482 was cancelled.
If a cancellation does happen, the visa that lets you stay while the next step is worked out is a bridging visa E. What it permits is on bridging visa E: what it allows.
What to do in the first week
| Day | Action | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Write down your last day worked in the nominated occupation. Keep the termination letter, final payslip and any separation certificate | This is the start of the 8607(5) clock and the date your sponsor will report |
| 1–2 | Read your grant notice. Confirm the grant date and the application date (before or after 7 December 2024) and every condition number on it | The version of 8607 and the other conditions you must keep complying with depend on it |
| 2–3 | Work out your 365-day total: add up every earlier period you were not working for the sponsor during this visa | 8607(5)(b) may give you less than 180 days |
| 3–5 | Decide which of the four options is realistic. If it is a new sponsor, start the conversation now and tell them a nomination has to be approved before you start | Nomination processing is outside your control and eats into the period |
| 5–7 | If a new sponsor is unlikely, get advice on whether another visa is open to you while the 482 is still in effect | Lodging before cancellation keeps you off s 48 |
| Ongoing | Watch the mail and ImmiAccount for a s 119 notice. Respond inside the specified time | Silence is the one thing the notice process punishes |
Frequently asked questions
Is my 482 visa cancelled automatically when I lose my job? No. Condition 8607 contains no automatic cancellation. The visa remains in effect until the Department cancels it under s 116 of the Migration Act, and s 119 requires a written notice inviting your response before that happens.
Does the 180 days start on my last day or when my employer tells the Department? On your last day working in accordance with 8607(1) and (2). The sponsor's 28-day reporting duty under reg 2.84 runs separately and does not move the start of your period.
Can I work casually while I look for a new sponsor? Not under condition 8607. Subclauses (1) and (2) restrict you to the nominated occupation for the nominating sponsor, and the only exceptions are in (3): an occupation on the instrument under subregulation 2.72(13), or working out a notice period required by industrial law.
Can I start with my new employer before the nomination is approved? Not under the condition as written. A pending nomination does not bring you inside 8607(2) or (3). Agree a start date that follows approval.
Does the 180 days reset if I find a new job and then lose it again? Each period of not working must not exceed 180 consecutive days, so a new period does start when you stop again. But subclause 8607(5)(b) caps the total at 365 days across the visa period, so the days you have already used still count.
My 482 was granted before December 2024. Does this apply to me? Schedule 13, clause 14503(4) keeps the earlier version of condition 8607 for a visa granted before 7 December 2024, or granted later on an application lodged before that date. The structure is the same but the figures may differ. Confirm the period that applies to your visa before relying on 180 days.
Will I get a warning before cancellation? Yes. Section 119(1) requires the Department to notify you in writing that there appear to be grounds, give particulars, and invite you to show within a specified time that the grounds do not exist or that there is a reason not to cancel. The specified time is short and is set in the letter.
Get the clock and the options settled early
The two things that go wrong after a 482 job loss are a holder who counts 180 days from the wrong date, or who has already used part of the 365, and a holder who waits for the period to end before deciding anything. Both are avoidable in the first week.
Migration Vision advises 482 holders and sponsoring employers across Australia and offshore. Nobody can promise an outcome. What can be done is to fix the date the period started, work out how many days you actually have, test whether a new nomination or another visa is realistic in that time, and make sure any s 119 notice is answered properly. If your matter already involves a notice or a cancellation, start at complex cases.
Reviewed by Dr Asad Muhammad Khan, Registered Migration Agent, MARN 2619525. Last reviewed 25 October 2026 — condition 8607, clause 482.611, clauses 482.111 and 482.212, regulations 2.72(1)(b)(iia), 2.75(2), 2.84(3)(a), (5) and (6) and 2.86(3), and Schedule 13 clause 14503(4) verified against the Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation No. 289 (F2026C01017, compilation date 2 October 2026); sections 48, 116, 117 and 119 against the Migration Act 1958, Compilation No. 172 (C2026C00461, compilation date 8 October 2026), both on legislation.gov.au. Figures current as at 25 October 2026; confirm with the Department of Home Affairs before lodgement. This article is general information, not migration advice for your circumstances, and the law may change.
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