Can your business sponsor an overseas worker?
If you can't find an Australian citizen or permanent resident for a job, you may be able to sponsor an overseas worker, or keep one who already works for you. Any legally established and operating business can apply to be a sponsor (Department of Home Affairs). Most sponsorship visas involve three linked applications: your business is approved as a sponsor, you nominate the position, and the worker applies for the visa. The right visa depends on the job, where it is based, and whether you need the worker for a set time or permanently. This page helps you choose a pathway and start. Each visa page holds the detailed rules and the current figures.
At a glance
| Question | Short answer | Where the detail is |
|---|---|---|
| Who can sponsor? | Any legally established and operating business, of any size, in or outside Australia (some limits apply) | Can your business sponsor? |
| Which visa? | Depends on the job, its location and whether you need the worker temporarily or permanently | Which pathway fits |
| Who pays? | The business pays the sponsor's costs and can't pass them to the worker | What it costs your business |
| When does it end? | Your obligations continue after the grant, and some continue after the worker leaves | Your duties after the grant |
| Fees, thresholds, processing times | Not on this page. Each visa page shows current figures and the date they were checked | 482 · 186 · 494 |
Can your business sponsor a worker?
Any legally established and operating business can apply, and a business can hold standard business sponsorship and a labour agreement at the same time. Standard business sponsorship is the approval used for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494). The business can be in or outside Australia. There must be no adverse information that affects its suitability, unless it is reasonable to disregard it. A business in Australia also attests to a strong record of, or a demonstrated commitment to, employing local labour, and declares that it will not engage in discriminatory recruitment practices (standard business sponsor).
Size is not the test. What changes is the evidence that the business is operating. A small business gives its latest tax return, recent BAS and bank statements. A new business gives at least a business plan with contracts to provide services, and business bank statements. A business not yet operating in Australia shows that it intends, or is contracted, to set up here.
You can sponsor a skilled worker who is overseas, who is in Australia on a visa that doesn't let them work, or who already lives and works here on another visa. With limited exceptions, the job must be on the eligible skilled occupation list. If it isn't, a labour agreement may be possible. Some visa holders already have the work rights you need, and the Department says you then don't need to sponsor them. Check the worker's visa conditions first in the Department's Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) service.
When sponsorship is unlikely to work
We would rather tell you early than lodge an application that is likely to fail. Sponsorship is unlikely to work where:
- the pay is below the market rate or the visa's income threshold. The Department will refuse a nomination if you intend to pay less than an equivalent Australian worker (salary requirements)
- the position isn't genuine (Migration Regulations 1994, reg 2.72(10))
- the business can't show that it is operating
- you expect the worker to pay the sponsorship costs, or to pay you for the job
- you can't keep up the obligations for as long as they last
If one of these applies, there may be another route, or the right advice may be to wait.
Which pathway fits your situation?
Start from your situation, not a visa number. Each row points to the page with the rules and current figures.
| Your situation | Pathway to look at | Temporary or permanent | Rules and figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| You need a skilled worker for a job on the eligible occupation list | Skills in Demand visa (482), Core Skills or Specialist Skills stream, depending on the occupation and salary | Temporary | 482 visa guide |
| You sponsor someone on a 482 and want to keep them | Employer Nomination Scheme (186), Temporary Residence Transition stream | Permanent | 186 visa guide and 482 to 186 guide |
| You want to hire straight into a permanent role | 186, Direct Entry stream | Permanent | 186 visa guide |
| The job is in a designated regional area | Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (494), Employer Sponsored stream | Provisional, with a later permanent pathway (subclass 191) | 494 visa guide |
| Your business is in a DAMA region, the role isn't on the standard lists or the worker can't meet a standard requirement, and no industry labour agreement covers your industry | Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA), after endorsement by the region's Designated Area Representative; the region's agreement may include concessions | Depends on the visa used: 482, 494 or 186 | DAMA and labour agreements guide |
| Your industry has an industry labour agreement | Industry labour agreement, with set terms | Depends on the visa used: 482, 494 or 186 | DAMA and labour agreements guide |
| No standard list, industry agreement or DAMA fits, and you can show an exceptional need | Company-specific labour agreement | Depends on the visa used: 482, 494 or 186 | DAMA and labour agreements guide |
| You've bought a business with sponsored workers | New sponsorship approval, plus a new nomination for each worker | Depends on each worker's visa | Taking over a business, below |
| You want to train someone, not fill a job | Training visa (407), with a temporary activities sponsor | Temporary | 407 visa guide |
| The worker's visa already lets them work for you | You may not need to sponsor. Check their conditions in VEVO | Not applicable | Department: who you can sponsor |
For highly skilled niche roles the standard programs can't fill, the Department runs the Global Talent Employer Sponsored program. The Department lists it separately from its labour agreement types.
A DAMA can also help when the role is on the list but the worker can't meet a standard requirement, because each region's agreement sets its own concessions. It works only if that DAMA covers the occupation.
Not sure which row fits your business? Ask us about sponsoring a worker: tell us about the role and where the business is based. We'll tell you which pathway to look at first, and say so plainly if sponsorship won't work.
How sponsorship works: four stages
The details depend on the visa, but the order is the same (How to sponsor a worker).
- Become an approved sponsor. In the Department's words: "You must become an approved sponsor and/or nominator to sponsor a skilled worker." For the 482 and 494 outside the labour agreement streams, this is standard business sponsorship. Under a labour agreement, your business is a party to the agreement. For the 407, the sponsor must be a temporary activities sponsor (Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 2, clause 407.213). Incomplete applications might be delayed or refused.
- Nominate the position. You name the occupation and the person who will fill it. You show the salary, a genuine position, labour market testing where the visa requires it, and you pay the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy in full when you lodge. The current advertising rules and thresholds are on each visa page.
- The worker applies for the visa. This is the worker's step, but the Department says you should still check they meet the criteria. Some workers need a skills assessment.
- Your obligations continue. They start when your sponsorship is approved and go on after the visa is granted (see After the visa is granted).
Where employer applications often go wrong
- The sponsorship lapses before you lodge a renewal. You must then start a new sponsorship application, and related nominations still waiting for a decision are refused.
- The business becomes a new legal entity, for example a sole trader becoming a company, without a new sponsorship and new nominations.
- The ads or salary evidence don't meet the rules, so the nomination fails. Generic salary data or surveys alone may lead to refusal.
- The worker's duties change without telling the Department, or without a new nomination when the occupation changes.
What it costs your business
Amounts change, so this page lists the types of cost. Current amounts are on the 482 visa guide and the 186 and 494 guides; visa application charges are on our fees page.
| Cost | Paid to | Can you pass it to the worker? |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsorship application | Department of Home Affairs | No |
| Nomination fee, for each nomination | Department of Home Affairs | No |
| SAF levy, at nomination (lower for smaller businesses) | Department of Home Affairs | No |
| Advertising and other recruitment costs | Whoever you use | No |
| Migration agent fees for the sponsorship and nomination | Your migration agent | No |
| The worker's own visa application charge | Department of Home Affairs | See below |
DAMA employers: some Designated Area Representatives charge an endorsement fee. Our DAMA and labour agreements guide links to the regions. Check the fee with the region before you apply.
- You pay the sponsor's costs. The Department says: "You must pay for all costs associated with becoming a sponsor and nominating and sponsoring an applicant. You can't transfer these costs to the visa holder or their family members" (cost of sponsoring). You also can't recover them later. That includes migration agent costs (Migration Regulations 1994, reg 2.87).
- The worker's visa charge. Our reading of the rules is that the costs you can't pass on are the sponsorship, nomination and recruitment costs, and the worker's own visa charge is not one of them. Agree in writing who pays it.
- Paying for sponsorship is illegal. In the Department's words: "It is illegal for a person to pay an employer to sponsor them for a visa." That includes a salary deduction or any other benefit. Consequences can include visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment. Asking for, receiving, offering or providing such a benefit is prohibited by the Migration Act 1958 (ss 245AR–245AS).
- Later costs. If the worker or the Department asks in writing, you must pay reasonable return travel costs. A sponsored worker or family member may become an unlawful non-citizen. You may then have to repay the Commonwealth's costs of locating and removing them, up to a limit.
After the visa is granted: what you must keep doing
By law, an approved sponsor must meet the obligations set by the Migration Regulations (Migration Act 1958, s 140H; Migration Regulations 1994, Division 2.19). While you sponsor a worker, they can work only for you. In plain words, based on the Department's sponsorship obligations page, you must:
- Tell the Department in writing when certain things happen. For the main events the limit is 28 days: the worker's employment ends or is expected to end, their duties change, they don't start work, a new director or partner joins, or the business becomes insolvent or stops existing (reg 2.84). Also tell the Department about changes such as your business name, structure or address.
- Keep the worker in the nominated occupation. A different occupation needs a new nomination, and for a 482 or 494 a new visa.
- Use a written employment contract, and keep pay and conditions at least what you nominated and no less favourable than for an equivalent Australian worker (unless the worker earns above a high-income level set in the rules).
- Recruit without discrimination based on visa or citizenship status, and keep records that show it.
- Keep records, give them to the Department if asked, and cooperate with inspectors, who can visit with or without notice.
- Pay return travel costs for the worker and sponsored family members if asked in writing.
Some obligations continue after the worker leaves or your sponsorship ends, and the Department monitors sponsors for a period afterwards. It publishes information identifying sponsors who break the rules. The Migration Act also now allows the Department to publish information about approved work sponsors on its website, of the kinds the regulations prescribe (Migration Act 1958, s 140GD). Sanctions include a bar on sponsoring, cancellation of your approvals, compliance notices, enforceable undertakings, infringement notices and court-ordered civil penalties. Serious, deliberate or repeated breaches can stop you employing more migrant workers for a time. Current penalty amounts are on the Department's obligations page.
To keep a 482 worker permanently, look at the 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream; the 482 to 186 guide explains what counts. Changing the worker's duties along the way can affect it. For a 494 worker, the permanent step is the subclass 191.
Taking over a business with sponsored staff
When you buy a business whose staff hold Skills in Demand, Temporary Skill Shortage or subclass 457 visas, you apply to become an approved sponsor and lodge a new nomination for each worker (see the FAQ below). A restructure works the same way. If a change creates a new legal entity, such as a sole trader becoming a company, the new entity must become a standard business sponsor and lodge new nominations. If it doesn't, the Department warns that the workers will breach their visa conditions, and their visas could be cancelled.
Our practical checklist before settlement (not a legal rule):
- List each sponsored worker, their visa, its expiry date and their nominated occupation.
- Confirm whether the buyer will be a new legal entity.
- Plan when the sponsorship and nominations will be lodged. The Department's evidence for a new business includes a contract of sale where settlement has occurred.
- Remember that the seller keeps its own obligations, including telling the Department when a sponsored worker's employment with it ends.
Your employee sent you this page?
If someone who works for you asked you to read this, here is what sponsorship would mean for your business. There is no pressure either way.
Your business would usually apply to be an approved sponsor (for some visas, only a nominator). It would nominate the role and meet the sponsor's obligations for as long as they apply. You would pay the sponsorship, nomination, levy and recruitment costs yourself. The law doesn't let you pass those costs on, and it is illegal for anyone to pay you to sponsor them. You would also pay at least the market rate for the role and the visa's income threshold. What you gain is the chance to keep a trained worker whose visa might otherwise end.
If you're unsure, ask us whether sponsorship is realistic for this role. We'll tell you honestly, including if it isn't. For the worker: your side of the application is on the 482, 186 and 494 pages.
How Migration Vision helps employers
- Work out which pathway fits the role, including whether you need to sponsor at all
- Plan the labour market testing and salary evidence for each nomination
- Prepare and lodge the sponsorship and the nominations
- Assess whether an industry agreement, DAMA endorsement or company-specific labour agreement fits, and prepare the request
- Plan the move from the 482 to the 186
- Review how you are meeting your sponsor obligations
- Help if a decision goes against you. Any review right has a strict time limit; see visa refusals and review
Before any work starts, you receive a written service agreement setting out the work and the fees, as the Code of Conduct requires (Migration (Migration Agents Code of Conduct) Regulations 2021, s 42). See how our professional fees work. No one can promise a sponsorship, nomination or visa decision; the Department decides each one.
Dr Asad Muhammad Khan, Registered Migration Agent (MARN 2619525), handles employer enquiries. You can check his registration on the OMARA register. Migration Vision is not a law firm. We work with businesses across Australia and with overseas businesses hiring for Australian operations. More about Dr Khan.
Frequently asked questions from employers
Can a small business sponsor a worker?
Yes. Any legally established and operating business can apply to be a sponsor, so size is not the test. You need a genuine position, pay at the market rate and at least the income threshold, and the ability to meet the obligations. Smaller and newer businesses give different evidence that they are operating, and the SAF levy is lower for businesses with a smaller turnover.
What are the sponsorship visa requirements for an employer?
In short: an approved sponsorship (or a labour agreement), a genuine position, a nomination that meets the salary and, where it applies, labour market testing rules, and the ability to meet sponsor obligations after the grant. The exact criteria and current figures for each visa are on the 482, 186 and 494 guides.
Can a business based outside Australia sponsor a worker?
For the 482, yes. A standard business sponsor can be in or outside Australia. The regional 494 Employer Sponsored stream is different: the Regulations exclude a sponsor that was operating a business only outside Australia when it was approved (or when its approval was last varied) (Migration Regulations 1994, reg 2.72C).
Can I sponsor someone who already works for me?
Yes, if they are living and working in Australia on another visa. First check their visa conditions, because they may already have the work rights you need. Already employing them does not, on its own, exempt you from labour market testing. Narrow exemptions exist, including some under Australia's international trade obligations.
Do I have to advertise the job first?
For some visas, yes. Labour market testing applies to the 482 Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams, the 494 Employer Sponsored stream, and labour agreement streams where the agreement says so. Ads placed only on social media or a general classifieds website don't count (labour market testing). The current rules are on the 482 page.
Who pays for sponsorship? Can the worker pay?
You pay. The sponsorship fee, nomination fee, SAF levy, recruitment costs and migration agent costs for the sponsorship and nomination are the sponsor's. You can't pass them to the worker or recover them later (Migration Regulations 1994, reg 2.87). It is also illegal for a person to pay an employer to sponsor them for a visa.
How long does sponsorship take?
It depends on the visa, the stream and how complete the applications are. The Department publishes current times in its processing-times tool, and our 482, 186 and 494 guides show the latest figures we read, with the date. For several employer visas, a Ministerial Direction also sets the order of processing. That order is not a timeframe, and we don't promise one.
What happens if a sponsored worker leaves or changes jobs within the business?
Tell the Department in writing within 28 days if their employment ends or is expected to end, or their duties change (Migration Regulations 1994, reg 2.84). A different occupation needs a new nomination, and for a 482 or 494 a new visa. Some obligations, such as keeping records, continue after the worker leaves, and you must pay reasonable return travel costs if asked in writing.
We bought a business with sponsored staff. What do we need to do?
Apply to become an approved sponsor for the business and lodge a new nomination for each worker on a Skills in Demand, Temporary Skill Shortage or subclass 457 visa. A worker needs a new visa only if their visa is about to cease, or you plan to employ them in a different occupation.
What if the job isn't on the occupation list?
A labour agreement may be possible. If your business is in a DAMA region, start there. The region's Designated Area Representative must endorse you before you lodge the request. If an industry labour agreement covers your industry, use it, because a DAMA won't be endorsed for that industry. A company-specific agreement is for an exceptional need that nothing else covers. The Department charges nothing to request a labour agreement; its costs come at the nomination and visa stages. For a DAMA, some Designated Area Representatives also charge a fee to endorse your request, so check your region's page first.
Do we get the fees back if it's refused?
Generally, no. The Department won't refund your costs if an application is not successful. The SAF levy can be refunded in limited cases, such as when the nomination is approved but the visa is refused on health or character grounds, or the worker never arrives or starts work. Withdrawing a nomination before any decision may allow a refund of the nomination fee and levy.
Reviewed by Dr Asad Muhammad Khan, Registered Migration Agent, MARN 2619525. Last reviewed 28 October 2026. Legislation checked against the Migration Act 1958 (Compilation No. 172, 8 October 2026) and the Migration Regulations 1994 (Compilation No. 289, 2 October 2026). Department of Home Affairs pages checked 28 October 2026.
This page carries no fees, levies, salary thresholds or processing times. Figures on the pages it links to are current as at the date each page shows; confirm with the Department of Home Affairs before lodgement.
This page is general information, not advice for your circumstances.