Most Australia pages are about skilled migration, where you are scored and you compete. The employer-sponsored routes work differently: if a business will nominate you and the role qualifies, your points total stops being the deciding factor. That is what most people searching for an Australia work visa are actually looking for.
| Visa | What it is | Leads to PR? |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass 482 Skills in Demand | Employer-sponsored temporary work visa | Yes, through the 186 after a qualifying period |
| Subclass 186 Employer Nomination | Employer-sponsored permanent residence | It is permanent residence |
| Subclass 494 Regional Sponsored | Employer-sponsored, regional, provisional | Yes, through the 191 |
| Subclass 407 Training | Structured workplace training with a sponsor | No – it is not a general work visa |
| Subclass 400 Temporary Work | Short, highly specialised work | No |
| Subclass 462 Work and Holiday | Capped annual quota, age-limited | No |
All three have to be true at once. Failing any one makes the application ineligible however strong you are.
| Stage | Who drives it |
|---|---|
| Finding an employer willing to sponsor | You |
| Sponsorship approval | The employer |
| Nomination of your specific role | The employer |
| Your visa application | You |
| Skills assessment, where required | You, through the assessing authority |
| Health and character checks | You |
Two of the six belong to the employer, and they are the slow ones. No consultant speeds them up, and any who says otherwise is describing something they do not control.
That is the ordinary starting position, and the honest answer is usually to build a profile that does not need a sponsor rather than to keep waiting for one.
| Item | Paid by | When |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsorship application | The employer | Before nomination |
| Nomination fee | The employer | Before your visa application |
| Skilling Australians Fund levy | The employer | At nomination – it cannot lawfully be passed to you |
| Visa application charge | You | At lodgement, with a separate rate per family member |
| Skills assessment | You | Where the occupation or visa requires one |
| English test | You | Before lodgement |
| Health and police checks | You | After lodgement, per person |
| Our professional fee | You | Staged, separate from every charge above |
The levy is the one to know about: it falls on the employer by law. An employer asking you to reimburse it is doing something they are not permitted to do.
The Department publishes a processing standard for each subclass, and that standard covers only the last stage. Counting from the day you start rather than the day you lodge gives a very different number.
| Stage | What sets the length |
|---|---|
| Finding a sponsoring employer | Open-ended. This is the stage that decides your timeline, and no fee shortens it |
| Employer becomes an approved sponsor | Only where they are not already one. First-time sponsors are examined more closely |
| Nomination of your role | Assessed against the occupation list and the market salary rate |
| Skills assessment | Set by your assessing authority, where the visa requires one |
| Visa decision | The published processing standard, counted from a complete application |
| Health and character checks | Runs alongside, unless something is referred for further review |
Applications lodged incomplete do not sit at the top of the queue waiting – they are worked on, queried, and then wait again for your answer. That is why a file that takes an extra fortnight to prepare properly is usually decided sooner than one rushed in.
Employer sponsorship is not evenly spread. Businesses outside Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane sponsor more often, simply because they find it harder to fill roles locally – and the regional visas carry more nomination points on top. For an applicant whose score will not reach a metropolitan skilled round, a regional employer is frequently the shorter path, and the designated regional areas are far broader than the word suggests: Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra, Darwin and the Gold Coast all qualify.
Not on the employer-sponsored routes, which exist only because an employer nominates you. The skilled migration visas – 189, 190 and 491 – need no employer, and for most applicants without an offer those are the realistic route.
The 482 can lead to the subclass 186, and the 494 to the 191, in both cases after a qualifying period with the sponsoring employer. The 400, 407 and 462 do not lead to permanent residence.
Partners and dependent children can be included, each attracting their own application charge. Partners of most employer-sponsored holders have work rights.
It depends on the occupation and the visa. Some employer-sponsored applications require one and many do not, which is different from skilled migration where it is always required.
Send us your occupation, experience and whether you hold an offer. We will tell you whether an employer-sponsored route is realistic, or whether skilled migration is the better use of your time. Talk to our Australia team in Hyderabad.
Deciding whether to trust a consultancy? Read what our clients say, and the checks worth running on any firm before you pay.
