Australia 482 Skills in Demand: streams, salary and experience
Skills in Demand keeps subclass 482 but changes the game: Specialist, Core, Labour Agreement. Salary, occupation lists, and 12 months of experience decide which door opens.
Owen & Co. Advisory Team · 9 min read
Drafted with AI assistance and edited by the Owen & Co. team.
People still say “TSS 482” out of habit. The subclass code stayed. The framework behind it did not. Skills in Demand (SID) splits entry into three streams. Pick the wrong one while negotiating an offer and both you and the employer burn months.
Three streams, one subclass
Specialist Skills
Built for high-paid specialists in priority work. No classic occupation list. Entry turns on the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT); 2026 sources cite index steps around AUD 141,210 → 146,717 a year. National cap (often mentioned at 3,000 places), trades and labouring roles excluded. Processing is marketed as fast (about seven business days median in some summaries).
Core Skills
The main door for most skilled workers. The occupation must sit on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) (recent tables often discuss roughly 456 occupations). Pay must meet the Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT); common indexed figures sit around AUD 76,515 → 79,499. The package must also meet the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR) for that role and location. Employers cannot underpay relative to local standards just because you are temporary.
Labour Agreement / DAMA
For roles outside standard CSOL settings, or where regional concessions on pay or English apply. More complex. Depends on an industry or Designated Area Migration Agreement. Do not treat this as a casual bypass of Core if the employer has no agreement.
What the employer must do (so you are not sold a story)
- Labour Market Testing (LMT): advertise the role for the required period on national-reach platforms (often summarised as at least 28 days on two platforms).
- Show no suitable Australian citizen/PR is readily available under current LMT rules.
- Pay sponsorship and nomination fees on schedule; illegal fee recovery from the worker is off-limits.
- Primary applicant VAC is often cited around AUD 4,015 in 2026 index tables, with secondary adult and child lines separate (confirm the live schedule).
If HR says “you pay all sponsorship fees yourself,” pause and read the rules. That is not a minor detail.
Twelve months of experience: wider door, same paper burden
SID cuts post-qualification experience from two years to about 12 months full-time relevant work in the last five years (per cited policy summaries). That sounds easier. The hard part is proof:
- Contract + payslips + matching bank credits
- Tax records
- References that match the nominated ANZSCO / occupation
- No “nominal experience” that only exists on LinkedIn
Part-time may convert, but do not convert optimistically. Officers prefer clean full-time months.
Grace period: losing a sponsor is less abrupt than before
Under old TSS settings, job loss often left about 60 days to find a new sponsor or leave. SID softens that: many summaries cite 180 days per cessation event, plus a cumulative cap (often discussed as 365 days across a four-year visa). Work conditions during that window can be more flexible than older grants. This is a safety net, not a career plan. Use it to secure a new sponsor, not to wait for luck.
How 482 can lead to PR (and how it does not)
Core Skills time onshore can open permanent employer nomination routes (for example subclass 186 and related settings, depending on stream and date). Specialist pathways have their own residence logic under current settings. Nothing says “482 automatically becomes PR.”
Versus 485: 485 needs no sponsor but brings age, English, and award gates. 482 needs a real job and pay above the floor. Many graduates use 485 to bank 12 months of skilled work, then move to 482 when an offer lands.
Checklist before you sign
- Occupation code matches CSOL (Core) or salary clears SSIT (Specialist).
- Gross package ≥ max(CSIT/SSIT, AMSR).
- Twelve-month experience is documented, or the timeline to nomination is real.
- Employer has sponsored before or is ready for setup + LMT.
- You know which fees each side pays.
- You have a plan if grant or LMT slips.
Bottom line
482 SID is not a “job-seeking visa.” It is a visa for a job that already meets the standard. Streams split by salary and lists, not by industry slogans. Prep experience paper early. Read CSOL and thresholds before you accept or decline an offer.
Owen & Co. can review occupation, stream, and timeline for your file at contact.
Related series
Salary thresholds and occupation lists are indexed. Verify on Home Affairs before signing an offer.
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ConsultationOwen & Co. Advisory Team
Advisory Team
Owen & Co.'s advisory team writes on career guidance, study-abroad pathways, and international skill development.
