The Skills in Demand (482) visa, explained simply

The Skills in Demand visa in a nutshell

Are you a cook, welder, aged care worker or farm hand hoping to work in Australia? For most Indonesian workers, this is the visa an Australian employer uses to bring you over. Let's go through it together, one piece at a time.

The basics. Its full name is the Skills in Demand (SID) visa, subclass 482. With it, an Australian business can sponsor a worker from overseas when no Australian with the right skills is available for the role. It is a temporary visa that lasts up to 4 years. Want more time after that on a 482? Then two new things are needed: a fresh nomination from your employer, and a fresh visa application from you.

Three streams. The visa is split into three main streams:

• Core Skills. This stream covers the occupations named on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). Most of our trade, hospitality and care jobs belong here.
• Specialist Skills. This one is for high earners in selected occupation groups whose salary reaches the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (AUD 146,576 (as of October 2026, official page)). Trade, machinery-operator and labourer occupations are left out of it.
• Labour Agreement. Here, the employer has signed a labour agreement with the Australian Government and nominates you under it. That agreement may set its own rules.

Can you apply? The main requirements

Most of our Australian jobs use the Core Skills stream. Use this list to check yourself:

• Your employer is a sponsor. The business already holds approval as a sponsor, or has applied to be a Standard Business Sponsor, and it lodges a nomination for you.
• Your occupation is on the list. It appears on the Core Skills Occupation List, and the position genuinely calls for your skills.
• The salary is fair. It has to equal the Annual Market Salary Rate for the role and stay at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold. For nominations lodged between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027, that threshold is AUD 79,423 (as of October 2026, official page). You must also earn no less than an Australian in the same role.
• You have the experience. That means 1 year or more of relevant work in the nominated occupation or a related field (more below).
• You pass the English, health and character checks, and you hold adequate health insurance from arrival until you leave.
• Age is no problem. No age limit applies to the 482.

Think you fit? Browse sponsored jobs in Australia.

Showing your skills and experience

• How much experience? Relevant work in the nominated occupation, or a related field, totalling at least 1 year, gained over the last 5 years. Breaks are fine. What matters is that the total comes to 12 months or more of full-time work.
• Which qualifications? Whatever the occupation demands, plus any Australian licence or registration required to do the job there.
• Do I need a skills assessment? Only for some occupations. It usually comes from VETASSESS or Trades Recognition Australia (TRA). If your occupation needs one, start it before you lodge the visa application; otherwise the application is invalid. The assessment also has to be dated within the 3 years before you apply.
• What if no assessment is needed? Home Affairs can still request things like your qualification certificates, licences, employment references and CV as proof of skill.

Tip: keep all your certificates in one folder, together with English translations of anything in Bahasa Indonesia.

Official source: Core Skills stream, Department of Home Affairs.

English test scores

Unless an exemption applies to you, the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams both ask for proof of English. If you sat your test on or after 13 September 2025, these are the lowest scores allowed in each section (as of October 2026, official page):

• The test date can be no more than 3 years before your application.
• Home or fully online versions, such as IELTS Online, do not count. Sit your test at a test centre.
• More tests are recognised, for example the Michigan English Test, LANGUAGECERT Academic and CELPIP General. Their scores are on the official page.
• Some people need no test at all. Examples: holders of a United States, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand or Canadian passport, and people who studied full-time for 5 years or more at secondary level or above, with most classes taught in English.
• Under the Labour Agreement stream, the labour agreement itself may set the English level.

Tip: IELTS and PTE both have test centres in Indonesia. Practise all four skills, not only speaking.

Health, insurance and police checks

• Medical checks. Everyone in your application has to meet the health requirement, normally through health examinations. The results usually stay valid for 12 months.
• Insurance. Adequate health cover is required from the day you arrive until the day you leave.
• Good character. This applies to you and to family members who are 16 or older. In practice, you supply police certificates. Look at the last 10 years: any country where you lived a total of 12 months or more after your 16th birthday needs a certificate, and that includes Indonesia. From Indonesia, this is the SKCK.

Official sources: Core Skills stream and the character requirement.

From job offer to visa: the steps

1. Local advertising. In most cases the employer must first try to hire in Australia. That means 2 or more job ads, each running 4 weeks or longer, placed within the 4 months before nominating (labour market testing rules).
2. Application and offer. You send your application, do an interview (often on video) and get a job offer.
3. Sponsor approval. If the business is not yet an approved sponsor, it applies to become one.
4. Nomination. The business nominates your position, then passes you the Transaction Reference Number (TRN) for that nomination.
5. Your paperwork. Prepare your passport, skills evidence (with a skills assessment when required), English test results, police certificates, references from employers and translations.
6. Lodging. Apply in ImmiAccount using the TRN, and pay the visa charge.
7. Biometrics and health examinations, when Home Affairs requests them.
8. Outcome. Your visa cannot be granted until the nomination has been approved.
9. Starting work. Work must begin within 90 days after you arrive in Australia (or after the grant, if you are in Australia already).

Official sources: how an employer sponsors a worker and Core Skills stream.

How long it takes and how much it costs

How long Home Affairs is taking (as of October 2026, official page), according to its processing-time tool:

Treat these as a guide only, because they move often and every case is different. Remember the time before you lodge too. Finding a job, the employer's sponsorship and nomination, a skills assessment, an English test and police certificates may each need several weeks.

Visa application charge (as of October 2026, official page): the main applicant, and every family member who is 18 or older, pays AUD 4,015. Each family member younger than 18 pays AUD 1,005. Your own extra costs include the English test, health examinations, police certificates and biometrics. Since 1 July 2026, eligible citizens of Timor-Leste and Pacific Island countries pay a reduced charge.

Your rights and rules on the visa

• Who you work for. Only your sponsor (or, in some cases, an associated entity), and only in the occupation in your nomination.
• When you start. Within 90 days.
• If the job ends. After you stop working for your sponsor, you get up to 180 days to find another sponsor or make plans to leave Australia.
• Who pays. Sponsorship, nomination and recruitment costs belong to your sponsor, and the sponsor is not allowed to pass them to you (what sponsors must do). Australian workplace rights protect sponsored workers as well; read about worker rights.

Bringing your partner and children

• Who can come. Your partner, plus dependent children (yours or your partner's), can be in your application.
• What they can do. In Australia they are free to work, study and live.
• The nomination. Each family member needs to be covered by the nomination, or your sponsor must give written agreement to sponsor them.
• Timing matters. Once your application is lodged, nobody can be added to it. Anyone who joins you later applies on their own, as a subsequent entrant.
• Charges and checks. Every family member has a visa charge (see the costs section) and must meet the health requirement and, once 16 or older, the character requirement.

The road to permanent residence (subclass 186)

Many sponsored workers hope to stay for good. The permanent visa to know is the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186), and its Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream is the usual route for people on a 482. In short (as of October 2026, official page), you will need to show that:

• you currently hold a subclass 482 or 457 visa, or an eligible bridging visa;
• in the 3 years before applying, you spent a total of 2 years in eligible sponsored employment;
• the employer nominating you is the one that last sponsored you full-time on your 482 or 457 visa, and it had a nomination for you approved in the 6 months before you apply;
• you are, in most cases, younger than 45 when you apply;
• your English is Competent or higher, for instance IELTS 6 in every part: listening, reading, writing and speaking (what Competent English means). No exemption from English exists in this stream.

Expect to pay from AUD 6,140 for the 186 visa (as of October 2026, official page). The rules for permanent residence are updated often, so read the official page before you build your plans on them.

Applying from Indonesia or from another country

Good news: you can prepare almost all of this while you are still in Indonesia, or while you are working in another country. The steps below follow the general Department of Home Affairs requirements. Use them to plan, and check the official pages for your own case.

1. Check your passport first. It must be valid. Planning to renew it soon? Home Affairs suggests doing that before you apply, so your application and the passport you travel on show the same details.
2. Get your police certificates. Look at the last 10 years. Any country where you lived for a total of 12 months or more after your 16th birthday needs a certificate. From Indonesia, this is the SKCK (Surat Keterangan Catatan Kepolisian), issued by the Indonesian National Police. Worked in Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Middle East or anywhere else for that long? Then you need one from there too. Home Affairs has a list showing how to get a police certificate in each country, and Indonesia is on it. Most certificates are accepted for 12 months after the issue date (Home Affairs character rules).
3. Collect your certificates and licences. Gather your diplomas (ijazah), trade or training certificates and any licence or registration your job needs. If your occupation needs a skills assessment, start it early, because it can take a while.
4. Ask for work references. Each letter should be printed on company letterhead. It should name the person writing it, with their job title and contact details, and state your position and the dates you worked there. Home Affairs also wants a CV that goes back at least 5 years. Write it in English and keep it simple: job titles, dates and main tasks.
5. Take an English test. IELTS and PTE are common choices. Choose a test you sit in person at a test centre (fully online tests do not count), and keep your results safe.
6. Translate Indonesian documents. Anything in Bahasa Indonesia, or in another language that is not English, needs an English translation. Your translator can be outside Australia and does not need accreditation. However, every translation must include the translator's full name, address and phone number, plus their qualifications and experience.
7. Make clear colour scans. Scan or photograph every document in colour. Check that your name and date of birth are written the same way everywhere. If you have only one name, or your name is spelt differently on some documents, sort this out early where you can.

One more step: check, through official Indonesian government sources, whether Indonesia has any requirements for citizens taking up work overseas, and follow them.

Stay safe: scams and common mistakes

• "Guaranteed visa"? That is a scam. According to Home Affairs, no one can guarantee an Australian visa. Australia does not issue "work permits" or visa labels either, so anyone selling one is not genuine.
• Sponsorship cannot be bought. A sponsor may not pass sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs to you. Asking for, offering or paying any benefit in return for sponsorship is against the rules. If you did so within the past 3 years, it can block you from the 482 visa.
• Paid help must be registered. In Australia, only registered migration agents (RMAs) and Australian legal practitioners may lawfully charge for immigration assistance. Look up any agent on the OMARA register before you pay them (choosing a migration agent).
• ImmiAccount is the place to pay. Your visa charge is paid there, and the government charges nothing extra to issue a visa.
• Easy mistakes to avoid: picking an occupation your real work history does not support; an English result or police certificate that runs out; leaving family members off your application (they cannot be added once you lodge); and names or dates that change from one document to the next.

Read more: Home Affairs on visa scams and what to know about visa scams.

Frequently asked questions

How many years does the 482 visa last?

A 482 can last up to 4 years. For more time, your employer lodges a fresh nomination and you lodge a fresh visa application.

How much work experience do I need?

You need relevant work in the nominated occupation or a related field adding up to at least 1 year, gained in the last 5 years. Gaps are okay, as long as the total reaches 12 months of full-time work.

What IELTS score do I need?

For a test sat on or after 13 September 2025, the minimum is 5.0 in every IELTS section (as of October 2026), unless you are exempt. Scores for PTE Academic, OET, TOEFL iBT and other tests are on the Home Affairs English page.

Am I too old for the 482 visa?

No. Age does not matter for the Skills in Demand visa. Keep in mind, though, that the permanent subclass 186 visa (TRT stream) usually expects you to be younger than 45.

What does the 482 visa cost?

As of October 2026: AUD 4,015 each for you and for any family member who is 18 or older, and AUD 1,005 for each child younger than 18. On top of that come your own costs for tests, health checks and police certificates. Details are on the Home Affairs page.

What if I lose my job in Australia?

You get up to 180 days. In that time, find another employer to sponsor you or make plans to leave Australia.

Can the 482 lead to permanent residence?

It can. Once you have 2 years of sponsored work within the last 3 years, the TRT stream of the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) may be open to you. Your employer needs to nominate you, and you must meet the age and Competent English rules.

Where do I get a police certificate in Indonesia?

In Indonesia, the police certificate is the SKCK, issued by the Indonesian National Police. Home Affairs keeps a country-by-country list that explains how to get police certificates, including in Indonesia.

Official sources

• Subclass 482: Skills in Demand visa
• Subclass 482: Core Skills stream
• Subclass 482: Specialist Skills stream
• Subclass 482: English requirements
• Salary rules and income thresholds
• Labour market testing for employers
• How an employer sponsors a worker
• Visa processing times
• What sponsors must do
• Your rights as a sponsored worker
• Subclass 186: Employer Nomination Scheme
• Subclass 186: Temporary Residence Transition stream
• Competent English explained
• The character requirement
• Getting police certificates, country by country
• Choosing a migration agent
• How to spot visa scams