Working in Australia: the Skills in Demand (482) visa for South Africans

What the 482 is for

Electricians, diesel fitters, boilermakers, chefs, nurses: if Australia is short of people with your trade or profession, the Skills in Demand visa is the door an employer opens for you. Here is the plain version.

Its formal name is the Skills in Demand (SID) visa, subclass 482. An Australian business uses it to sponsor a skilled worker into a role that no suitably skilled Australian can fill. It is temporary, and 4 years is the ceiling. Want more time on a 482? Your employer lodges a fresh nomination and you lodge a fresh visa application.

It comes in three main streams:

• Core Skills: for jobs on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). Most of the trade, hospitality and care work we list sits in this stream.
• Specialist Skills: for well-paid roles in selected occupation groups, where the salary reaches the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (AUD 146,576 (as of October 2026, official page)). Tradespeople, machinery operators and labourers are shut out of this one.
• Labour Agreement: for workers nominated by an employer holding a labour agreement with the Australian Government, which can carry its own conditions.

Do you qualify?

To get through the Core Skills stream, you need every one of these:

• A sponsor and a nomination. Your employer is an approved sponsor (or has applied to become a Standard Business Sponsor) and has nominated you for the post.
• A listed occupation. The job appears on the Core Skills Occupation List and really does need your skills.
• Fair pay. You earn the Annual Market Salary Rate, which has a floor: the Core Skills Income Threshold of AUD 79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 (as of October 2026, official page). A sponsored worker may not be paid less than an Australian doing the same job.
• Experience. 1 year or more of relevant work in the nominated occupation or a closely related one (the next section has the detail).
• English, health and character requirements met, plus adequate health insurance for your entire stay.
• Age. Not a factor: the 482 sets no age limit.

Check where you fit: current Australian vacancies.

Your trade, your experience and skills assessments

• Work history: 1 year or more of relevant work in the nominated occupation or a related one, earned in the last 5 years. Gaps are fine as long as it totals 12 months or more of full-time work.
• Qualifications and licences: whatever your occupation demands, including any licence or registration you need to do that work in Australia.
• Skills assessment: required for some occupations, usually through Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) or VETASSESS. If yours needs one, it must already be under way when you lodge, or the application is invalid, and it must come from the 3 years before you apply.
• A word to South African artisans: your trade test certificate shows what you qualified in, but Australia makes its own call. For trade occupations that need an assessment, TRA weighs up your qualification and your work history, and some pathways add a technical interview or practical assessment. Keep your trade test certificate, training records and employer references together and ready to send.
• No assessment in your occupation? Home Affairs can still ask for qualification certificates, licences, employment references and a CV as proof of your skills.

Where this comes from: the Home Affairs Core Skills stream page.

English scores you need

Unless you are exempt, the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams both need an English result. For tests sat on or after 13 September 2025, these are the lowest scores accepted in each part (as of October 2026, official page):

• Freshness: the test has to be sat within the 3 years before you lodge.
• Where you sit it: at a test centre. At-home and fully online versions, IELTS Online among them, are not accepted.
• More options: CELPIP General, LANGUAGECERT Academic, the Michigan English Test and others also count, each with its own minimums on the official page.
• Exemptions: a South African passport is not on the exempt list, which covers passports from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland. You may still be exempt if you completed at least 5 years of full-time study at secondary level or above with most of the teaching in English, so check this if you were schooled in English.
• Labour Agreement stream: the agreement may set a different English rule.

Medicals, cover and SAPS clearance

• Medicals: everybody on the application must meet the health requirement, which normally means attending health examinations. The results generally hold for 12 months.
• Health cover: keep adequate insurance in place from the day you arrive to the day you leave.
• Character: you, and any family member aged 16 or older, must meet the character requirement. In practice that is a police certificate from every country, your own included, where you have spent 12 months or more in total over the last 10 years since you turned 16. From South Africa, that means a Police Clearance Certificate from the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Where this comes from: the Home Affairs Core Skills stream page and character requirements.

From job offer to visa grant, in order

1. Local advertising first. Before nominating, the employer normally has to advertise in Australia: 2 or more adverts, each running for 4 weeks or more, placed within the 4 months before the nomination (labour market testing).
2. You get picked. You apply, interview (usually over video) and receive an offer.
3. The employer gets sponsor approval, if it does not already have it.
4. The employer nominates your post and passes you the nomination's Transaction Reference Number (TRN).
5. You build your file: passport, skills evidence (and a skills assessment if needed), English result, SAPS clearance and any other police certificates, employment references and translations.
6. You lodge online in ImmiAccount, quoting the TRN, and pay the visa charge.
7. Medicals and biometrics, when you are asked for them.
8. The decision. No visa can be granted until the nomination is approved.
9. Fly out and clock in. Your job must start within 90 days of landing in Australia (or of the grant, if you are already there).

Where this comes from: Home Affairs on sponsoring a worker and the Core Skills stream page.

How long it takes and what it costs

Processing benchmarks (as of October 2026, official page), taken from the Home Affairs processing-time tool:

The numbers shift regularly, and your own application may move faster or slower. Budget time before lodging as well: the job hunt, sponsorship and nomination, a skills assessment, an English test and your police clearance can each eat up weeks.

Visa application charge (as of October 2026, official page): AUD 4,015 for the main applicant and for each family member aged 18 or over, and AUD 1,005 for each family member under 18. On top of that you pay for your English test, medicals, police certificates and biometrics. Since 1 July 2026 a lower charge applies to eligible citizens of Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste.

The rules once you are on the job

• Work only in the occupation you were nominated for, and only for your sponsor (or, in some cases, an associated entity).
• Your start date has to fall within 90 days.
• If your job with the sponsor ends, you get up to 180 days to find another sponsor or arrange to leave Australia.
• Your sponsor carries its own sponsorship, nomination and recruitment costs and may not recover them from you (what sponsors must do). Australian workplace rights cover sponsored workers too; see worker rights.

Taking your family

• Who can come: your partner, and dependent children who are yours or your partner's, on the same application as you.
• What they can do: live, study and work in Australia.
• Nomination: each of them must be in the nomination, or the sponsor must agree in writing to sponsor them.
• Decide before you lodge: nobody can be added afterwards. Family who follow later apply on their own as subsequent entrants.
• Their requirements: each person pays a visa charge (see above), everyone must meet the health requirement, and from age 16 the character requirement as well.

Staying for good: subclass 186

Subclass 186, the Employer Nomination Scheme visa, is a permanent visa. For people on a 482, the usual way in is its Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream. What it asks for (as of October 2026, official page):

• Your current visa: a subclass 482 (or 457), or an eligible bridging visa.
• Sponsored work: 2 years in total of eligible sponsored employment within the 3 years before you apply.
• Your employer: the last one to sponsor you full-time on your 482 or 457 visa, with a nomination for you approved in the 6 months before you apply.
• Age: generally under 45 at the time you apply.
• English: Competent English or higher, for example IELTS 6 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking (Competent English). This stream allows no English exemption.

The 186 visa charge starts at AUD 6,140 (as of October 2026, official page). Permanent residence rules get revised regularly, so read the official page before you build plans around them.

Applying from South Africa

Whether you are packing up in Joburg, Durban, Gqeberha or a mine town in Limpopo, the groundwork looks the same. What follows sums up the general rules of the Department of Home Affairs. Treat it as a way to get organised, not as a ruling on your own file.

• Your passport. Renewing it soon anyway? Home Affairs suggests you do that before applying, so the details on your application and on the passport you travel with line up.
• SAPS clearance and other police certificates. Australia asks for a certificate from each country where you have spent 12 months or more in total during the last 10 years since your 16th birthday. From home, that means a Police Clearance Certificate from the South African Police Service (SAPS); add any country you have worked in for long enough. Home Affairs keeps a country list showing how to obtain each police certificate, South Africa included. Expect a certificate to be accepted for 12 months after it is issued (character requirements).
• Trade papers. Gather your trade test certificate, diplomas, degrees and any licence or registration your occupation calls for. If a skills assessment applies to you, get it moving early, because it is usually the slowest piece.
• Reference letters. Each on the company letterhead, giving the referee's name, job title and contact details, the position you held and the dates you started and finished. Home Affairs also wants a CV going back over the most recent 5 years or more.
• English score. Sit IELTS, PTE or another accepted test at a test centre. A fully online sitting will not be accepted. Hold on to your result.
• Certified copies. If an assessing body, employer or official asks for certified copies, a commissioner of oaths can certify them for you. Otherwise, clear colour scans or photos of every original are what you upload.
• Translations. Anything written in Afrikaans or another language needs an English version. Translators working outside Australia do not need accreditation, yet every translation must carry the translator's full name, address, phone number, qualifications and experience.
• One name, one birth date. Spell your name and write your date of birth exactly the same way on every document.

Heads up: whenever these guides say "Home Affairs", they mean Australia's Department of Home Affairs, not the South African department that issued your passport. Before you leave, also get your affairs at home in order (tax, banking, notice at your current job) using official South African sources.

Fake recruiters and costly mistakes

• "Guaranteed visa"? Walk away. Home Affairs is clear that nobody can promise you an Australian visa, and Australia does not hand out visa labels or "work permits" either. Anyone selling those is running a scam.
• Paying for a job or sponsorship is a breach. A sponsor is not allowed to shift sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs onto the worker. Asking for, offering or handing over any benefit in exchange for sponsorship breaks the rules, and having done it within the past 3 years can count against you for a 482 grant.
• Paid immigration help must be registered. In Australia, the only people who may lawfully charge for immigration assistance are registered migration agents (RMAs) and Australian legal practitioners. Look the person up on the OMARA register before any money changes hands (picking a migration agent).
• Government charges go through ImmiAccount. No extra government fee exists for issuing the visa itself.
• Own goals to avoid: choosing an occupation your real work history does not support; letting your SAPS clearance or English result lapse; forgetting family members (they cannot be added once you lodge); and names or dates that do not match from one document to the next.

Read the official warnings: Home Affairs on visa scams and the key facts Home Affairs wants you to know.

Frequently asked questions

What is the longest I can stay on a 482?

4 years. Beyond that, staying on a 482 takes a new nomination from your employer and a new visa application from you.

How much experience does the 482 ask for?

A minimum of 1 year of relevant work in the nominated occupation or a related one, earned in the last 5 years. Breaks are fine as long as it adds up to 12 months or more of full-time work.

Which IELTS or PTE scores do I need?

For tests sat on or after 13 September 2025: IELTS 5.0 in each band, or PTE Academic scores of 33 for listening, 36 for reading, 29 for writing and 24 for speaking (as of October 2026), unless you are exempt. Other accepted tests and their minimums are on the Home Affairs English page.

Which police certificate do I need from South Africa?

A Police Clearance Certificate from the South African Police Service (SAPS). Australia wants one from each country where you have spent 12 months or more in total over the last 10 years since you turned 16. The Home Affairs country list explains how to get each one.

Does Australia accept my South African trade test certificate?

Not automatically. Many trade occupations need a skills assessment, usually through Trades Recognition Australia, which looks at your qualification and work history. Start it early: if your occupation needs one, it must be under way before you lodge.

Is there an age limit on the 482?

No. The Skills in Demand visa sets no age requirement. The permanent subclass 186 (TRT stream) generally needs you to be under 45, though.

What does the 482 cost?

As of October 2026: AUD 4,015 for the main applicant and each family member 18 or over, and AUD 1,005 for each child under 18. Tests, medicals and police certificates come on top. Details on the Home Affairs page.

My sponsored job has ended. Now what?

You have up to 180 days to find another employer to sponsor you or to arrange your departure from Australia.

Can a 482 lead to permanent residence?

Possibly. After 2 years of sponsored work within the last 3 years, the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) TRT stream may be open to you, provided your employer nominates you and you meet the age and Competent English requirements.