Employer Nomination Scheme visa

Under regulation 2.75C a labour agreement is a written agreement between the Minister and a person, association or partnership in Australia, and it may fix the number of approved nominations, the nominable occupations, salary requirements, sponsor obligations, the maximum stay, and visa criteria such as English, age, skills and employment background and the length of a prior visa needed for another visa.

The Minister may by legislative instrument set different time periods than 2 years in 3 for specified persons under both clause 186.226(2) and 186.227(3), and for occupations listed in the regulation 2.72(13) instrument the full-time employment test is replaced by a simple 2-year employment test.

In the 186/187/494 exemption instrument the high income threshold is not a Home Affairs figure but takes its meaning from section 333 of the Fair Work Act 2009, so it moves whenever the Fair Work amount changes.

Under Fair Work Regulations reg 2.13(3) the high income threshold for each 1 July is last year's figure multiplied by the ratio of the average weekly ordinary time earnings (seasonally adjusted, full-time adults) in effect on 1 July this year to that in effect on 1 July last year, with the ratio taken to 3 decimal places and never below 1, and the result rounded to the nearest AUD 100 with exact AUD 50 multiples rounded up.

Regulation 5.42A indexes only three amounts on each 1 July: the Core Skills Income Threshold, the Specialist Skills Income Threshold and the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold, each multiplied by the indexation factor when it is above 1 and rounded to the nearest whole dollar.

The indexation factor compares the full-time adult AWOTE estimate for the middle month (November) of the most recent December quarter before 1 July (the reference quarter) with that of the previous December quarter (the base quarter).

The ABS full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings for November 2025, the reference figure for the 1 July 2026 indexation, was AUD 2,051.10 (seasonally adjusted), 3.8% higher than a year earlier.

The ABS full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings for November 2024, the base figure for the 1 July 2026 indexation, was AUD 1,975.80 (seasonally adjusted), 4.6% higher than a year earlier, which also underlay the 4.6% rise applied on 1 July 2025.

Functional English, the standard behind the second visa-charge instalment, is met if a person passes a Minister-approved test run by an approved provider, or gives prescribed evidence such as a degree, diploma or trade certificate needing at least 2 years of full-time study taught entirely in English, or is judged by the Minister at interview to have it.

The Migration Act itself says a person has functional English if they pass a Minister-approved test conducted by an approved person or organisation, or give the Minister prescribed evidence of English proficiency.

Home Affairs uses ANZSCO 2022 for the 186 and 482 occupation lists (including the CSOL) but ANZSCO 2013 for the other skilled visas' lists, such as the 494's MLTSSL and Regional Occupation List, and says a later removal of an occupation from a list does not harm pending applications.

In the Direct Entry stream the applicant must have worked at least 3 years full-time in the nominated occupation at the skill level it requires.

A Direct Entry applicant needs a suitable skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority, not an assessment made for a 485 visa, and it must still be valid or issued no more than 3 years before the application.

For the 186 Temporary Residence Transition and Direct Entry streams the employer must show a genuine need for the job, full-time employment for at least 2 years, no clause excluding extension, and the capacity to pay at least the annual market salary rate each year; for some occupations listed by the Minister the Temporary Residence Transition need, full-time and extension tests are waived.

In the Direct Entry and Labour Agreement streams, a 186 applicant who held a regional provisional visa (or whose last substantive visa was such a visa) must have held it for at least 3 years at the time of applying, unless the Minister has set an exception (a labour agreement can set a shorter period).

In the 186 Labour Agreement stream the employer must be a party to a labour agreement in force that names the occupation, and the number of approved nominations must stay below the agreement's yearly limit.

A company-specific labour agreement is meant for an employer whose skills need is not already covered by an industry agreement or a DAMA and whose occupations are not available in the standard skilled programs, and the positions must sit at ANZSCO skill level 1 to 4.

To request a company-specific labour agreement the business must be a registered Australian business in good standing that has been operating lawfully for at least 12 months, show financial viability through a statement from a chartered or certified practising accountant, and have no adverse information against it.

The company-specific template allows a 186 nomination only for a worker who has been employed directly by the sponsor full-time in the nominated occupation as a 457 or 482 holder for at least three years before the nomination.

For the 186 Labour Agreement stream the applicant must not have turned 45 at the time of application, or must not have reached the age that the labour agreement specifies for the position.

For the 186 Labour Agreement stream the qualifications, experience, language test results, English proof and skills evidence are those the Minister specifies in the labour agreement for the occupation, so the regulation hard-wires no fixed minimum experience period or English score for this stream.

The Commonwealth may enter a work (labour) agreement only if the Minister is satisfied the other party has made recent and genuine efforts to recruit Australian citizens or permanent residents, except for Minister of Religion and Religious Assistant occupations.

A 186 Labour Agreement stream nomination is approved only if the nominator is a party to a labour agreement in effect that lists the occupation, meets any requirements the agreement sets (which can include salary under reg 2.75C), and has used fewer approved nominations than the agreement permits for the year; the regulation itself sets no salary threshold for this stream.

For the 2-in-3-years test, time held on a 457, a Temporary Skill Shortage 482 and a Skills in Demand 482 all count together, so earlier 457 and TSS time is added to SID time, and a bridging visa, 186 visa or 187 visa held also counts, but only if the last substantive visa was one of those.

Home Affairs says that if a TRT applicant held several 457 or 482 visas in the last 3 years, sponsored employment counts in any occupation they were approved to work in, and after a change of employer it counts from the date the new approved nomination was lodged if work started before approval.

If ownership of the sponsoring business changed through a sale, takeover or restructure, Home Affairs says the employer may still nominate the worker for the TRT stream if it shows it and the previous business sponsor would be considered the same employer, and it must be the worker's most recently approved sponsor.

The high-income age exemption for a 186 Temporary Residence Transition or 494 applicant requires at least 2 of the last 3 years employed in positions tied to an approved nomination, with earnings in each of those 2 years at or above the high income threshold as it applied at the end of that year, plus at least 2 years on a 457 or 482 visa.

A 186 nomination (Temporary Residence Transition, Direct Entry or Labour Agreement) is approved only if, where a licence, registration or professional membership is mandatory in the state or territory, the identified person holds it or is eligible to hold it at the time of application; the 482 and 494 nomination regulations (2.72 and 2.72C) contain no licensing criterion.

A 482 applicant nominated as a medical practitioner must have qualifications that the Australian medical registration authority recognises as entitling them to practise, which is the only occupation-specific registration criterion in the 482 primary criteria.

A 494 holder cannot use the 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream, because a TRT nomination requires the identified person to hold a 457 or 482 visa (or a linked bridging visa), and the regulation defines a regional provisional visa as a 491 or 494 visa, which is not on that list.

A bridging visa A granted on a valid in-Australia application for an Employer Nomination (Class EN), Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Class PE), Skilled Work Regional (Class PS) or Regional Employer Nomination (Class RN) visa carries nil conditions, so no work-limiting condition attaches while the application is decided.

In LIN 19/216 section 6, the exemption classes for the 186 cover only the age limit in the Temporary Residence Transition stream and the age and skills tests in the Direct Entry stream; no class is exempt from the competent English requirement.

A Subclass 186 applicant in the Temporary Residence Transition or Direct Entry stream needs competent English at the time of application unless they belong to a class of persons the Minister has exempted by instrument.

A Subclass 186 Direct Entry applicant needs a suitable skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority (not an assessment made for a 485 visa) plus at least 3 years of full-time employment in the occupation, unless the Minister has exempted a class of persons.

The permanent Migration Program sets the Employer-Sponsored category at 58,040 places for the program year starting 1 July 2026, up from 44,000 in each of the years before.

A company-specific labour agreement is a temporary measure: the employer must show that overseas workers will not exceed one-third of its total workforce and that it has a plan to train and employ Australians instead.

Sources disagree: The December 2021 labour agreement guide (Home Affairs PDF) instead set caps by location: 30 per cent in Category 1 areas, 50 per cent in Category 2 and no limit in Category 3.

The company-specific agreement template gives no salary concession in Category 1 and 2 locations and a 10 per cent reduction of the income threshold (written there as TSMIT or CSIT) only in Category 3 regional locations.

In the company-specific template the English concession is IELTS overall 5.0 with no minimum in any band for the 482 and 494 in Category 2 and 3 locations, with no concession in Category 1 locations or for the 186, and never where registration or licensing demands more.

The company-specific labour agreement template lets the 186 and 494 age limit be set at under 55 at the time of the visa application for nominees in Category 2 and 3 locations, with nil concessions in Category 1 locations.

The South Australian DAMA offers a reduced income threshold of 90 per cent of the TSMIT or CSIT for eligible occupations, an age limit of under 55 at nomination for the 186 and 494, and reduced English such as IELTS 5.0 with 4.0 in each band for the 482 and 494, but the concessions vary by occupation and are listed in the DAMA occupation list.

A 186 Temporary Residence Transition nomination is tested only against the Core Skills Income Threshold, with no Specialist Skills split, because regulation 5.19(5)(o) imports the 482 salary rules but swaps in the core skills income threshold.

The Fair Work Commission's high income threshold is AUD 190,100 from 1 July 2026 and was AUD 183,100 for the year to 30 June 2026; the Commission says it is adjusted each 1 July.

The 1 July 2026 indexation can be reproduced: AWOTE of 2,051.10 for November 2025 divided by 1,975.80 for November 2024 gives 1.0381, so the factor is 1.038, and 76,515 x 1.038 rounds to 79,423 for the CSIT/TSMIT while 141,210 x 1.038 rounds to 146,576 for the SSIT.

The AUD 250,000 earnings level at or above which the annual market salary rate and income-threshold tests are skipped is a literal sum in IMMI 18/033 s 5 with no indexation formula, so it only changes if the instrument is amended; section 5 was last amended by an instrument that commenced on 7 December 2024.

Under LIN 25/016, competent English means the Schedule 2 item 2 minimums in every component: IELTS 6 each, CELPIP General 7 each, PTE Academic 47 listening, 48 reading, 51 writing and 54 speaking, TOEFL iBT 16, 16, 19 and 19, OET 290, 310, 290 and 330, LANGUAGECERT 57, 60, 64 and 70, MET 56, 55, 57 and 48, and Cambridge C1 Advanced 163, 163, 170 and 179.

A test taken before 7 August 2025 still counts for Competent English if it falls within the 36 months before the visa application and reached IELTS 6 in each component, OET B in each, TOEFL iBT 12 listening, 13 reading, 21 writing and 18 speaking, PTE Academic 50 in each, or Cambridge Advanced 169 in each.

The permanent Employer Sponsored category planning level rises from 44,000 places in 2025-26 to 58,040 in 2026-27, the largest increase among skilled categories.

The Core Skills Income Threshold for Skills in Demand (Core Skills) and ENS 186 nominations is A$79,423 for nominations lodged between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027, up from A$76,515 and A$73,150 in the earlier periods.

The Fair Work high income threshold, which caps unfair dismissal protection for employees not covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement, is $190,100 from 1 July 2026, up from $183,100.

For ICT occupations the Australian Computer Society's General Skills pathway costs AUD 1,498 paid at the start, and ACS says an application needing no extra documents should allow 4 to 6 weeks.

Engineers Australia lists an Australian accredited engineering qualification assessment at AUD 315 excluding GST (AUD 346.50 with GST), AUD 750 excluding GST when a skilled employment assessment is added, and a fast-track option that gets the application to an assessor within 20 business days (not a guaranteed outcome date).

For an Employer Nomination Scheme 186 application, the first instalment is $6,140 for the main applicant, $3,070 for each additional applicant aged 18 or over and $1,535 for each under 18.

Pacific-regional passport holders applying for the 186 pay $5,035 as main applicant and $2,515 or $1,260 for additional applicants aged 18 or over or under 18.

For the 186 the second instalment is $9,800 for a main applicant aged 18 or over without functional English and $4,890 for a family member aged 18 or over without functional English, unless an exemption such as a minister of religion applies.

For a 186 nomination the Skilling Australians Fund charge is a flat $3,000 if the sponsor's annual turnover is under $10,000,000 and $5,000 otherwise, and nil for a Labour Agreement stream minister of religion or religious assistant.

Home Affairs lists the current sponsorship costs as A$420 to become an approved sponsor under the Skills in Demand program, A$330 per Skills in Demand nomination and A$540 per ENS 186 nomination (varies by stream and location).

Before lodging a company-specific request the employer must consult the industry body, the relevant union and any affected community group, giving them 10 working days to respond and a further 5 working days after a follow-up if there is no reply, and requests without this consultation are returned unassessed.

An employer must first win endorsement from the Designated Area Representative and only then lodge a labour agreement request online in ImmiAccount, and a DAMA will not be endorsed where the industry is already covered by an Industry Labour Agreement.

Getting a labour agreement is a three-stage sequence: an online request in ImmiAccount (no fee), then, once an agreement is signed, nominations of positions within the agreement's yearly ceilings, and finally the worker's visa application.

After lodgement the department assesses the request against its procedural instruction, may return incomplete requests unassessed, expects information within 7 or 14 calendar days when asked, and expects the signed agreement back within four weeks, after which it runs for five years.

A signed agreement sets yearly nomination ceilings per occupation and visa type, and an employer wanting ceilings for years four or five, or extra ceilings in any year, must ask the department for a deed of variation.

A labour agreement employer seeking a permanent pathway is generally expected to choose either the 494 provisional pathway or the 186 permanent pathway, and ImmiAccount does not allow both nomination ceilings in one request (both can be sought only by emailing the labour agreement section).

The Minister must give the nominator a copy of the 186 nomination decision, and if the nomination is refused, a written statement of reasons and a statement that the decision is a reviewable migration decision.

Income thresholds are indexed every year and change on 1 July, so a nomination lodged on or after that date must meet the threshold for the new year.

Industry Labour Agreements carry fixed terms and built-in concessions for one sector, and at 31 December 2025 there were 10 head agreements (advertising, aged care, dairy, fishing, horticulture, meat, minister of religion, on-hire, pork and restaurant) with 1,600 industry agreements approved for employers.

The Applicable Circumstances List in LIN 24/089 contains several literal dollar and size tests that are not indexed: nominated earnings under AUD 180,001 (item 1), under AUD 120,000 (item 15), business turnover under AUD 1,000,000 (items 11 and 12) and fewer than 5 employees (items 12 and 13).

The Core Skills Occupation List in LIN 24/089 has 456 numbered items, each giving an occupation title, its 6-digit ANZSCO (2022) code and, for 34 of them, one or more applicable-circumstance numbers; by Major Group it holds 47 managers, 235 professionals, 141 technicians and trades workers, 23 community and personal service workers, 8 clerical and administrative workers and 2 sales workers.

Only 34 CSOL occupations carry applicable-circumstance numbers, for example CEOs and corporate general managers (1), farmers (5), Sales and Marketing Manager (6 and 12), Management Consultant (11 and 13), Chef and Cook (3 and 4) and Hospitality, Retail and Service Managers nec (16); the other 422 occupations apply with no circumstance test.

The 186 Direct Entry occupation list in LIN 24/093 is the same set of 456 six-digit codes and the same applicable-circumstance numbers as the 482 Core Skills list, with the assessing authority added in a separate column, so every 482 CSOL occupation also qualifies for 186 Direct Entry (subject to the same circumstances).

LIN 24/093 names a relevant assessing authority for each of the 456 occupations, led by VETASSESS (about 181 occupations) and Trades Recognition Australia (about 104), then the Medical Board of Australia (34), the Australian Computer Society (31), Engineers Australia (26) and ANMAC (19), with several occupations assigned to two or three bodies.

Nominations that attract the nomination training contribution charge are those for the 482 and 494 (temporary) and for the 186 and 187 (permanent) visas.

The Core Skills Occupation List is set out in section 6 of the Skills in Demand occupation instrument (LIN 24/089); its latest compilation (No. 3) is dated 7 November 2025 and reflects the amendments made since the instrument began in December 2024, the last being the Skilled Visa Reform Technical Measures instrument.

Home Affairs uses the 2022 version of ANZSCO for the 186 and Skills in Demand 482 (including the Core Skills Occupation List) and the 2013 version for the other skilled visas, whose lists (MLTSSL, STSOL, ROL) still use older codes.

In November 2025 technical amendments corrected the ANZSCO code for Management Consultant on the Core Skills Occupation List and applied caveats 11 and 13 (small business turnover and employee-number limits) to that occupation.

Institution of Surveyors NSW (ISNSW) became the skills assessing authority for Surveyors after the Geospatial Council of Australia went into liquidation on 21 August 2025; the amendment applies to visa applications made on or after 8 October 2025.

Ministerial Direction 121 (temporary skilled visas) and Ministerial Direction 122 (provisional and permanent skilled visas) took effect on 19 September 2026 and replaced all processing priorities under Ministerial Direction 119.

The Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Act 2026, assented to on 8 April 2026, commenced on 8 October 2026 and allows the Secretary to publish regulation-prescribed information about approved work sponsors, which the regulations may extend to the sponsor's name, ABN and number of nominations.