What is an Employer Sponsored Visa?

An employer sponsored visa allows an Australia business to sponsor a suitably skilled worker for a position they cannot fit locally. These visas sit within Australia’s Skilled Migration program and are designed to address skills shortages across key industries.

Common employer sponsored visa subclasses include:

• Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482)

• Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186)

• Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494) 

• Skilled Regional Permanent Residence visa (subclass 191)

Each visa carries specific criteria but typically follows the same three-step structure. 

Step 1:  Become an Approved Sponsor 

Your business must first be approved as a Standard Business Sponsor (valid for five years) 

Key requirements include:

• Demonstrating that your business is lawfully operating in Australia
• Showing a commitment to training Australians (including by paying the Skilling Australians Fund levy if required)
• Having no adverse immigration history

Some employers may qualify for Accredited Sponsor status, which can lead to priority processing.

Categories include:

• Commonwealth, state, and territory government agencies
• Australian Trusted Traders
• Low volume users with at least 85% Australian workers
• High volume users with at least 75% Australian workers
• Major investors in Australia
• STEM (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) start-ups with venture capital funding

Alternatively, you may become an approved Temporary Activity Sponsor to:

• Sponsor a worker on a Temporary Activity visa (subclass 408)
• Nominate and sponsor a Training visa (Subclass 407)

Where standard programs don’t fit, Labour Agreements (including Designated Area Migration Agreements) are negotiated between the Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) and employers. They can be either company or industry specific and usually last for five years.  Employers using Labour agreements can only nominate overseas workers in occupations specified in their labour agreement.

Step 2:  Lodge the Nomination 

Next, you must nominate a skilled occupation from the relevant list, primarily the Core Skills stream of the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) for the Skills in Demand (subclass 482).

Key obligations include:

• Labour Market Testing (LMT) in most cases: advertising the role in Australia for at least  four weeks within the four months before lodgement, usually across at least two approved platforms (e.g. Seek, Indeed, etc.). Some Accredited Sponsors may use their own website.
• Proving alignment of the occupation you are sponsoring within your business purpose and scope and guarantee of required financial position to justify the nomination and employment of the worker for the length of the nomination.
• Adherence to any relevant business caveats for the occupation you are nominating.
• Paying at or above the relevant Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) or Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) indexed annually, and meeting the Australian market rate.
• Paying the required amount of the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy at the time of nomination.

Note: It is illegal for a person to pay an employer to sponsor them for a visa. Employers must not receive any direct financial benefit in return for sponsorship

Step 3: Lodge the Visa Application

The nominee must then have their visa application lodged which will include them providing evidence of:

• Skills, experience and qualifications
• Skills assessment (where required)
• English language competency
• Health and character 

Eligible family members may be included if relevant dependency requirements are fulfilled, and the additional visa application fees paid. For Accredited Sponsors in the Specialist Skills stream, processing can be significantly faster.

Common Risks When Employers Don’t Get Professional Migration Assistance

When employers manage employer sponsored visas without professional support, issues can include:

• Invalid or incorrect Labour Market Testing (LMT) evidence 
• Salaries below the required threshold or not meeting market rate
• Missing or incorrectly calculated SAF levies
• Breaches of sponsorship obligations
• Missing 2026 policy changes, including salary indexation, Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) updates and English test updates.

Any of these issues can be devastating for sponsorship, nomination or visa applications, with possible impacts including:

• Stalling, delaying or interrupting sponsorship, nomination or visa applications 
• Potential outright refusal of any of the applications for sponsorship, nomination or visa
• Requirements to engage in lengthy and expensive appeals processes
• Potential sanctions or bars on nominating workers for up to five years
• Financial loss on application fees and SAF levies that may not be able to be refunded from the government

In serious cases, employers may even jeopardise their ability to sponsor migrant workers altogether.

Why Employers Must Use a Registered Migration Agent

Using a Registered Migration Agent for Australian employer sponsored visas provides:

Current legal and policy expertise

Registered Migration Agents are legally required to stay up to date with frequent changes to migration law, policy and Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) legislation and practice guidelines.

Stronger applications and faster decisions

Experienced agents know what evidence case officers expect, how to run compliant Labour Market Testing (LMT) campaigns, and which options (Accreditation, Labour Agreement, regional pathways) best suits your business and the workers you want to sponsor.

Compliance and risk management

From sponsorship obligations and record keeping to responding to Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) requests, a Registered Migration Agent helps you remain compliant beyond visa grant.

Time and cost savings

Professional advice helps avoid refusals, repeated lodgements and costly appeals. Accredited Sponsors may also benefit from faster processing.

Registered Migration Agents  can also provide end-to-end coordination, including skills assessments, salary benchmarking, documentation and lodgements for both sponsors and nominees.

How True Blue Migration Supports Employers 

True Blue Migration provides comprehensive, employer-focused migration services, including:

• Free initial eligibility assessments for both businesses and prospective workers
• Full management of the three-step process: sponsorship approval, nomination and visa lodgement
• Expert advice on Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) eligibility, salary compliance, Labour Market Testing obligations, potential accreditation pathways, and current policy landscapes
• Skills assessment coordination (if required), document preparation to minimise refusal risk and speed up the process
• Ongoing advice on sponsor obligations to protect businesses now and in the future
• Personalised guidance on regional migration, including relevant employer incentives and local labour market factors

True Blue Migration combines up-to-date knowledge of Australian migration law with commercial insight gained by nearly 20 years of experience managing these visas, to help employers retain and sponsor the skilled talent they need.