Visa Pathfinder®

The Path

Sponsored visa,
two years,
then residency.

Six rules decide the 482 and one more decides the 186. Each is stated below the way Home Affairs states it, then the way it applies to an aged care worker — which is different on four of the six. The documents are attached at the end.

The three stages

  1. 01

    Sponsored visa (482)

    An employer holding the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement nominates you. Lodged before your current visa ends, it carries a bridging visa with full work rights.

  2. 02

    Two years with the sponsor

    Full-time, in the nominated occupation, keeping every visa condition. Part-time counts pro rata. This is where the second English bar is prepared for.

  3. 03

    Permanent residency (186)

    The same employer nominates you again under the Temporary Residence Transition stream. Under 45, health and character met, IELTS 5.5 overall.

The six rules

Left column: the standard Core Skills stream, the one most posts describe. Right column: the labour agreement stream, the only one a carer can use.

  1. 01

    An employer must nominate you

    Standard 482

    You cannot apply alone. An approved sponsor lodges a nomination for a specific position, and your visa application sits on that nomination.

    Aged care · labour agreement

    The sponsor must hold an approved, active Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement. Most aged care employers do not, and asking one without it costs months. The employer pays every cost; a fee to you is a criminal offence for both sides.

    Skills in Demand visa (482) — Core Skills streamList of current labour agreements

  2. 02

    Your occupation must be on the list — or under an agreement

    Standard 482

    The Core Skills stream needs an occupation on the Core Skills Occupation List: 456 occupations by ANZSCO code. Off the list, that stream is closed.

    Aged care · labour agreement

    Aged or Disabled Carer (423111), Nursing Support Worker (423312) and Personal Care Assistant (423313) are not on the CSOL. The visa is not closed to them: the labour agreement stream is the door, and the aged care agreement names all three. Registered Nurse (Aged Care) is on the CSOL, so nurses go through the standard stream.

    Core Skills Occupation List (PDF)Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement — template (PDF)

  3. 03

    One year of experience, not two

    Standard 482

    At least one year in the nominated occupation or a related field, full-time or the equivalent part-time, within the last five years. It does not have to be continuous. The requirement dropped from two years when the visa was relaunched on 7 December 2024.

    Aged care · labour agreement

    With an Australian Certificate III, no experience is required on top of it for the 482. Without the certificate, one year of relevant experience can stand in for it, but then a skills assessment is needed. The 186 under the agreement wants two years of relevant work in Australia.

    Skills in Demand visa (482) — Core Skills streamAged Care Industry Labour Agreement — template (PDF)

  4. 04

    A salary floor, and the market rate

    Standard 482

    For nominations lodged 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027: $79,423 in the Core Skills stream (up from $76,515), $146,576 in the Specialist Skills stream. You must also be paid the annual market salary rate for the job — whichever is higher wins.

    Aged care · labour agreement

    The agreement reduces the floor to $51,222 for the three carer occupations. The market rate still applies, so the award or enterprise agreement rate for the role is the real number. Food and board do not count; guaranteed overtime can, if Australians in the same workplace get it too.

    Nominating a position — salary requirementsAged Care Industry Labour Agreement — template (PDF)

  5. 05

    English, in every component

    Standard 482

    IELTS 5.0 overall and at least 5.0 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking. A 5.0 overall with a 4.0 in writing fails. Exempt: passport holders from Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States; five years of secondary or higher study taught in English; intra-company transferees on guaranteed earnings of $96,400 or more.

    Aged care · labour agreement

    The agreement lowers the bar: IELTS 5.0 overall with 5.0 in speaking and listening and 4.5 in reading and writing, or 4.5 overall with no component minimum where a verified employer serves a community speaking your language. The same exemptions apply. The 186 two years later asks 5.5 overall.

    Skills in Demand visa (482) — sufficient EnglishAged Care Industry Labour Agreement — template (PDF)

  6. 06

    Extra conditions on some occupations

    Standard 482

    Some CSOL occupations carry caveats — the job must be regional, or the employer must clear a turnover figure. Some trades need a mandatory skills assessment from Trades Recognition Australia or VETASSESS, started before the visa application is lodged.

    Aged care · labour agreement

    No skills assessment with an Australian Certificate III in Individual Support or similar. One is needed if the qualification was done overseas, or if experience is standing in for the certificate. No caveats attach to the carer occupations under the agreement.

    Skill occupation listAged Care Industry Labour Agreement — template (PDF)

Between sponsors

180 days per stop.
365 across the visa.

If you resign or are let go, visa condition 8607 gives you up to 180 days from your last day to have a new approved sponsor lodge a nomination, be granted a different visa, or leave. Across the whole visa the days add up to at most 365. Your old employer must tell Home Affairs within 28 days that you have stopped.

What the new employer needs

To already be an approved sponsor for your visa and to lodge a new nomination that is approved. For a carer that means another employer holding the aged care agreement. Moving from an agreement employer to a standard business sponsor needs a new visa application as well.

Meanwhile

Inside the 180 days you may work for other employers, in any occupation, once you have finished with your sponsor. Go over the limit with nothing lodged and the visa can be cancelled.

Skills in Demand visa (482) — change in situation

Permanent residency · 186

Two years, then a second nomination.

The Temporary Residence Transition stream of the 186 is the permanent visa at the end of the path. It is not granted for time served. Everything below has to hold on the day you apply.

  • Two years in threeTwo years of full-time sponsored work, in the three years before you apply, in the occupation the 482 was granted for. Part-time counts pro rata; time in breach of a visa condition does not count.
  • The same employer nominates youYour most recent sponsor lodges the 186 nomination, in the same occupation as their last approved nomination, for a full-time ongoing position of at least two more years.
  • Under 45On the day you apply. The aged care agreement gives no age concession. The narrow exemptions are for regional medical practitioners and for earners above the Fair Work high income threshold.
  • IELTS 5.5 overallNo component minimum under the agreement, but a higher overall than the 482 asked for. Sit it during the sponsored years, not at the end.
  • Health and characterMedical examinations and police certificates for every country you have spent twelve months in over the last ten years.

Employer Nomination Scheme (186) — Temporary Residence Transition streamAged Care Industry Labour Agreement — template (PDF)

Read past the ads

Lines that turn up in agent posts and recruiter ads, and what the documents actually say.

  • "August 2026 upgrade"

    Nothing changed in August. The visa launched on 7 December 2024; the salary floors rose on 1 July 2026. A date in a headline is urgency, not news.

  • "Transferring sponsors is simple"

    You get 180 days per stop and 365 in total. The new employer must already be an approved sponsor and lodge a nomination that gets approved. Easier than the old rules; not simple.

  • "IELTS 5.0"

    On the standard stream that is 5.0 in every component, not just overall. Under the aged care agreement the components are lower, but they still exist.

  • "PR after just two years"

    Not automatic. Under 45 when you apply, still in the same occupation, health and character met, a higher English bar, and an employer who wants to nominate you a second time.

  • "Increased allocation numbers"

    The 482 has no cap. It is demand-driven, unlike the points-tested visas. The line means nothing.

  • "A sponsorship fee"

    A criminal offence for both sides under s245AR of the Migration Act. The employer pays the nomination fee, the training levy and any agent. Nothing is owed to anyone for a nomination.

The documents

Every figure on this page was read from one of these on 4 September 2026. Where Home Affairs stamps a page with its own last-updated date, it is shown. Read the document, not the summary, before you act on it.

That is the path.
Now see where you are on it.

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