Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482)

The Subclass 482 visa in Australia is also known as the Temporary Skill Shortage Visa. The objective of this visa is to overcome the skill shortages in Australia. This visa enables employers to invite skilled professionals into Australia. The employees sponsored Temporary Skilled Shortage visa, the TSS visa subclass 482, has now been replaced TWS subclass 457 visa. Both visas are quite similar to each other. The process, rules, and regulations for a 482 visa are more complicated than getting a 457 visa. Three different streams have been introduced, and constant changes are being made to the occupation list by the immigration department. This has made the Australian migration process more challenging.
 

Benefits Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482)

Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482) Requirements

To be eligible for the Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482), applicants must meet the following criteria:

 

• Sponsorship: You must be nominated by an Australian employer who is an approved sponsor. The sponsor must demonstrate a genuine need for the skilled position.
• Occupation: The job must be on the relevant skilled occupation list (Short-term or Medium-term list), depending on the stream.
• Skills and Experience: You must have at least 2 years of relevant work experience in the nominated occupation (not necessarily continuous).
• Qualifications: While formal qualifications may be required depending on the occupation, relevant work experience is heavily considered.
• English Language Proficiency: Meet the minimum English requirements (e.g., IELTS score of at least 5.0 overall with a minimum of 4.5 in each band for the short-term stream; higher for the medium-term).
• Health and Character: Must meet Australian health and character requirements, including medical exams and police clearance certificates.
• Salary Requirements: The employer must pay a salary that meets the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) and adheres to Australian market rates.
• Labour Market Testing (LMT): In most cases, the employer must prove they have advertised the job locally before offering it to a foreign worker.
• Genuine Temporary Entrant: For the short-term stream, applicants must demonstrate the intention to stay temporarily.

482 Visa Streams

The businesses can now nominate the employee under 3 different streams based on the occupation.

There are three streams in 482 visas:

1. First is the short stream number
2. Then comes the medium stream
3. Third is the labour agreement stream.

Some details of these streams are as follows:

Short Term Stream

• Under the short term scheme the employer can nominate the employee for 2 years or 4 years if an international trade application applies. These occupations are listed on the STSOL list.
• There is no age limit with this visa.
• You will need to have a relevant work experience of 2 years in your designated occupation.
• Your education should align with your occupation.
• In this visa a skill assessment is mandatory. Your skill assessment should be positive for the occupations that you choose.
• One more important thing there is that you have to write a GTE statement. GTE refers to a genuine temporary entrance statement it is similar to a statement of purpose (SOP). The way students write a statement of purpose for their student visa, in a similar manner, you will have to write a genuine temporary entrance statement.
• There are English language requirements to be fulfilled and you will need 5 bands in IELTS and a PTE score of overall 36 points and no less than 30 points.
• Most importantly, you are going to need sponsorship. Sponsorship means that an employer will nominate you for that particular job.
• This visa costs around AUD 1,445.

Medium Term Stream

There is no major difference between short-term and medium-term streams in the 482 Visa Australia. The occupation must be listed on either the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills list (MLTSSL) occupation list or the regional occupation list (ROL).
. Some other important points are:

• You get this visa for 4 years.
• The English requirement for this visa is that for IELTS, you will need at least five bands overall no band less than 5.
• The cost of a medium visa is AUD$3,035.

Labor Agreement Stream

The third stream is the labour agreement stream. Employers who hold a labour agreement can nominate visa applicants under the stream. A visa application can work and live in Australia for up to 4 years, depending on the terms of the agreement. There are various similarities between the medium-term stream and the labour agreement stream.

• The validity period for both the visa streams is 4 years.
• The visa fee for this visa is also Australian dollars 3,035.

One major difference between the two is that there is no specific occupation in labour agreement stream it depends upon the employer which occupation he/she will nominate.
Labour agreements are of four types:

• Designated area migration agreement
• Company specific agreement
• Industries specific agreement
• Project agreement

482 Visa Australia Occupation List:

Different occupation titles have different specializations if you look carefully. Before choosing the desired occupation, make sure that you have relevant experience in that role. Therefore, before choosing the occupation you have to meet the specific education and the work requirements required for the role.
The Australian skilled occupation list summarizes occupations which Australia needs to fill the skill shortage. In order to qualify for a 482 visa in Australia, your occupation must be on this list. The department has now bifurcated the occupations in two three different lists. One of them is short term skilled occupation list (STSOL). The second list is the medium and long term strategic skill list (MLTSSL). And then there is the regional occupation list (ROL).
Medium and Long Term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) for subclass 482 Visa
1 construction project manager
2 engineering manager
3 child care centre manager
4 nursing clinical director
5 primary health organization manager
6 welfare centre manager
13 accountant (general)
14 management accountant
15 taxation accountant
16 external auditor
20 economist
21 land economist
24 architect
31 civil engineer
37 electronics engineer
38 industrial engineer
39 mechanical engineer
45 biomedical engineer
46 engineering technologist
47 environmental engineer
53 chemist
72 meteorologist
73 physicist
74 natural and physical science professionals
75 early childhood (pre primary school) teacher
76 secondary school teacher
80 special education teachers
81 university lecturer
88 chiropractor
89 osteopath
90 occupational therapist
91 physiotherapist
100 endocrinologist
104 paediatrician
109 psychiatrist

Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482) Processing Time

The process of filling a medium term visa application is slightly faster than the short term visa stream application. It takes about 21 to 60 days for a short term stream application and a medium term stream takes about a maximum of 50 days to process.
Employer’s Role in 482 Visa Australia (Employer Sponsored Visa)
The company must be operating lawfully in Australia. However, there is no specific time period for how long the company should have been operating.
A few common requirements to be able to nominate and employee are:

• The employer has to prove that there is a genuine need for the role.
• They have to prove that they are not able to find a suitable Australian for the job.
• The company will need a little bit of a financial history to be able to sponsor an employee for this visa. Company should be able to meet its financial requirements.
• You will need to do some labour market testing for the same and will have to advertise for the job.
• The employer will need to pay Australian market salary to the employee.
• The occupation needs to be on the STSOL or MLTSSL list. It could create a problem later on if the occupation that you are nominating is not on the list.

Qualification requirements are education, qualification and work experience. Immigration department will need to see the paperwork that supports all these.
You need to have at least 2 years of relevant work experience in your role.
Step-by-Step Application Process
Most popular visa to work and stay in Australia is a 482 visa. 482 visa is a temporary visa with assist employers in Australia to fill job vacancies with eligible overseas workers currently in Australia on other temporary visas. They can also hire workers directly from overseas where suitably skilled Australian workers cannot be found within the country.
There are three steps in the process for a 482 visa is:

• Sponsorship
• Nomination
• Visa application

Sponsorship

The business has to meet certain obligations imposed by the department on the grant of sponsorship. Some of these are:

• To sponsor an employee the business has to be a legal and a lawful business.
• Business can be in or outside Australia.
• There should be no wrongful information against the business.
• Business should not have any history of a non compliance of Australian laws.
• The TSS 482 visa program should only be used to meet the genuine skill shortages in the country.
• Cooperate with the inspectors from the department.
• Ensure that equal conditions of employment are provided to overseas workers.
• Pay the reasonable or necessary travel expense of the employees and their families upon the departure from Australia and do not recover any cost from the visa applicants for sponsoring or recruiting them.
• If a TSS visa holder changes his employment then the department has to be informed within 60 days of seizing employment.

The department monitors sponsored businesses to ensure that they do not exploit the overseas workers. After being granted the 482 visa sponsorship, the company can then start employing overseas skilled workers. Visa lasts for 5 years. The businesses can again renew their sponsorship 2 months before their previous sponsorship ends. If approved, then the new sponsorship will commence from the date of grant of the newly applied sponsorship.

Nomination

Nomination application is the most difficult step in the whole process that requires the nominating employers to be an approved business sponsor. The following are the points to note here:

• Nominate the employee for a relevant occupation.
• Find in Australian worker pay according to the current salary rate in the market.
• Should be able to show that a genuine position is available.
• Form a written employment contract with the nominee.
• Make sure that you do not create any discrimination in the work practices.
• Employment conditions must be equal for both an Australian worker and an overseas worker.
• The nomination application has to be launched before filing for a visa.
• The applicant should have the nomination already approved at the time of the visa application.

The nominee must start employment within 90 days after receiving the visa. An important thing to note here is that the businesses have the rights to a merits review process in case the sponsorship is refused.
 

Visa Application Costs

Applications of the Subclass 491 visa on behalf of the main applicant will have an approximate cost of visa processing of AUD 4,910. Moreover, the other visa applications by the visa applicants aged 18 years and above will incur an estimated cost of AUD 2320, and the dependent children under the age of 18 years will incur an estimated cost of AUD 1,160.

Frequently Asked Questions