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Employer Sponsored Visas

For Perth & WA Employers

Employer sponsored visas - 482, 186 and 494
sponsor the worker you need, without the compliance headache

Finding skilled staff is hard enough without the visa system making it harder. We help Perth and WA businesses sponsor overseas workers properly - from becoming an approved sponsor to getting your person in the role and keeping you compliant.

Assessment for employers We handle the compliance Perth and WA specialists
Book a Sponsorship Assessment Speak to Us About Sponsoring
Your Options

Sponsorship visas and what you'll need.

Not sure where to start? an assessment will point you to the right one. Here's the lay of the land.

Most commonSubclass 482

Skills in Demand

The main temporary sponsored visa, for filling a skilled role you can't fill locally. Can lead to permanent residence.

About the 482 → For PRSubclass 186

Employer Nomination

Permanent residence for a skilled worker your business wants to keep for the long term. The destination after a 482.

About the 186 → WA AdvantageSubclass 494

Regional Sponsored

A regional sponsored visa - and Perth counts as regional. A strong option for WA employers, leading to PR.

About the 494 → Step One

Standard Business Sponsorship

Before you can sponsor anyone, your business needs to be an approved sponsor. This is where it starts.

Become a sponsor → For Regular Sponsors

Accredited Sponsor Status

Priority processing for businesses that sponsor often. If hiring overseas workers is a regular part of how you staff up, accreditation is worth pursuing.

About accreditation → Ongoing

Sponsor Obligations & Compliance

Sponsoring a worker isn't a one-off form. It's an ongoing commitment with real legal duties - and real penalties for getting them wrong.

What to know →
For Employers

Sponsorship is doable. You just need it done right.

  1. Become an approved sponsor

    Before you can nominate anyone, your business needs Standard Business Sponsorship. It's the foundation of the whole process. Getting it right first time sets up every hire that depends on it.

  2. Nominate the role and the worker

    You nominate the specific position and the specific person. The occupation, the salary and the labour market testing all need to stack up - this is where most refusals come from.

    We check all three before you lodge.

  3. Your worker's visa is lodged and granted

    We run the sponsorship, the nomination and the visa as one coordinated job, so the three pieces line up instead of tripping over each other.

  4. Stay compliant as a sponsor

    The obligations don't end when the visa is granted. The Department monitors sponsors actively, and the businesses that get caught out are usually the ones who treated sponsorship as a single transaction.

Which Path?

Which employer-sponsored path fits your role?

Most Perth and WA employers land on one of four answers. Work down the questions - the right path usually becomes obvious. An assessment confirms it for your business and your worker.

Are you an approved sponsor yet?
Start hereIf your business has never sponsored a worker, the entry step is an approved Standard Business Sponsorship. You cannot nominate anyone until it is in place, and it can be lodged before you have settled on a worker. Approval generally takes around 4 to 12 weeks depending on your case. Once approved it covers multiple future nominations.
Need someone in the role now, with PR as the goal later?
Temporary, leads to PRThe 482 employer sponsorship (the Subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa) is the usual answer. It fills a skilled position you cannot fill locally and is typically the fastest to get your person working. After a qualifying period it can lead to permanent residence through the 186.
Want to keep a proven worker permanently?
Permanent residenceThe Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme visa gives permanent residence to a skilled worker you want for the long term. It is the common destination after the 482 employer sponsorship, and it can also suit a direct hire who already meets the higher skills bar. See the 186 for the two streams.
Are you a Perth or regional WA employer?
WA advantageThe Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa is worth a close look, because Perth currently counts as regional. It is a sponsored regional pathway with its own route to permanent residence, and for many WA businesses it widens the pool of eligible occupations.
Indicative processing guide - generally and depending on your case, not a guarantee.
PathTypeTypical processingLeads to PR?
Standard Business SponsorshipEntry step (approval to sponsor)Generally ~4 to 12 weeksNot a visa - enables nominations
Subclass 482Temporary sponsoredGenerally ~6 to 8 weeksYes, via the 186
Subclass 186Permanent (ENS)Generally ~3 to 4 months post-nominationPermanent residence
Subclass 494Regional sponsoredVaries by caseYes, regional pathway

What it costs to sponsor. As an illustrative total only, employers commonly budget somewhere in the order of $5,000 to $15,000 across a sponsorship, nomination and visa, depending heavily on the visa, the nomination period and your circumstances. That is a guide, not a fixed price.

Within that, government charges sit separately from our professional fee. The government charges (including the Skilling Australians Fund levy) are set by the Department and depend on your nomination; our fee is something we set out in writing before you commit. Your final figure depends on your circumstances - see fees and how we quote.

Common Questions

Employer sponsorship questions.

There are government fees for the sponsorship application, the nomination, and the visa itself, plus the Skilling Australians Fund levy which is paid per year of the nomination period. These add up to a significant amount. We give you a clear breakdown at the assessment stage so you can budget properly before committing.
For most employer-sponsored nominations, yes - labour market testing (LMT) is required, showing that no suitable Australian candidate was available. The advertising has to meet specific requirements around timing, platforms and content. We guide you through this correctly from the start, because LMT done wrong is one of the most common reasons nominations get refused.
It depends on the visa, whether your business is already an approved sponsor, and current processing times, which shift through the year. Accredited sponsors get faster processing. Rather than quote a number that might be out of date, we'll give you a realistic timeline for your situation and look at whether anything can be done to speed it up.
Often yes. Plenty of sponsorships are for people already here on another visa - a graduate visa, working holiday visa, or bridging visa. Whether it works depends on their current visa and the role you're offering. Send us the details and we'll tell you if it's straightforward and what the cleanest path looks like.
The Subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa is temporary. It gets a skilled worker into the role for a defined period when you cannot fill the position locally. The Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme visa is permanent residence, for a worker your business wants to keep for the long term. In practice many employers start with the 482 employer sponsorship for the immediate need, then move the same proven worker onto the 186 later. Choose the 482 when the need is short to medium term or the worker is unproven; lean towards the 186 when retention is the whole point.
Both are possible, and it varies by visa and by the worker's circumstances. The 482 can be lodged for applicants already in Australia on another visa as well as for people offshore. The 186 commonly follows a period on a 482, so that worker is usually already here. Some applications are better lodged from offshore depending on the person's current status. Tell us where your worker is and what visa they hold, and we will tell you which option is cleanest.
A sponsorship is tied to the business entity that holds it, so a sale or a change of ownership can affect it. Depending on how the change is structured, the new entity may need its own sponsorship and the worker may need to be re-nominated, and there are sponsor notification obligations that apply when key details change. This is an area where early planning and proper legal advice save a lot of trouble. If a sale or restructure is on the horizon, talk to us before it happens rather than after.
Yes. Standard Business Sponsorship is the entry step and can be approved before you have settled on a specific person. That means when the right candidate appears you are ready to nominate straight away, rather than starting from scratch. Some businesses run the sponsorship and the first nomination in parallel to save time when they already have a worker lined up. Either way, getting approved as a sponsor early removes a delay from every future hire.
Related Help

Where to from here.

Get approved firstStandard Business SponsorshipStep one before any nomination can be lodged.Main work visaSkills in Demand 482The most common temporary employer-sponsored visa.WA regional advantage494 Regional SponsoredPerth counts - strong option with a PR pathway.

Written and reviewed by Brian Chan, Registered Migration Agent (MARN 2217857)

Visa Store Australia, Perth · Last reviewed June 2026 · Verify on the MARA register · General information only, not personal migration advice.

Ready to sponsor?

Let's work out which visa suits your role and what it'll take to get your person in the door.

Book a Sponsorship AssessmentSpeak to Us About Sponsoring
Employer Sponsored Visas 482, 186 and 494 specialists · Perth WA
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