Australian skilled migration is one of the few employer-sponsored systems still expanding, and employer-sponsored permanent residence places rose sharply for 2026–27. It is also where sponsorship-selling fraud concentrates — so we are starting with the law that protects you, because it is the most useful thing in this article.
Paying for Sponsorship Is a Crime in Australia
Two separate provisions make this unambiguous.
Migration Regulations 1994, regulation 2.87 — “Obligation not to recover, transfer or take actions that would result in another person paying for certain costs.” Sponsors must bear the cost of becoming a sponsor, nomination charges including the Skilling Australians Fund levy, legal and migration-agent costs associated with sponsorship and nomination, and costs relating to recruiting the sponsored worker. These cannot be transferred to you even if you agree to pay them.
Migration Act 1958, section 245AR — “Prohibition on asking for or receiving a benefit in return for the occurrence of a sponsorship-related event.” A “benefit” is defined broadly and covers lump sums, reduced wages, unpaid work and inflated professional fees. Breach brings criminal prosecution, civil penalties and sanctions against the sponsor.
So if a company or agent in Lagos, Accra, Nairobi, Delhi, Karachi or Manila asks you to pay for “sponsorship”, a “nomination”, the “SAF levy” or a “job offer” for an Australian visa, that demand is unlawful under Australian law. Not unusual. Not a grey area.
What you may lawfully pay: your own visa application charge, and your own migration agent’s fees — provided those were not traded as an inducement for the job.
Check the Agent, Every Time
The Department of Home Affairs states it plainly: “In Australia, it is illegal for a third party to provide paid immigration assistance or help unless they are a registered migration agent with the department’s Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) or an Australian legal practitioner.”
You can search the register yourself at portal.mara.gov.au. If your agent is not on it, they are operating illegally.
Home Affairs warns that scam agents may simply take your money and never lodge the application, or lodge false documents on your behalf. The consequences it lists fall on you: losing money, visa cancellation, refusal of entry, ineligibility for future Australian visas, being banned from returning, or being left stranded.
The Australian High Commission in New Delhi publishes more specific warnings that map exactly onto what our readers encounter: demands for payment by Western Union or direct bank transfer, fake “registration fees” and invented “anti-terrorism charges”, fake employment offers from real-sounding Australian companies, and counterfeit visa labels — Australia no longer issues physical visa labels at all. Legitimate emails end in @dfat.gov.au or @homeaffairs.gov.au, and any visa can be checked through the VEVO system.
Suspected fraud can be reported anonymously through Border Watch.
The Skills in Demand Visa (Subclass 482)
This replaced the old Temporary Skill Shortage visa and runs three streams:
- Core Skills — the main route. Your occupation must appear on the Core Skills Occupation List
- Specialist Skills — higher-paid roles, most occupations eligible, with some trades, labouring and driving groups excluded
- Labour Agreement — for employers with a negotiated agreement
Two changes worth knowing. The work experience requirement was reduced to one year in your nominated occupation or a related field within the past five years, down from two. And the qualifying period towards permanent residence is now portable across approved sponsors — you are no longer locked to one employer for the whole period, which materially reduces the leverage a bad sponsor has over you.
The visa runs up to four years, or five for Hong Kong passport holders.
Income Thresholds
Indexed on 1 July 2026 by 3.9%:
| Threshold | From 1 July 2026 | Previously |
|---|---|---|
| Core Skills Income Threshold | A$79,423 | A$76,515 |
| Specialist Skills Income Threshold | A$146,576 | A$141,210 |
Critically, the threshold is a floor checked at nomination. Separately and continuously, your sponsor must pay the annual market salary rate for the role. Whichever is higher governs. An employer offering exactly the threshold for a role that locally pays A$95,000 has a problem, and so do you.
A note on sourcing. The Department’s visa pages load their content in a way our tools could not read, so these figures come from migration-law and professional-services sources citing the Department rather than from its own rendered page. They are consistent across several independent sources, but open immi.homeaffairs.gov.au in your browser and confirm the current numbers before acting on them.
Is Your Occupation Eligible?
Check the skilled occupation list on the Home Affairs site. It gives, for each occupation, the ANZSCO code, any caveats, which lists it appears on, and — importantly — the assessing authority for your skills assessment. The authoritative version is the legislative instrument, which that page links to.
Do this first. Everything else depends on it, and no agent’s assurance substitutes for the list.
Permanent Residence Routes
| Subclass | Route | 2025–26 places | 2026–27 places |
|---|---|---|---|
| 186 | Employer Nomination Scheme | 44,000 | 58,040 |
| 190 | Skilled Nominated (state) | 33,000 | 35,500 |
| 189 | Skilled Independent (points) | 16,900 | 21,090 |
| 491 | Skilled Work Regional | 33,000 | 14,110 |
The total Migration Program holds at 185,000 places, with 132,240 in the skill stream. But look at the shape of it: employer-sponsored places up by about a third, regional places cut by more than half.
That is a decisive shift towards employer sponsorship — and employer sponsorship is precisely the channel where sponsorship-selling fraud operates. More demand chasing sponsors means more people willing to pay for one. Which is why the first section of this article is the first section.
We could not verify current points-test scores, age limits or invitation-round cut-offs for the 189, 190 and 491 routes, so we are not publishing any. Check the Department’s invitation round data directly.
What It Costs
| Charge | Primary applicant | Adult dependant | Child |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subclass 482 | A$4,015 | A$4,015 | A$1,005 |
| Subclass 186 | A$6,140 | A$3,070 | A$1,535 |
Charges rose roughly 25% on 1 July 2026. The Skilling Australians Fund levy — A$1,200 per year for employers with turnover under A$10 million, A$1,800 for larger ones — is paid by the sponsor at nomination and, as above, cannot lawfully be passed to you.
Add your skills assessment and English test, which vary by occupation and provider. English for the Core Skills stream is reported at around IELTS 5.0 overall, with a lower requirement for Specialist Skills — but the Department’s own page does not publish the scores, so confirm before booking a test.
Australia Skilled Migration FAQ
Can an employer make me pay for my sponsorship?
No. Migration Regulations reg 2.87 requires the sponsor to bear licence, nomination and SAF levy costs and prohibits transferring them to you even with your consent. Migration Act s 245AR makes asking for or receiving a benefit for a sponsorship-related event a criminal offence.
What can I lawfully be asked to pay?
Your own visa application charge and your own migration agent’s fees, provided they were not part of an inducement for the job offer. Nothing relating to the sponsorship or nomination itself.
How much experience do I need for the 482?
One year in your nominated occupation or a related field at the right skill level, within the past five years. This was reduced from two years.
What is the Core Skills Income Threshold?
A$79,423 from 1 July 2026, with the Specialist Skills threshold at A$146,576. Your sponsor must also pay the annual market salary rate for the role, and whichever is higher applies.
How do I check my migration agent is legitimate?
Search the OMARA register at portal.mara.gov.au. Paid immigration assistance from anyone who is not a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner is illegal in Australia.
Should I worry about a visa label in my passport?
Australia no longer issues physical visa labels, so anyone presenting one is showing you a forgery. Check any visa through the VEVO system instead.
Which permanent route has the most places?
Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186), at 58,040 places for 2026–27, up from 44,000. Regional places under subclass 491 were cut from 33,000 to 14,110 over the same period.
Your Next Step
Two things, in this order. Find your occupation on the Home Affairs skilled occupation list and note the assessing authority beside it — that tells you within minutes whether this route is open to you at all. Then start the skills assessment, because it is the long pole and everything else waits on it.
And keep the first section of this article in mind while you look. Employer-sponsored places just grew by a third, which means the number of people offering to sell you a sponsorship is about to grow too.
Compare before committing: our guides to visa-sponsored jobs in Canada, Germany’s skilled worker routes and the UK Health and Care Worker visa cover the main alternatives, and our guide to credential evaluation covers getting your qualification recognised.
Last reviewed: 22 September 2026. Anti-fraud content is sourced from the Department of Home Affairs, OMARA and the Australian High Commission in New Delhi. Salary thresholds, visa charges and planning levels are sourced from migration-law and professional-services publications citing the Department, because its own pages could not be read programmatically — confirm all figures on immi.homeaffairs.gov.au before acting. This is information, not immigration advice; for your own case, use a registered migration agent.
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