Subclass 482 Visa – Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) Visa

Australian businesses can sponsor overseas workers on the TSS visa (subclass 482 Visa). Previously, the visa class was known as the 457 visa and this visa class was ceased to exist from the 18th March 2018. The process to sponsor an overseas employee involves 3 main steps which have been summarized below:

Step 1 – Standard business sponsorship

A business must become approved as a Standard Business Sponsor in order to employ a TSS visa holder. To obtain a Standard Business Sponsorship agreement, the business must demonstrate lawful and active operation in Australia.

The documents required demonstrating lawful and active operation of a business in Australia includes:

• Registration of the business name with ASIC
• Business Activity Statements (BAS)
• Annual Financial statements
• Commitment to training Australian Citizens and permanent residents

Step 2 – Nomination of an occupation

Once the SBS application is lodged, an employer must nominate an occupation to sponsor. Employers must nominate a position from one of three streams:

1. Short term Stream

• The visa is valid for 1 to 2 years and can be extended once more onshore.
• To sponsor an employee on the 482 visa under this stream, the occupation must be on the STSOL (Short Term Skilled Occupation List)
• The visa holder must show they are genuine temporary entrants.

2. Medium Term Stream

• The visa can be valid for upto 4 years.
• The occupation must be on the Medium and Long term strategic skills list.
• The visa can be extended a number of times and the employee can transition to permanent residency.

3. Labour Agreement Stream

The labour agreement stream is related to those employers who have a labour agreement in place with the Australian Government.

Training Levy is payable at time of nomination application. The introduction of the TSS Visa requires the sponsor to pay a training levy into the Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) at the nomination stage.

The 482 visa training levy calculation is based on the turnover of the sponsor as explained below:

• A small business (Turnover less than $10M) will pay $1,200 per nomination per year for a TSS visa.
• A large business (turnover over more than $10M will pay $1,800 per nominee per year.

The charge will be calculated according to the number of years for which the visa is required, as set out in the nomination, and will be payable in full at this time.

Example of TSS Training Levy Calculation:

If the sponsor would like to employee an employee on the 482 visa for a three year period this would require the payment of at time of the nomination lodgment:

• TSS training levy payment of $3,600 for a small business (turnover less than $10M)
• TSS training levy payment of $5,400 for a large business (turnover more than $10M)

Labour Market Testing

In order to nominate an overseas candidate for a 482 work visa, a business must prove that they’ve tried looking for local (Australian) candidates but couldn’t find anyone eligible in the Australian labour market. In order to do so, they need to show the following evidence:

• 2 advertisements of the position in the local newspaper/ online job portal.
• The ads must be placed with in the last 4 months
• The ads must have run for at least 28 days minimum.

Salary Level
The salary for the nominated position must meet two requirements key requirements:

1. Minimum salary requirement for the TSS Visa:

The basic salary must be at least $53,900 plus superannuation; this is the temporary skilled migration threshold (TSMIT).

2. The salary must be within the market salary range for the occupation. For example, basic salary in the IT industry is usually higher than the TSMIT. The market salary requirement is applicable to the 482 visa because this ensure that the applicant is paid in line with Australian employees.

The documents required for the nomination stage include:

• Signed Employment contract confirming the duties and salary of the applicant.
• Evidence of labour market testing, including invoice for advertising
• Payment of the industry training fund
• Market salary reports confirming that the applicant’s salary is inline with the market salary.

Step 3 – Visa application

Step three of the process is the visa application itself, at which time the nominee must demonstrate that they meet the requisite skill level for their occupation, English requirements, health and character requirements. The documents required for the visa application include:

• Applicant passport and any family members
• Resume of the applicant
• Education qualification of the applicant
• Work reference letters
• Character/police certificate

Cost of the 482 visa

Description: Cost in AUD

1. Standard Business Sponsorship: $420

2. Nomination of an occupation $330

1. Training levy (turnover - >$10m $1,800*
2. Training levy (turnover less than $10m: $1,200*
3. Other costs – labour market testing (estimated costs based on advertising online): $400

3. Visa Application MTS / STS

1. Main Applicant $2,400 - $1,150
2. Secondary Applicant $2,400 - $1,150
3. Applicant under 18 $600 - $290

* Note the training levy is payable each year of the 482 visa.