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🇦🇺 Work visa guide

Australia Work Visa from Pakistan: The Skills in Demand Visa and Sponsorship

Australia's Skills in Demand (482) visa from Pakistan: the streams, skills assessment, English, employer nomination, the path to 186, costs and refusals.

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Last checked against official sources on 25 September 2026

QUICK ANSWER

How much does an Australian work visa cost from Pakistan, and how long does it take?

The Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) costs A$4,015 for the main applicant in the Core Skills or Specialist Skills stream, and family members pay extra; the employer pays its own nomination fee and levy. Home Affairs decided 90% of recent Core Skills applications within 9 months, and Specialist Skills ones within 78 days.

Checked on the official sites on 13 October 2026. Fees and times change, so confirm them on the linked page before you pay. Visa centre charges and any consultant's fee are extra.

Visa charge
A$4,015
main applicant, Core Skills or Specialist Skills stream
Department of Home Affairs ↗
Processing time
9 months
for 90% of recent Core Skills applications; Specialist Skills 78 days
Department of Home Affairs ↗

At a glance

What you are applying for

Australia's main employer-sponsored work visa is the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482). An approved Australian business nominates you for a position, and you apply for the visa on the back of that nomination. It replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa on 7 December 2024.

The nomination is what decides it. The job must fit a stream — an occupation on the Core Skills Occupation List, or a higher-paid role in the Specialist Skills stream — the pay must match what an Australian would get for the same work, and you must show you can do it. Asking for or paying money in return for sponsorship breaks Australian law, and nobody legitimate sells a job offer or a visa.

Most refusals come down to one of four

  1. A genuine position
  2. Experience the letters prove
  3. The market salary
  4. No money for sponsorship
Sydney Opera House
Australia · Work visa
Visa
Skills in Demand (subclass 482), which replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa on 7 December 2024
Streams
Specialist Skills, Core Skills and Labour Agreement
Stay
Up to four years, working for your sponsor
Experience
At least one year in the occupation, gained in the last five years
If the job ends
Up to 180 days to find a new sponsor or leave
Before you fly
Protector of Emigrants registration in Pakistan

Is this the right guide?

Who it is for

Applying on the wrong visa is one of the quickest ways to a refusal, so read both lists before anything else.

You’re in the right place if you are

  • A skilled worker with a sponsor

    Skilled workers with at least a year of relevant experience and an offer from an Australian business that is, or is applying to be, a Standard Business Sponsor.

  • Working in a priority sector

    Workers in construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture and resources, whose applications Home Affairs has processed first since 19 September 2026.

  • A higher-paid specialist

    Higher-paid professionals in the Specialist Skills stream, which is open to most occupations except trades, machinery operators and labourers.

  • Aiming for permanent residence

    Anyone who wants an employer route to permanent residence through the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186).

Document checklist

Documents you will need

The base list for this visa. Your own checklist is built around your case — a salaried applicant and a business owner do not submit the same file.

0 / 10ready in your file

Tick as you gather — saved on this device.

Get my checklist on WhatsApp

For your visa application

Before you leave Pakistan

Step by step · with timings

How to apply, and how long it takes

In the order it happens. Each stage waits on the one before it, so the date you start decides the date you finish. Ranges, not promises — the mission owns the clock.

  1. First

    Check the employer and the position

    The business must be, or be applying to be, a Standard Business Sponsor, and the position must be genuine, full-time and consistent with what the business does. Home Affairs refuses nominations for positions created just to get someone a visa. Paying for sponsorship is an offence for both sides.

  2. 1–3 months

    Skills assessment and English first

    If your occupation and passport call for a mandatory skills assessment, it must be started before you apply, or the application is invalid. Book an accepted English test; the result can be no more than three years old when you apply.

  3. The employer nominates you

    The employer tests the Australian labour market, shows it will pay at least the market salary rate for the job, and lodges the nomination with its fee and the Skilling Australians Fund levy.

  4. Apply for the visa in ImmiAccount

    Apply online with your documents; family members can be included in the same application. Home Affairs advises doing the health examinations before you lodge, to avoid delays.

  5. By sector and stream

    The decision

    Since 19 September 2026 Home Affairs has processed construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture and resources applications first, then the Specialist Skills stream, then the rest in a set order. The visa is granted electronically, and you can check its conditions in VEVO.

  6. Days to 2 weeks

    Protector, then travel

    Register with the Bureau of Emigration before you fly; FIA checks it at the airport.

  7. 2 years to a 186

    In Australia

    You may work only for your sponsor, or an associated entity, in the nominated occupation. If the job ends you have up to 180 days to find a new sponsor or leave. After two years' sponsored work, your employer can nominate you for permanent residence.

Rather have it handled?Employment abroad, filed on a real offer and nothing else.Our Work Visa service

Money

What it costs

The official figures are in the quick answer at the top, as checked on 13 October 2026. They change without notice, so each line here says what a cost depends on and where the current figure is published.

  • Paid by the employer

    Nomination fee and SAF levy

    Your employer pays the nomination fee and the Skilling Australians Fund levy. Recovering those costs, or the agent fees for the sponsorship, from you breaches the sponsor's legal obligations.

    FIGUREHome Affairs
  • Paid with the application

    The visa application charge

    The visa application charge is paid for each applicant, including family members; the current amounts are in Home Affairs' Visa Pricing Estimator.

    FIGUREVisa Pricing Estimator
  • Paid to third parties

    Assessments, tests and insurance

    The skills assessment, English test, health examinations and police certificates are each paid to the provider, and you need health insurance for your whole stay.

    FIGUREEach provider
  • Paid in Pakistan

    Protector registration

    In Pakistan, Protector registration is paid to the Bureau of Emigration at its published rates.

    FIGUREBureau of Emigration

Where the current rules and figures are published

LAST CHECKED 25 SEP 2026

This is general guidance. Rules change, sometimes without notice, and your case will have specifics this page cannot know about. Check anything decisive on the official pages, or send us your situation and we will tell you where you actually stand.

Read before you apply

Why Australia work visa applications are refused

The grounds that come up most on files from Pakistan. Most of them can be dealt with before you submit.

  • Paying for sponsorship

    Money asked for, paid or offered in return for the sponsorship. It is an offence, and anyone who has done it in the last three years can be refused the visa.

  • A position that is not genuine

    A position Home Affairs does not accept as genuine — out of scale for the business, outside what it does, or created to get someone a visa.

  • Experience the letters do not prove

    Work experience the reference letters do not prove: missing duties or hours, or experience more than five years old.

  • A skills assessment not started

    A mandatory skills assessment not started before applying, which makes the application invalid.

  • An online or old English test

    An English result from an online or at-home test, or one more than three years old.

  • Pay below the market rate

    A salary below the market rate for the job, or an occupation that is not on the Core Skills Occupation List in the Core Skills stream.

  • A refusal, health or character issue

    A previous visa refusal or cancellation, or failing the health or character requirement.

  • Already been refused?

    Send us the refusal letter before you do anything else. It states the grounds, and they decide whether applying again is worth it or would just cost you the fee a second time.

    Send the letter

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Straight answers

Australia work visa questions

What people ask us before they apply.

Ask us something else

No. The Skills in Demand visa replaced it on 7 December 2024. It kept the subclass number 482, so older articles that say “TSS” describe a visa that no longer exists.

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