Skills in Demand (SID) Visa Australia 2026: The Full Guide to the Subclass 482 Successor
The Subclass 482 visa is still called the 482, but almost everything underneath it has changed. On 7 December 2024, the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) framework was replaced by the Skills in Demand (SID) visa, with three streams, a new occupation list, and salary thresholds that index every July.
If you are an Australian employer trying to fill a role from overseas, or a skilled worker weighing your options, the rules you may have read about two years ago are out of date. This guide walks through the SID visa as it stands in May 2026, the figures currently in force, and what changes again from 1 July 2026.
What is the Skills in Demand (SID) visa?
The Skills in Demand visa (Subclass 482) is a temporary employer-sponsored work visa. It lets an approved Australian business sponsor a suitably skilled overseas worker to fill a position where a suitable Australian worker cannot be found.
The SID visa replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa on 7 December 2024 under the Australian Government’s Migration Strategy reforms. The 482 subclass number was kept. What changed were the streams, the occupation lists, the salary thresholds, and the work experience requirement for moving across to permanent residency.
The Department’s own page confirms the date: “On December 7 2024, the Skills in Demand (SID) visa replaced the Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa.” (Source: immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, accessed 21 May 2026.)
In practice, the SID is the main pathway for skilled overseas hiring into Australia in 2026, and it sits alongside the Subclass 494 regional visa and the Subclass 186 permanent visa as the three legs of the employer-sponsored visa system.
What changed on 7 December 2024
The reform did more than rename the visa. The short-term and medium-term TSS streams were retired. The new structure splits applicants by salary level and intended length of stay.
The headline changes were:
- Three streams introduced: Specialist Skills, Core Skills, and Labour Agreement, with an Essential Skills stream announced but still in development
- New occupation list, the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL), replacing the MLTSSL, STSOL, and Regional Occupation List for the Core Skills stream
- New salary terminology, with the Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) and the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) replacing TSMIT for the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams respectively
- Reduced work experience requirement for the PR pathway, from three years down to two years for the 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream (a change that actually took effect in late 2023 but now applies to SID holders)
- Maximum stay of up to four years for both the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams
- Sponsor mobility, with 482 holders now allowed up to 180 days at a time, capped at a total of 365 days across the life of the visa, to find a new sponsor after their employment ends, instead of the old 60 days
If you held an old TSS 482 or were partway through an application before 7 December 2024, transitional rules applied. Applications lodged from that date onwards are assessed against the SID framework.
The three streams: who fits where
The streams are not interchangeable. Each one has a separate salary threshold, a separate occupation list, and different processing priority.
Specialist Skills stream
The Specialist Skills stream is for highly paid, highly skilled workers who the Department expects to bring “significant economic benefits” to Australia. It is the most flexible stream because it does not draw from a fixed occupation list.
To be nominated under Specialist Skills, the worker’s guaranteed annual earnings must meet or exceed the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) of AUD $141,210 as of 21 May 2026. The threshold is set annually in July (Source: immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, current as of 21 May 2026).
The occupation can be in any ANZSCO group except major groups 3 (Technicians and Trades Workers), 7 (Machinery Operators and Drivers), and 8 (Labourers). In other words, this stream is built for executives, senior professionals, and technical specialists in the highest-paid bands.
Specialist Skills applications also get the fastest processing. According to the Department, the median processing time for decision-ready Specialist Skills applications is 7 business days.
Core Skills stream
The Core Skills stream is where most SID applications sit. It is for workers earning at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) of AUD $76,515 as of 21 May 2026, in an occupation listed on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) (Source: immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, current as of 21 May 2026).
The salary tested is the higher of the CSIT or the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR) for the same role, paid to an equivalent Australian worker. Sponsors cannot meet the threshold on paper alone. The role itself has to be paid at market rate.
The CSOL covers occupations the Department has identified as facing genuine workforce shortage, drawn from Jobs and Skills Australia’s evidence base. It is narrower than the old combined MLTSSL and STSOL.
Median processing time for decision-ready Core Skills applications is 21 business days.
Labour Agreement stream
The Labour Agreement stream is unchanged from the old TSS structure. It is used where an employer has an industry, company-specific, or designated area labour agreement in place with the Department.
Common pathways here include the aged care industry Labour Agreement, the agriculture industry Labour Agreement, and Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) arrangements with regional authorities. Concessions on salary, English, and age may apply depending on the specific agreement.
Essential Skills stream
The Essential Skills stream was announced as the fourth pathway, aimed at lower-paid roles in critical sectors such as aged care and disability support. As of May 2026 it is still in development. Final settings for sector caps, union oversight, and salary structure have not been published. Until it is operational, the Labour Agreement stream is the practical route for sub-CSIT roles in those sectors.
Salary thresholds in 2026: CSIT, SSIT, and what changes in July
Salary is where most sponsors trip up. Both the CSIT and SSIT index annually on 1 July based on Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The figures in force on 21 May 2026 are:
- CSIT: AUD $76,515 (in effect from 1 July 2025)
- SSIT: AUD $141,210 (in effect from 1 July 2025)
- TSMIT (still applies to Labour Agreement and DAMA pathways under transitional rules): AUD $76,515
From 1 July 2026, those thresholds rise again. The CSIT will increase to AUD $79,499, and the SSIT will increase to AUD $146,717, an approximate 3.9% indexation. These figures will apply to nomination applications lodged on or after 1 July 2026.
We have covered the July 2026 indexation in a separate post on the upcoming salary threshold increases for 482 and 186 visas. The date the nomination is lodged determines which threshold applies, so the timing matters if you are working towards a June or July lodgement.
A common misunderstanding is that the threshold is the salary. It is not. It is the floor. The sponsor must also pay the higher of the threshold or the Annual Market Salary Rate. If the market rate for the role is $90,000, that is what the sponsor pays, even though the CSIT is lower.
Sponsor obligations: what employers actually have to do
A SID visa requires three approvals stacked on top of each other: sponsor approval, nomination approval, and visa approval.
Standard Business Sponsorship
The employing business needs to be approved as a Standard Business Sponsor (SBS). Approval lasts five years and the business must be lawfully and actively operating, with no adverse information on record. Accredited sponsorship is also available for larger or low-risk employers and brings faster processing for nominations.
Labour Market Testing
Labour Market Testing (LMT) is still required for both the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams, despite some early commentary suggesting Specialist Skills would be exempt.
Sponsors must:
- Advertise the nominated position for at least 28 days on at least two different platforms with national reach. The older requirement to advertise on Workforce Australia (the platform formerly known as jobactive) was removed from 11 December 2023, so the current obligation is two national-reach advertisements rather than the former three-platform rule
- Capture the advertising evidence (URLs, screenshots, dates, costs)
- Demonstrate that no suitable Australian worker is available
Exemptions are narrow. They apply where Australia has international trade obligations (for example, GATS or relevant free trade agreements), or where the nominated salary exceeds approximately AUD $250,000. They do not apply just because the occupation is on the CSOL.
If you are unsure whether your LMT documentation is sufficient, our team has covered the rising regulator focus on this area in our piece on employer sponsorship audits in 2026.
Ongoing sponsor obligations
Sponsor obligations do not end at grant. They continue for the life of the sponsorship and breaches can lead to bars, sanctions, and monetary penalties. The main ones are:
- Pay the worker no less than the equivalent Australian worker
- Keep prescribed records (pay, training, work duties)
- Notify the Department of changes (work location, position, cessation of employment)
- Cooperate with monitoring and audit
- Not recover sponsorship costs from the worker
Pathway to permanent residency
For most SID holders, the destination is permanent residency. The main route is the Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS), either via Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) or Direct Entry.
186 TRT after 2 years on a SID
The big change came in November 2023, when the work experience requirement for the 186 TRT stream dropped from three years to two. That two-year rule continues to apply to SID holders.
To be eligible for the 186 TRT stream from a SID 482, the applicant generally needs:
- At least 2 years of full-time employment with the sponsoring employer in the nominated occupation
- The sponsoring employer to remain an Approved Sponsor or Labour Agreement holder during that 2-year period
- To be under 45 years of age at the time of application, with limited exemptions
- To meet a higher English requirement than the 482 (IELTS 6.0 overall, or equivalent)
Any stream of the SID, including Core Skills, can feed into the TRT pathway. This is what makes the 482 a genuine PR pipeline rather than just a temporary fix.
186 Direct Entry
The Direct Entry stream allows skilled workers to be nominated for PR without first holding a 482, if they have 3 years’ full-time work experience in the nominated occupation, a positive skills assessment, and the occupation is on the relevant list.
For employers comparing options, our team’s overview of skilled visa pathways is a good starting point. The right choice depends heavily on the worker’s age, English level, and whether the role is on the CSOL.
What it costs in 2026
The base visa application charge for the primary applicant is AUD $3,210 as of 21 May 2026, effective from 1 July 2025 (Source: immi.homeaffairs.gov.au visa pricing page).
Other charges to expect:
- Adult dependent (18+): AUD $3,210 each
- Child dependent (under 18): AUD $805 each
- Subsequent Temporary Application Charge (onshore applicants): AUD $700 per person
- Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy, paid by the sponsor at nomination: AUD $1,200 per year for small businesses, AUD $1,800 per year for other businesses
- Nomination application fee: AUD $330
- Sponsorship application fee (if not already an approved sponsor): AUD $420
Plus skills assessment fees where applicable, health checks, English testing, and any professional fees.
Processing times in May 2026
The Department publishes median processing times for decision-ready applications. As of 21 May 2026, those are:
- Specialist Skills stream: 7 business days median
- Core Skills stream: 21 business days median
- Labour Agreement stream: varies by agreement
A decision-ready application is one lodged with all required documents, biometrics complete, health and character checks done, and supporting evidence uploaded at lodgement. Incomplete applications fall outside these medians and can sit for months.
Common reasons SID applications get refused
We see five issues come up repeatedly in refused or delayed SID matters:
- Salary on paper, not in practice. The contract says CSIT but the actual roster, overtime structure, or commission split brings the guaranteed annual earnings below the threshold.
- Genuine position concerns. The Department wants evidence the role really exists in the business and is not engineered for sponsorship. Small business sponsors get scrutinised hardest.
- LMT advertising defects. Wrong format, wrong duration, wrong content, or no record of paid placement.
- Mismatch between occupation and duties. The nominated ANZSCO code does not align with the actual day-to-day duties of the role.
- Sponsor non-compliance history. Past breaches, prior refusals, or adverse information that the sponsor has not disclosed.
If your application has already been refused, you generally have 21 days to lodge a review with the Administrative Review Tribunal. The Tribunal has the power to remit nomination and visa refusals back to the Department for reconsideration. Time limits are strict.
Frequently asked questions
Is the SID visa the same as the 482 visa?
Yes. The subclass number is still 482. The branding, streams, and underlying rules changed from 7 December 2024 under the Skills in Demand reform.
Can I still apply under the old TSS short-term stream?
No. The short-term and medium-term TSS streams closed for new lodgements on 7 December 2024. Applications already in the system before that date were assessed under transitional arrangements.
Do I need to be on the CSOL to apply under the Specialist Skills stream?
No. The Specialist Skills stream does not draw from the CSOL. It is open to any ANZSCO occupation except major groups 3, 7, and 8, as long as the SSIT and other criteria are met.
When do the new salary thresholds take effect?
Indexation applies on 1 July each year. The next change is on 1 July 2026, with the CSIT rising to AUD $79,499 and the SSIT rising to AUD $146,717. Applications lodged before that date are tested against the current thresholds.
How long can I stay on a SID visa?
Up to four years on both the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams. Renewal is possible if the sponsor and worker both still meet the criteria, and the pathway to PR via the 186 TRT stream opens after two years of qualifying employment.
A realistic next step
The SID framework is still bedding down, with the Essential Skills stream pending and another indexation only weeks away on 1 July 2026. Sponsors and applicants benefit from getting the nomination, salary structure, and occupation classification right the first time, because re-lodging burns months.
If you are an employer planning a nomination, or a skilled worker weighing the SID against another pathway, book a consultation with our migration lawyers so we can work through your circumstances before you lodge.
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Visa fees, salary thresholds, and processing times in this article were current as of 21 May 2026 and sourced from immi.homeaffairs.gov.au. Always check the Department’s current pricing and policy before lodging.
About the author: Tina Nematian is the Principal Lawyer at One Planet Migration Law. She is admitted as an Australian Legal Practitioner, and has guided clients through partner, skilled, employer-sponsored, student, and humanitarian visa applications across Australia.
Disclaimer: This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or migration advice. Visa rules change frequently and outcomes depend on individual circumstances. Speak with a registered migration lawyer or agent before making any application.
