Changing Employers on a 482 Visa: New Sponsor, New Nomination

Changing employers on a 482 visa needs a new approved nomination from the new employer, lodged with a $330 fee and the Skilling Australians Fund levy, before the worker can start there. In most cases the worker does not lodge a new visa: a new visa is needed only if the current 482 is about to expire, the move is from a labour agreement employer to a standard business sponsor, or the occupation changes. The first step is for the new employer to confirm it is an approved sponsor (or apply, $420) and to run labour market testing for the position unless an exemption applies.

The transfer, one approval at a time (processing times as published on 24 September 2026):

Can you change employers on a 482?

Yes, once the new employer is an approved sponsor and holds an approved nomination for you. Home Affairs calls this taking over a sponsorship: the new employer must be an approved sponsor for the visa you hold and must lodge a nomination (Home Affairs 482 change-in-situation page). You do not lodge a new visa unless one of three triggers applies:

1. your current 482 is about to expire;
2. you are moving from a labour agreement employer to a standard business sponsor;
3. the new job is in a different occupation.

A move to an associated entity of an Australian sponsor is not a change of employer, because condition 8607(2)(c) already allows that work.

What must the new employer lodge?

The new employer proves six things before the nomination can be approved:

1. Approved standard business sponsorship (or a pending application, decided first).
2. Labour market testing evidence: copies of all advertising, at least 2 ads, each open for at least 4 weeks, within the 4 months before lodgement (LIN 18/036).
3. The nomination itself, naming the occupation, the location, the period (whole years, up to 4 years) and the business’s annual turnover, which sets the levy (Migration Regulations 1994, reg 2.73(9)).
4. Earnings evidence showing pay at or above the annual market salary rate and the income threshold (reg 2.72(15)).
5. A written employment contract for the position (reg 2.72(11)).
6. Family members already holding 482 visas, listed on the nomination (reg 2.72(6)).

Each item, and the evidence Home Affairs expects for it, is explained under employer nomination.

When can you start with the new employer?

Only after the new nomination is approved: a visa holder “cannot start working for a different employer until that employer has a new approved nomination” (482 change-in-situation page). Finishing a notice period with the old employer is allowed (condition 8607(3)(b)). Until approval, you keep working for your current sponsor or you are on a break from sponsored work.

What does changing employers cost?

For example, an existing sponsor with turnover under $10 million nominating for two years pays $330 plus 2 × $1,200. The employer must not pass the levy or any sponsorship costs on to the worker (Home Affairs cost of sponsoring page; reg 2.87), and Home Affairs states that the levy is payable on a nomination lodged to let a Skills in Demand holder change employer. The employer-side totals for each nomination length are on the cost to sponsor an employee page.

What if the new job is a different occupation?

A new nomination and a new 482 visa application are both needed (482 change-in-situation page), because condition 8607(1) ties you to the occupation nominated for your most recent 482. The new occupation must be on the Core Skills Occupation List in force when the nomination is lodged (reg 2.73(9)(a)), or within the Specialist Skills scope. Holders first granted under the Temporary Skill Shortage rules should note that Home Affairs says a removed occupation affects existing holders only when a new nomination is needed (skilled occupation list page), and a transfer is exactly that.

Does the count of 180 days run while you wait?

Not while you still work for your current sponsor. Condition 8607(5) counts only days on which you do not work in line with 8607(1) and (2), so a worker who stays employed by the current sponsor while the new nomination is processed uses no break days. Once work for the sponsor stops, the limits apply.

Home Affairs published a 90% nomination time of 9 months on 24 September 2026, which is longer than the break allowed. Whether a lodged but undecided nomination protects a holder past the limit is not published.

Common mistakes

1. Starting with the new employer before its nomination is approved (482 change-in-situation page). That is work outside condition 8607(2).
2. Assuming the old nomination or levy transfers. A new nomination with its own $330 fee and SAF levy is needed; the levy applies to a nomination lodged to let a holder change employer (cost of sponsoring page).
3. The new employer asking the worker to pay the levy or sponsorship costs, which a sponsor must not do (cost of sponsoring page; reg 2.87).
4. Pricing the job at the threshold that applied to the first nomination. The new nomination must meet the CSIT or SSIT in force when it is lodged: $79,423 or $146,576 from 1 July 2026 (Home Affairs salary requirements page; news item 1416).
5. Changing occupation without a new visa (482 change-in-situation page).
6. Moving from a labour agreement employer to a standard business sponsor without a new visa application (482 change-in-situation page).
7. Resigning first and letting the break run while the nomination is processed. The limits are 180 days in a row and 365 days in total (8607(5)), and the published 90% nomination time is 9 months.

If your job has already ended

A holder whose sponsored work has stopped has up to 180 days at a time, and 365 days in total, to start with a new sponsor, be granted another visa or leave Australia. A new employer’s nomination is one of those routes, not a pause on the count.

A migration lawyer is more likely to get the transfer approved in time because they prepare the new nomination against the occupation list, the CSIT and the labour market testing rules in force on the lodgement date and sequence it with the worker’s resignation, and a refused nomination leaves the break running with the SAF levy not refunded.

The date arithmetic for that situation, with a calculator, is under the 180-day rule.