Self-sponsorship on a 482 means a business you own sponsors and nominates you as its employee: you cannot be your own sponsor as a person, but your company can become a standard business sponsor and nominate your position if that position is genuine, full-time and paid at least the market rate and $79,423. Home Affairs asks whether the position fits the scope and scale of the business and whether it was created to help the nominee stay in Australia, which is where most owner nominations are tested (Core Skills stream page; Migration Regulations 1994, regulation 2.72(10)). The first step is to check the occupation’s caveats in LIN 24/089, because several common owner occupations, such as Chief Executive or Managing Director, do not apply below set earnings or business sizes.
| Condition | What the law requires | Why ownership makes it harder | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| The business | Lawfully operating, in or outside Australia; no adverse information; a business in Australia attests to its record of employing local labour | A new or one-person business has little local-labour record | reg 2.59 |
| The employer entity | The nominee is engaged only as an employee under a written contract with the sponsor or an associated entity | A sole trader cannot have a contract of employment with themselves | reg 2.72(11) |
| The position | Genuine and full-time; duties match ANZSCO; fits the scope and scale of the business; not created to help the nominee stay | The owner is both the decision-maker and the beneficiary | reg 2.72(10); Core Skills stream page |
| The occupation’s caveats | Chief Executive or Managing Director (111111) and Corporate General Manager (111211) do not apply where nominated earnings are below $180,001. Accountant (General), Management Accountant, Taxation Accountant, Management Consultant and Recruitment Consultant do not apply in a business with turnover under $1,000,000 or fewer than 5 employees. Sales and Marketing Manager, Corporate Services Manager and Supply and Distribution Manager do not apply where turnover is under $1,000,000 and there are fewer than 5 employees | Small owner-run businesses fall inside these caveats, and they bind Specialist Skills nominations too | LIN 24/089 ss 7 and 8 (items 1, 11, 12 and 13) |
| The salary | The market rate worked out by the instrument’s method, and at least $79,423 (Core Skills) or $146,576 (Specialist Skills); not tested at $250,000 or more | The owner sets their own pay, so the market-rate evidence carries more weight | reg 2.72(15); IMMI 18/033 |
| Capacity to pay | The business can employ the nominee for the whole nomination period and pay at least the market rate each year | The business’s finances are the owner’s own | reg 2.72(17A) |
| Labour market testing | Ads, unless an exemption applies, such as the trade-agreement exemption for executives of a WTO-country business setting up in Australia | The owner must show no suitably qualified Australian was readily available for their own role | Migration Act s 140GBA; Home Affairs LMT page |
| Ownership itself | No criterion in regulation 2.72 excludes a nominee who owns the sponsor; ownership is weighed under genuineness | Not applicable | reg 2.72 |
| Item | Amount | Applies from | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) | $79,423 | 1 July 2026 | Home Affairs: salary requirements |
| Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) | $146,576 | 1 July 2026 | Home Affairs: salary requirements |
| Annual earnings above which the market salary and threshold tests do not apply | $250,000 | 18 March 2018 | IMMI 18/033 (Federal Register of Legislation) |
| Nominated earnings below which Chief Executive or Managing Director and Corporate General Manager are not available (CSOL circumstance 1) | $180,001 | 7 November 2025 | LIN 24/089, s 7 (Federal Register of Legislation) |
| Business turnover below which CSOL circumstances 11 and 12 apply (e.g. accountants, recruitment and management consultants, some managers) | $1,000,000 | 7 November 2025 | LIN 24/089, s 7 (Federal Register of Legislation) |
| Standard business sponsorship application | $420 | current | Home Affairs: cost of sponsoring |
| 482 nomination fee | $330 | current | Home Affairs: cost of sponsoring |
Can you sponsor yourself on a 482?
Not as a person. A 482 sponsor is a business, and the business you own can be approved as a standard business sponsor and then nominate you as its employee. The steps are the same as for any business that wants to sponsor an employee on a 482 visa: sponsorship ($420), nomination ($330 plus the levy), then your own visa application. Visas that need no sponsor, such as the subclass 189, are a different program outside this guide.
Can your business become a sponsor?
Regulation 2.59 of the Migration Regulations 1994 sets three conditions for any sponsor:
- The business is lawfully operating, in or outside Australia.
- There is no adverse information about the business or its associates, or it is reasonable to disregard it.
- A business operating in Australia meets the extra attestation and declaration below.
The full application process is covered under standard business sponsorship.
A business operating in Australia
The business attests in writing to a strong record of, or a demonstrated commitment to, employing local labour, and declares that it will not recruit in a discriminatory way. The nominee can then work for the sponsor or an associated entity.
A business operating only overseas
An overseas business with no Australian operation can be approved only to establish a business operation in Australia with overseas connections, or to fulfil a contractual obligation (regulation 2.59(h)). The nominee then works only for that business, not an associated entity (regulation 2.72(12)). The Home Affairs labour market testing page exempts from advertising an executive or senior manager nominated by a business from a World Trade Organization member country that is setting up in Australia.
Why is the genuine position test harder?
The Home Affairs Core Skills stream page weighs three factors, and an owner-nominee has to meet each one:
- The duties match the ANZSCO occupation. The owner’s role must be the occupation nominated, at its skill level, not a mix of every task the owner does.
- The position fits the scope and scale of the business. The role must fit clearly within the scope of the business’s activities and its scale.
- The position was not created to help the nominee stay. The role must exist for the business’s needs, not for the owner’s visa.
The caveats in the table above then remove several common owner occupations from small businesses, and the salary tests apply in full: the market rate, and at least $79,423 or $146,576. Each nomination criterion is set out in the guide to nominating a position.
A migration lawyer makes approval more likely here because an owner’s nomination is tested hardest on the points the owner controls (the position’s scale, the salary and the business’s finances), and a caveat or a genuineness refusal keeps the levy and leaves the owner’s own visa exposed. No adviser can promise an approval.
What evidence helps?
The nomination criteria are the same for an owner as for any other nominee, and six kinds of evidence map to them:
- The business’s activity and scale: trading history, staff numbers and turnover, which also decide whether a caveat applies.
- A position description matched to the ANZSCO tasks and skill level of the occupation.
- The market salary: an equivalent worker’s pay, an enterprise agreement or award, or Jobs and Skills Australia data; the Home Affairs salary requirements page warns that a generic survey alone may be refused.
- Capacity to pay: financial evidence that the business can pay at least the market rate for the whole nomination period.
- Labour market testing: the ads and how applications were handled, unless an exemption applies.
- The nominee’s qualifications and experience against the ANZSCO occupation.
In practice, the evidence is judged as a whole: a position that fits the business, a salary the business can clearly afford and ads that were genuinely open to Australians support each other.
What are the risks?
Self-sponsorship puts the business and the owner on both sides of the same arrangement, and each side carries risk:
- A refused nomination keeps the $330 fee and the levy; the options are covered under 482 nomination refusal.
- The company carries every sponsor obligation toward its owner, including paying at least the nominated salary and notifying Home Affairs within 28 days, with sanctions for breaches.
- If the business stops employing the owner, the owner has at most 180 days in a row to find another sponsor, get another visa or leave (condition 8607).
- Costs cannot be recovered from the worker under regulation 2.87, and asking for a benefit in return for sponsorship is an offence under section 245AR of the Migration Act 1958.
- A later 186 nomination by the same business faces the same genuineness scrutiny.
- Adverse information about the business or its associates can defeat both the sponsorship and the nomination.
Unregistered agents
An unregistered agent who gives immigration assistance on a sponsorship, nomination or visa is breaking the law (Migration Act 1958 s 280). They also carry no professional indemnity insurance, so if their mistake leads to a refusal, lost fees or a closed pathway, the worker or employer has no insurer to claim against. A practising Australian lawyer must carry that insurance.
Questions people ask
Can I self-sponsor myself?
Not as an individual. A business you own can become an approved sponsor and nominate you, if the position is genuine, full-time and paid at least the market rate and $79,423 (Core Skills stream).
Can I apply for PR after 2 years of a 482 visa?
The 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream needs 2 years in the last 3 of full-time sponsored work before applying. A business-owner nominee's 186 nomination faces the same genuine position test as the 482 nomination.
What are the requirements for self-sponsorship in Australia?
An approved sponsoring business, a written employment contract with it, a genuine full-time position that no occupation caveat excludes, a salary at the market rate and the threshold, capacity to pay, and labour market testing unless an exemption applies.
Can a sole trader sponsor themselves?
The nominee must be employed under a written contract by the sponsor or an associated entity. In practice that means a separate entity, such as a company, employs the owner.