482 Visa Processing Time for the Nomination and the Visa

The 482 visa processing time is 15 days for half of Specialist Skills applications and 4 months for half of Core Skills applications, with 90% decided within 45 days and 9 months, in the Home Affairs processing times guide as read on 24 September 2026. The employer’s nomination is a separate decision, with half decided within 57 days and 90% within 9 months, and Home Affairs cannot grant the visa until the nomination is approved. Within the visa queue, Ministerial Direction 121 has set the order since 19 September 2026: applications in priority sectors first, then Specialist Skills, then applicants who were in Australia when they applied, then single offshore applicants, then all others.

Published 482 processing times

Queue order under Ministerial Direction 121

How long is the 482 queue now?

As read on 24 September 2026 in the Home Affairs global visa processing times guide, the 482 queue runs:

• between 15 days and 45 days for most Specialist Skills applications;
• between 4 months and 9 months for most Core Skills applications;
• between 7 months and 10 months for most Labour Agreement applications.

On the same day, the Skills in Demand visa page showed Home Affairs processing Specialist Skills applications lodged in July 2026, onshore applications lodged in January 2026, priority-sector applications lodged in October 2025, single offshore applications lodged in October 2025 and other offshore applications lodged in October 2025. Each tier moves at its own pace, so two applications lodged on the same day wait different lengths of time.

What do the 50% and 90% processing times mean?

The figures show how long Home Affairs took to decide applications it decided recently: half were decided within the first figure and nine in ten within the second. They describe past decisions, not a promise for new ones. The guide itself says it “does not guarantee that applications will be decided within the timeframe”, and the Core Skills stream page adds that it is “not specific to your application”.

Home Affairs says the global processing times are updated monthly, so this page shows the date each figure was read. During the move to Ministerial Direction 121, the 482 page warns that “Some published timeframes may temporarily move backwards” while applications are reprioritised.

One way to read them: a Core Skills application still undecided once more than 9 months has passed since lodgement is slower than nine in ten recent decisions. That says nothing about the reason, which the next sections cover.

Which 482 applications are processed first?

Ministerial Direction 121, in force from 19 September 2026 and replacing Ministerial Direction 119, sets five priorities for the visa (Home Affairs skilled visa processing priorities page):

1. applications for positions in construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing and resources, or in Australia’s law enforcement and defence interests;
2. applications in the Specialist Skills stream;
3. applications from applicants who were in Australia when they lodged;
4. applications from primary applicants who were outside Australia when they lodged and whose application is not combined with another person’s application at any time;
5. all other applications from applicants who were outside Australia when they applied.

How do you read the queue month against your own lodgement?

The tier is fixed by facts at lodgement: the sector, the stream, whether the applicant was in Australia, and whether the application is combined with anyone else’s.

Do accredited sponsors still get priority?

A Home Affairs news item of 7 December 2024 said accredited sponsors “will continue to receive priority processing”. Ministerial Direction 121 does not name accredited sponsors in its order for visa applications, and whether priority at the nomination stage continues is not published. What accredited sponsor status changes for an employer is set out on its own page.

How long do 482 sponsorship and nomination take?

As read on 24 September 2026, half of standard business sponsorship applications were decided within 24 days and 90% within 4 months; half of nominations within 57 days and 90% within 9 months.

The three decisions depend on each other:

• A nomination can be lodged while the sponsorship application is pending, but the sponsorship must be approved before the nomination is.
• The nomination is lodged before or with the visa application, and must be approved before the visa is granted (Core Skills stream page).
• A 482 holder changing employer usually needs only the new employer’s nomination, not a new visa, so the nomination time is the wait (Home Affairs change in situation page).

The 482 visa processing time after nomination approval is not a new clock. The visa keeps its own queue position from its lodgement month, so approval of the nomination removes a block rather than restarting the wait.

What slows a 482 application down?

The Core Skills stream page lists what changes the time for each case:

• an incomplete application, without all the supporting documents;
• slow replies to requests for more information;
• the time taken to check the information supplied;
• the time taken to receive information from external agencies, particularly on health, character and national security.

Three other gaps hold an application up:

• health examinations not done before lodging;
• a missing skills assessment reference where one is mandatory (“We won’t process your application if you don’t provide this”);
• a sponsorship or nomination not yet approved.

Home Affairs states “We are not obligated to request further information or documents” and can decide on what it has, so an incomplete application can end in a refusal rather than a delay. It also does not give updates on applications within the standard processing time. The 482 visa checklist lists what to attach at lodgement.

How have 482 processing times moved?

This guide adds a row each month, starting from its first reading:

Earlier monthly figures are not published here, because no dated government record of them was captured.

Two dated events frame the figures:

• 7 December 2024: the Skills in Demand visa started. The Migration Strategy of December 2023 had committed to a median service standard of 21 days for the Skills in Demand visa and 7 days for the Specialist Skills pathway. Those are policy targets, not guarantees, and they are not the published figures.
• 19 September 2026: Ministerial Direction 121 replaced Ministerial Direction 119 for the 482, with the warning that times may move backwards while applications are reprioritised.

Where to go next, and when to get help

An immigration lawyer is more likely to keep a 482 in the fastest tier it can lawfully use and lodged complete, because the tier is fixed by facts at lodgement, such as the stream and whether the application is combined, and Home Affairs can refuse on the documents it has without asking for more.

The permanent step runs in a separate queue: the 186 is prioritised under Ministerial Direction 122, and its figures are on the 186 visa processing time page.