482 Visa Salary Requirements: CSIT, SSIT and the Market Salary Rate

The 482 visa salary requirement is at least $79,423 a year in the Core Skills stream or $146,576 in the Specialist Skills stream for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026, and never less than the annual market salary rate for the role. Both the market salary rate and the worker’s guaranteed annual earnings, excluding superannuation and non-monetary benefits, must meet the threshold, and Home Affairs refuses a nomination that would pay less than an equivalent Australian worker. The employer shows the rate with the applicable award or enterprise agreement, an equivalent worker’s payslips or contract, or other relevant information, and lodges that evidence with the nomination.

What are the 482 salary thresholds now?

For nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, the thresholds are $79,423 for the Core Skills stream and $146,576 for the Specialist Skills stream. The date the nomination is lodged decides which threshold applies: Home Affairs says a sponsorship or nomination lodged on or after 1 July must meet the threshold for that year. The published amounts are on the Home Affairs salary requirements page, and the CSIT salary guide covers the Core Skills threshold in detail.

The threshold is a floor, not the salary. The worker must be paid at least the annual market salary rate for the role, and that rate must itself be at least the threshold. Where earnings are $250,000 or more, neither test applies (section 5 of IMMI 18/033).

How have the thresholds changed?

The two 482 thresholds have risen twice since they began:

1. 7 December 2024: the CSIT started at $73,150 and the SSIT at $135,000, when the Skills in Demand visa replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa.
2. 1 July 2025: both rose by 4.6% (Home Affairs news item 1308).
3. 1 July 2026: both rose by 3.8% (news item 1416).

The rise is automatic. Regulation 5.42A of the Migration Regulations 1994 replaces the amounts each 1 July using full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE), rounded to the nearest dollar, and Home Affairs publishes the result. The new amounts apply to nominations lodged from that 1 July. Existing visa holders and nominations lodged before it are not affected.

What is the Specialist Skills Income Threshold?

The Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) is $146,576 a year for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026. It applies to occupations in ANZSCO Major Groups 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. Regulation 2.73(6) requires a nomination in one of those groups to use the Specialist Skills stream once the nominee’s earnings, excluding non-monetary benefits, reach the SSIT. A trade occupation in Major Group 3 that is on the Core Skills Occupation List stays in the Core Skills stream at any salary, because Core Skills has no upper cap.

What counts toward the threshold?

Regulation 2.57A of the Migration Regulations 1994 defines earnings, and regulation 2.72(15) tests them against the threshold without non-monetary benefits.

Counts toward the threshold:

• wages;
• amounts applied or dealt with on the worker’s behalf, or as the worker directs;
• overtime that the contract guarantees.

Does not count:

• amounts that cannot be determined in advance: commissions, incentive payments, bonuses, and overtime unless it is guaranteed;
• reimbursements;
• superannuation guarantee contributions;
• non-monetary benefits such as accommodation, a car or meals, which are left out of the threshold test and must be paid on top.

The position must also be full time, which means 38 hours a week, or 32 to 45 hours set by an award or agreement.

Does superannuation count?

No. Contributions the employer makes to meet the superannuation guarantee are excluded from earnings by regulation 2.57A(4). A salary of exactly $79,423 “including super” is below the threshold, and super is paid on top of the base amount.

What is the hourly equivalent?

The hourly equivalent depends on the ordinary hours in the contract, so it is not a published figure. The salary checker near the top of this page divides the annual amount by 52 weeks and the hours entered.

How do you evidence the market salary rate?

The annual market salary rate (AMSR) is what an Australian citizen or permanent resident earns, or would earn, for equivalent full-time work for a year at the same workplace and location. The evidence depends on two questions: whether there is an equivalent Australian worker, and whether an industrial instrument (a Fair Work, state or transitional instrument) covers the role.

An equivalent worker is employed at the same workplace, at the same location, doing equivalent work. An Australian who is more or less experienced than the nominee and does similar work at a different pay grade is not an equivalent worker.

Relevant information means Jobs and Skills Australia occupation and industry profiles, national job advertisements in English that state the salary, remuneration surveys by a reputable organisation, and written advice from unions or employer associations. Home Affairs warns that generic market salary data or surveys on their own may lead to refusal. The method was substituted by LIN 26/038 on 25 March 2026 and applies to nominations not yet decided. The evidence is lodged with the 482 nomination.

Three examples show how each method works. They are illustrations, not cases:

1. Employment documents. An engineering firm nominates a mechanical engineer, and an Australian engineer at the same site does equivalent work. The employer can use that engineer’s contract and payslips, provided they are not below the industrial instrument that covers the role, and the nominee must be paid at least as much.
2. The industrial instrument. A new restaurant nominates a chef and has no Australian chef yet. The award classification for the role sets the rate.
3. Relevant information. A software business nominates a specialist that no award covers and no Australian at the workplace matches. The employer assembles the Jobs and Skills Australia profile and national advertisements that state salaries for the same work.

Is TSMIT still used?

Not for the 482. Since 7 December 2024, a 482 nomination has used the CSIT or the SSIT. The TSMIT still sets the floor for 494 and 187 nominations, at $79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026. From 1 July 2026 regulation 1.03 of the Migration Regulations 1994 defines TSMIT directly, and its first automatic indexation is on 1 July 2027.

What if the threshold rises before you lodge?

The nomination must meet the threshold in force on the day it is lodged. A Core Skills nomination lodged on 30 June 2026 needed $76,515; the same nomination lodged on 1 July 2026 needs $79,423. A salary agreed in June therefore has to be checked again if lodgement slips past 1 July.

A 482 cannot be extended. A 482 visa extension is in fact a new nomination and a new visa, so the renewing employer meets the threshold in force when the new nomination is lodged, not the one that applied to the first visa.

Does the salary have to keep meeting the threshold?

Yes. After any change in hours or pay, a Core Skills holder’s earnings must continue to meet the CSIT, and a Specialist Skills holder’s the SSIT, according to the Home Affairs change in situation page.

The sponsor must also pay at least the earnings in the approved nomination and give terms and conditions no less favourable than an equivalent Australian worker’s (regulation 2.79). The equivalent-terms obligation does not apply where annual earnings are $250,000 or more. These are among the 482 sponsor obligations.

The annual indexation on 1 July does not reach existing visa holders: a new threshold applies to a worker already holding a 482 only when a new nomination is lodged for them.

Common mistakes (from Home Affairs guidance and the refusal grounds in the Regulations)

1. Using an unofficial figure. Only the amounts on the Home Affairs salary requirements page are the thresholds, and they apply by lodgement date.
2. Counting super, bonuses or commissions. Superannuation guarantee contributions, bonuses, commissions and overtime that is not guaranteed are not earnings (regulation 2.57A(2) and (4)).
3. Counting accommodation, a car or meals. Non-monetary benefits are excluded from the threshold test (regulation 2.72(15)), and Home Affairs says employers “must pay such benefits in addition”.
4. Proving the rate with generic salary data only. Home Affairs says generic market salary data or surveys on their own may lead to refusal.
5. Paying the threshold when an Australian at the workplace earns more. Home Affairs refuses a nomination that would pay the worker less than the equivalent Australian worker (regulation 2.72(15)).
6. Lodging on or after 1 July with last year’s figure. The threshold is fixed by the lodgement date (Home Affairs salary requirements page; news item 1416).
7. Advertising without the salary. Where earnings are below $96,400, the labour market testing advertisements must state the salary or a range (section 8(4) of LIN 18/036).

An immigration lawyer makes the nomination more likely to be approved by setting the salary against the market-rate evidence Home Affairs accepts before it is lodged. That matters because Home Affairs refuses a nomination that pays less than an equivalent Australian worker, and says generic salary surveys alone may lead to refusal.