Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) for a 482 Nomination

The Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) is $79,423 a year for 482 Core Skills nominations lodged from 1 July 2026, and the same amount is the salary floor for 186 nominations lodged since 7 December 2024. The nominated worker’s guaranteed annual earnings, excluding superannuation and non-monetary benefits, and the annual market salary rate must both be at least the CSIT. It rose by 3.8% on 1 July 2026 under the automatic indexation in regulation 5.42A of the Migration Regulations 1994, and the date the nomination is lodged decides which amount applies.

What is the CSIT now?

The CSIT is $79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, as published on the Home Affairs salary requirements page. It applies to 482 Core Skills nominations and to 186 nominations. The salary checker above gives the hourly equivalent for the ordinary hours in the contract.

A 2026–27 figure from any other source is not the threshold: the published amount, and the only one that applies, is $79,423.

How has the CSIT changed?

The CSIT has been indexed twice, as the table above shows: by 4.6% on 1 July 2025 and by 3.8% on 1 July 2026. Before 7 December 2024, 482 nominations under the Temporary Skill Shortage visa used TSMIT, which was $73,150 from 1 July 2024, and the CSIT started at that same amount when the Skills in Demand visa began.

How is the CSIT indexed?

The CSIT rises each year by a formula, not by a decision. Regulation 5.42A of the Migration Regulations 1994 sets four steps:

The new amount applies to nominations lodged on or after that 1 July. It does not apply to existing visa holders or to nominations lodged before 1 July, according to Home Affairs news item 1416.

Why do the Regulations still show the 2024 amount?

Regulation 1.03 in the compiled Migration Regulations 1994 on the Federal Register of Legislation still prints the core skills income threshold as $73,150, the starting amount. That printed figure is the base amount. Regulation 5.42A replaces it by operation of law each 1 July, so the compilation text does not change, and Home Affairs publishes the indexed amount of $79,423.

Which stream uses the CSIT?

The CSIT sets the salary floor in four places:

1. The Core Skills stream of the 482, for every nomination lodged from 7 December 2024.
2. Every 186 nomination lodged from 7 December 2024, including the Temporary Residence Transition stream through which 482 holders move to permanent residence.
3. Not the Specialist Skills stream, which uses the higher Specialist Skills Income Threshold of $146,576.
4. The Labour Agreement stream, unless the agreement grants a salary concession. The dairy, fishing, horticulture and meat industry labour agreements allow 90% of the CSIT for a 482 or 186 (in Category 3 regional locations, except under the horticulture agreement, which names no location), and the Northern Territory DAMA allows 85% of the CSIT, which is $67,510 from 1 July 2026, or the market rate if higher.

Is the CSIT the same as TSMIT?

No. The two thresholds have carried the same amount since the CSIT began on 7 December 2024 ($73,150 alongside TSMIT’s $73,150), and both are $79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026. TSMIT was not renamed, though: it still exists and sets the floor for 494 and 187 nominations, while the CSIT sets it for the 482 Core Skills stream and the 186.

Their legal footing also differs. The CSIT has been indexed each 1 July since 2025. TSMIT was written into regulation 1.03 on 1 July 2026 by the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026, and its first automatic indexation is on 1 July 2027.

CSIT or the market salary rate: which applies?

Both apply, and the binding figure is whichever is higher. The annual market salary rate for the role must be at least the CSIT, and the worker must be paid at least that market rate. Where the award rate or an equivalent Australian’s pay for the role is above $79,423, that higher rate is the floor. Where the market salary rate for the role is below $79,423, the position does not meet the Core Skills salary test even if the employer offers $79,423, unless a labour agreement concession applies.

Where annual earnings are $250,000 or more, neither the market-rate test nor the threshold test applies (section 5 of IMMI 18/033).

An Australian migration lawyer makes approval more likely by timing the lodgement against the 1 July indexation date. That matters because the threshold is fixed by the day the nomination is lodged, so a nomination prepared in June and lodged on or after 1 July must meet the new CSIT or be refused.