Workplace Rights of a 482 Visa Holder: Pay, Underpayment and the Workplace Justice Visa

A 482 visa holder has the same workplace rights as any employee in Australia, and the sponsor must also pay at least the earnings in the approved nomination and must not recover sponsorship costs from the worker. An employer cannot cancel a visa (only the Department of Home Affairs can), and contacting the Fair Work Ombudsman does not put a visa at risk (Fair Work Ombudsman, visa holders and migrants page). The first step on suspected underpayment is to compare payslips with the nomination and the award, keep a record of hours worked, and report to the Fair Work Ombudsman, or to Border Watch where a sponsor has broken its obligations.

What must you be paid?

A 482 holder’s pay rests on four rules:

1. The nominated earnings. The sponsor pays at least the earnings stated in the approved nomination, under the Home Affairs sponsor obligations page.
2. Equivalent terms. Terms and conditions are no less favourable than those of an equivalent Australian worker in the same workplace, unless earnings are $250,000 or more (Migration Regulations 1994, reg 2.79).
3. The income threshold after a change. After any change in hours or pay, earnings still meet the Core Skills Income Threshold ($79,423) or the Specialist Skills Income Threshold ($146,576) that applied to the nomination, according to the Home Affairs 482 change in situation page.
4. Everything any employee gets. Award minimums, leave and payslips apply as for any employee. The Home Affairs worker rights page lists payslips, super and tax documents among what an employer gives the employee.

What counts as underpayment or cost recovery?

Each of these breaks a rule, and each rule has its source:

• pay below the nominated earnings or below the award (sponsor obligations; the Fair Work Act 2009);
• deductions or repayments for sponsorship, the nomination, the Skilling Australians Fund levy, recruitment or professional adviser costs (Migration Regulations 1994, reg 2.87; the Home Affairs cost of sponsoring page);
• a cashback arrangement, or any other payment in return for sponsorship (Migration Act 1958, s 245AR);
• a different job from the one approved (sponsor obligations);
• pressure to work too many hours (Home Affairs, Information for migrant workers);
• a kept passport, threats about the visa, or forced overcrowded or unsafe housing (Home Affairs, Information for migrant workers; coercion offences, ss 245AAA–245AAC).

Coercion offences carry penalties counted in penalty units, and one penalty unit is $364 from 1 July 2026, according to the Home Affairs work-related contraventions page. What a sponsor must do, and must not do, is set out in full under 482 employer obligations.

Is your super being paid?

Yes, it should be: the employer pays super guarantee of 12% of qualifying earnings on top of the salary. From 1 July 2026, under Payday Super, each contribution must reach the fund within 7 business days after each payday (ATO, About Payday Super). Check the super fund’s member statements, and report a shortfall to the Australian Taxation Office. What happens to super on a 482 visa when the holder leaves Australia is covered separately.

Can you report without risking your visa?

Yes, within the limits below. Two routes are open, and one pilot adds protection:

• The Fair Work Ombudsman. Its page Visa holders and migrants says a visa will not be cancelled because the holder contacts it or asks it for help, and that an employer cannot cancel a visa; only Home Affairs grants, refuses or cancels visas.
• Border Watch. Sponsor breaches and exploitation are reported to the Australian Border Force through Border Watch, and a report does not need a name (Home Affairs, Information for migrant workers, updated 4 September 2026).

The Strengthening Reporting Protections Pilot

Under the Home Affairs Strengthening Reporting Protections Pilot, Home Affairs will not cancel a visa for a breach of a work-related visa condition linked to exploitation when all four conditions are met:

1. there is no other reason to cancel the visa, such as national security, character or fraud;
2. the exploitation happened in the last 12 months (longer in exceptional cases);
3. the worker has advice or support from a participating government agency, such as the Fair Work Ombudsman, or an accredited third party that is helping resolve it;
4. the worker gives a written commitment to follow the visa conditions in future.

The Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and the Temporary Skill Shortage visa are both on the Home Affairs list of covered visas.

What is the Workplace Justice visa?

The Workplace Justice visa is a stream of the Temporary Activity visa (subclass 408): the Australian Government Endorsed Events stream, under the Workplace Justice Pilot. It lets a worker with a certified workplace exploitation claim stay in Australia to pursue it. The Home Affairs Workplace Justice visa page (updated 8 September 2026) sets these terms:

1. Stay: 6 months, or up to 12 months depending on circumstances.
2. Cost: no visa application charge.
3. Where: applied for online, in Australia.
4. Visa held: a temporary substantive visa with work rights with no more than 28 days left, or one that ended within the last 28 days.
5. Certification: from a participating government agency or an accredited third party. For a stay of up to 12 months, the certification must come from a lawyer with specialist accreditation in employment law from the state or territory Law Society, or with 5 or more years’ experience practising for an accredited third party.
6. Other criteria: the applicant supports themselves, meets health and character requirements, holds adequate health insurance and is a genuine temporary entrant.
7. Work and the claim: the holder has no work restrictions while working does not stop the claim (the note on condition 8107 on the Home Affairs page), must keep pursuing the claim, and cannot reuse the certification for a further visa.

The Workplace Justice visa page describes the pilot as two phases implemented over two years.

An immigration lawyer, working alongside the Fair Work Ombudsman or an accredited third party, makes it more likely that the worker stays lawful while a workplace claim runs, because the 180 days window under condition 8607 keeps running after the job ends and a Workplace Justice visa has to be lodged within 28 days of the substantive visa ending.

Supplementary: if the job ends, the 180-day window

After sponsored work stops, condition 8607 allows up to 180 days in a row, and 365 days in total across the visa, without a sponsor. Reporting exploitation does not pause that clock. How the 180-day rule works, and the options inside it, is explained step by step; the rest of the 482 visa Australia guide covers the nomination, the streams and the conditions.