Australia’s Skills in Demand (482) visa: a guide for Bangladeshi workers

The 482 visa in brief

Cooks, chefs, electricians, welders, carpenters and engineers from Bangladesh are hired into Australia on this visa. Here is what it is.

The Skills in Demand (SID) visa, subclass 482, allows an Australian business to sponsor a skilled worker when no suitably skilled Australian is available for the job. It is temporary and runs for up to 4 years. After that, staying on a 482 means a fresh nomination from your employer and a fresh application from you.

There are three main streams:

• Core Skills. For occupations on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). Most trade, kitchen and construction roles on this site fall here.
• Specialist Skills. For higher-paid roles in certain occupation groups, where the pay reaches the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (AUD 146,576 (as of October 2026, official page)). It is closed to trades workers, machinery operators and labourers.
• Labour Agreement. For workers nominated by an employer that has a labour agreement with the Australian Government; that agreement may set its own requirements.

Checklist: the Core Skills rules

Go through each point. You need all of them.

• A sponsoring employer. It is already an approved sponsor, or it has applied to be a Standard Business Sponsor, and it nominates you for the position.
• An occupation on the list. The role must appear on the Core Skills Occupation List, and the work must truly call for your skills.
• Fair pay. You are paid the Annual Market Salary Rate for the job. That rate may not sit under the Core Skills Income Threshold, which is AUD 79,423 for nominations lodged between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027 (as of October 2026, official page). You must earn at least what an Australian in the same job earns.
• Experience. 1 year or more of relevant work, in the nominated occupation or one closely related to it (see the next section).
• English, health and character. You satisfy all three, and you keep adequate health insurance for the whole time you are in Australia.
• Age. The 482 sets no upper or lower age limit.

Ready to compare? Open the sponsored jobs in Australia.

Experience, certificates and skills assessments

Australia looks at what you have actually done, not only at your papers.

• Experience: 1 year or more in the nominated occupation or a related field, within the last 5 years. Breaks are fine if the total is at least 12 months of full-time work. Experience from the Gulf or Malaysia can count when it is relevant and you can prove it.
• Qualifications: the ones your occupation calls for. If the work needs an Australian licence or registration, you need that as well.
• Skills assessment: some occupations need one, usually from VETASSESS or Trades Recognition Australia (TRA). Bangladeshi trade certificates, such as those from the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, generally have to be assessed again. If your occupation needs one, the assessment has to be in progress by the time you lodge, otherwise the application is invalid, and it has to be dated within the 3 years before you apply. Book it early.
• No assessment needed? Expect Home Affairs to want other proof anyway, such as your certificates, licences, employer references and CV.

English scores for the 482

The Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams both need English unless you are exempt. For tests taken on or after 13 September 2025 (as of October 2026, official page), these are the lowest scores allowed in each part:

• Age of the result: the test must come from the 3 years before you apply.
• Test centre only: a test sat at home or fully online, IELTS Online included, is not accepted.
• Other tests: Home Affairs also takes results from CELPIP General, LANGUAGECERT Academic, the Michigan English Test and others, each with its own minimums on the official page.
• Exemptions: people holding a Canadian, New Zealand, UK, US or Republic of Ireland passport, and anyone who has studied full-time for at least 5 years at secondary level or above, mostly in English. A Bangladeshi passport is not on that list, so most readers need a test unless the study exemption fits.
• Labour Agreement stream: the agreement may set its own level.

Health checks, insurance and police certificates

• Health: each person on the application has to pass the health requirement, normally by attending health examinations, and those results usually stay valid for 12 months.
• Insurance: adequate health cover is needed for your whole stay, starting on arrival.
• Character: this applies to you and to every family member who is 16 or older. It usually means police certificates from every country where you have lived for 12 months or more, added up, during the 10 years since you turned 16. For Bangladesh that is the Police Clearance Certificate from Bangladesh Police; a Gulf country where you worked long enough needs its own certificate too.

From job ad to first day: the steps

1. The employer tests the local market. As a rule, it must place 2 or more job ads in Australia, each live for at least 4 weeks, during the 4 months before nominating (labour market testing).
2. You are selected. You send your application, sit an interview (often a video call) and get an offer.
3. The employer becomes an approved sponsor, if it is not one already.
4. The employer lodges the nomination and gives you its Transaction Reference Number (TRN).
5. You gather your papers: passport, proof of skills (with a skills assessment where required), English result, police certificates, employer references and translations.
6. You apply in ImmiAccount using the TRN, and pay the visa charge.
7. Biometrics and health examinations are done when Home Affairs requests them.
8. Home Affairs decides. No visa is granted until the nomination is approved.
9. You start work no later than 90 days after you land in Australia (or after the grant, if you are in Australia already). Before you fly from Bangladesh, finish your BMET emigration clearance.

Processing times and visa charges

How long Home Affairs takes (as of October 2026, official page), according to its processing-time tool:

The tool is updated often, and any one case can be quicker or slower. The steps before you lodge take time too: finding the job, sponsorship and nomination, a skills assessment, the English test and police certificates can each take weeks.

The visa charge (as of October 2026, official page): the main applicant pays AUD 4,015, and so does each family member aged 18 or older; each family member under 18 costs AUD 1,005. Your English test, health examinations, police certificates and biometrics are separate costs. A reduced charge applies from 1 July 2026 to eligible citizens of Timor-Leste and the Pacific Island countries.

Your rights and limits on a 482

• One occupation, one employer. Your work is limited to the nominated occupation, with your sponsor (or, in some cases, an associated entity).
• A start date. Work must begin within 90 days.
• If the job ends. You get up to 180 days to line up another sponsor or make arrangements to leave Australia.
• Costs and rights. Sponsorship, nomination and recruitment costs belong to the sponsor, which may not recover them from you (sponsor obligations). Like any worker in Australia, you hold full workplace rights: see worker rights.

Partner and children on a 482

• Who: your partner, plus dependent children of yours or your partner's.
• Rights: once granted, they can live, work and study in Australia.
• Nomination: the sponsor either includes each family member in the nomination or agrees in writing to sponsor them.
• Timing: list everyone before lodging, because nobody can be added later. Relatives who follow afterwards make their own application as subsequent entrants.
• Costs and checks: a separate visa charge for each person (see above), the health requirement for all, and the character requirement from age 16.

Moving to permanent residence (subclass 186)

Most 482 holders who stay for good use the Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) stream of the Employer Nomination Scheme visa, subclass 186, which is permanent. What it asks for (as of October 2026, official page):

• Current visa: you hold a subclass 482 visa (or a 457), or an eligible bridging visa.
• Sponsored work: during the 3 years before applying, you have done at least 2 years of eligible work for your sponsor.
• Employer: your most recent full-time sponsor on a 482 or 457 visa, whose nomination of you was approved within 6 months before your application.
• Age: usually below 45 at the time of applying.
• English: Competent English or better, for example IELTS 6 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking (Competent English). No exemption applies in this stream.

The 186 visa charge starts from AUD 6,140 (as of October 2026, official page). These rules change from time to time, so confirm them on the official page before you plan around them.

Getting ready in Bangladesh

Start on this while the employer is still interviewing. Each point follows the general rules of the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian department that decides visas, and several of them take longer in Bangladesh than people expect.

1. Look at your passport first. Your name, date of birth and spelling should match your certificates. If it expires soon, Home Affairs suggests renewing it before you apply, so your visa sits on the passport you will actually travel with.
2. Request your police certificates. One is needed from each country where you have spent a total of 12 months or more in the past 10 years since age 16. For most readers that means a Police Clearance Certificate from Bangladesh Police, and often a second one from a Gulf country where you worked. How each country issues them is set out on the Home Affairs police certificate list. A certificate is normally accepted for 12 months from the day it was issued (character rules).
3. Gather proof of your trade. Diplomas, Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) certificates, trade test results and licences. Bangladeshi trade papers are usually checked again in Australia, so if your occupation needs a skills assessment, open that file soon.
4. Ask every employer for a letter, at home and in the Gulf. It should be on letterhead and signed, with the signer's name, role and contact details, your job title and your start and finish dates. Home Affairs also wants an English CV that covers at least the last 5 years of your working life.
5. Book an English test if your visa needs one. IELTS, PTE or another accepted test, sat at a test centre. Fully online versions do not count. Keep the score report safe.
6. Translate anything written in Bangla. A translator outside Australia does not need Australian accreditation, but the English translation must give their full name, address, phone number, qualifications and experience. Keep certified copies of the originals as well.
7. Scan each page in colour. Clear, complete scans make the online form much easier.

Already working in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Malaysia? Stay in that job until Australia decides your visa, and find out how much notice your contract requires. If you will fly out from Bangladesh, plan for the emigration clearance that BMET (the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training) gives workers going abroad for a job.

Dalals, scams and costly errors

Most fraud aimed at Bangladeshi workers looks the same: a "dalal", an unlicensed middleman, promises a job or a visa in return for money upfront. Deal only with real employers and licensed recruiting agencies, and never pay anyone to "secure" a job or a visa.

• No one can promise a grant. Home Affairs says plainly that nobody can guarantee a visa. Australia does not sell "work permits" or put visa labels in passports either, so an offer of one is fraud.
• Money for sponsorship breaks the rules. A sponsor may not recover its sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs from you. Asking for, offering or paying a benefit for sponsorship is a breach, and having done it within the past 3 years can block a 482 grant.
• Paid advice needs registration. In Australia only registered migration agents (RMAs) and Australian lawyers may charge for immigration help. Search the OMARA register before paying anyone (choosing a migration agent).
• The visa charge is paid in ImmiAccount. There is no extra government fee for "issuing" a visa.
• Mistakes that cost people their visa: an occupation your real work history does not support; an English result or police certificate past its date; a partner or child left off the form (no one can be added after lodgement); and names or dates that do not match from one document to the next.

The government's own warnings: visa scams (Home Affairs) and what you need to know (Home Affairs).

Frequently asked questions

How many years does a 482 visa last?

Up to 4 years. After that, staying on a 482 needs a new nomination from your employer and a new visa application from you.

What work experience does the 482 need?

You need 1 year or more in the nominated occupation, or a related one, somewhere in the last 5 years. Breaks are fine if the full-time total reaches 12 months or more. Relevant experience from the Gulf can count.

Which IELTS or PTE scores are needed for the 482?

If you are not exempt, a test sat on or after 13 September 2025 needs (as of October 2026) IELTS 5.0 in every part, or PTE Academic 33 for listening, 36 for reading, 29 for writing and 24 for speaking. Other accepted tests are on the Home Affairs English page.

Which police certificate does Australia want from Bangladesh?

A Police Clearance Certificate from Bangladesh Police. You also need one from any other country, such as a Gulf country, where you lived for 12 months or more in total during the last 10 years since age 16. The Home Affairs country list describes the process for Bangladesh.

Is there an age limit?

Not for the 482. The permanent subclass 186 (TRT stream), though, usually needs you to be under 45.

How much does the 482 cost?

As of October 2026, the main applicant and each family member 18 or older pay AUD 4,015, and each child under 18 pays AUD 1,005. Budget separately for English tests, health examinations and police certificates. See the Home Affairs page.

What happens if I lose my sponsored job?

A period of up to 180 days starts, in which you either find a new sponsoring employer or make plans to leave Australia.

Can I become a permanent resident later?

Possibly. Once you have 2 years of sponsored work within the last 3 years, the TRT stream of the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) may open up, provided your employer nominates you and you pass the age and Competent English rules.