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Changing Sponsors on a TSS 482 Visa

Changing sponsors on a 482 visa: key facts for 2026

  • Your new employer must be an approved sponsor and must lodge a new nomination for you. You can only start working for them once that nomination is approved (unless your occupation is exempt).
  • Since 1 July 2024, if you stop working for your sponsor you have up to 180 days at a time (365 days in total over the visa) to find a new sponsor, apply for another visa or leave Australia, and you can work for other employers during that time.
  • Your sponsor must tell the Department within 28 days if you resign or your employment ends.
  • Under the Skills in Demand visa, a Core Skills nomination needs an occupation on the CSOL and a salary of at least $79,423 (from 1 July 2026) or the market rate.
  • Changing to a different occupation may mean a new visa, and your time towards 186 permanent residence may restart.

From 1 July 2024 visa conditions 8107, 8607 and 8608 changed to help tackle worker exploitation and drive productivity as was outlined within the Migration Strategy.

Temporary Work (Skilled) (Sc 457) visa holders, Skills in Demand (Sc 482) visa holders (formerly Temporary Skill Shortage) and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (provisional) (Sc 494) visa holders who stop working with their sponsoring employer have more time to find a new sponsor, apply for a different visa or arrange to depart Australia.

These visa holders will have up to:

  • 180 days at a time, or
  • a maximum of 365 days in total across the entire visa grant period.

During this time, visa holders can work for other employers. This includes work in occupations not listed in their most recently approved sponsorship nomination. This will ensure that visa holders can support themselves while they look for a new sponsor.

Unless exempt, a visa holder cannot work for another employer unless they have ceased work with their sponsoring employer. Visa holders must remain in their nominated occupation while working for their existing sponsor.

Sponsors must still let the department know if there is any change in situation within 28 days. This includes ceasing sponsorship or if a visa holder resigns.

Visa holders must not do any work that is inconsistent with any licence or registration needed for their nominated occupation. This includes any conditions or requirements they are subject to.

The changes apply to existing visa holders, as well as those granted a visa on or after 1 July 2024. Any periods a visa holder stopped working for their sponsor before 1 July 2024 will not count towards the new time periods outlined above.

We’re often asked this question by Skills in Demand 482 visa (and former TSS visa) holders who want to leave their current employer and work for someone else. They may be unhappy with their employer, want to change positions and roles, or they have received a better job offer.

The answer is that it is possible to change employers (sponsors), but there are rules and regulations which must be met. You and your proposed employer should proceed this carefully to avoid breaching your current visa condition and sanctions which might be applied to your new employer.

Update: since 1 July 2024, 482 and 494 visa holders can be without a sponsor for up to 180 days at a time (and up to 365 days in total across the visa grant period), instead of 60 days. During this period, they can work for other employers.

How to change your sponsor?

In order to change the employer while holding a visa subclass 482, your new employer needs to be willing to sponsor you and lodge a nomination for you. While you are still working for your current sponsor, you cannot start working for your new employer until a (favourable) decision is made on a new nomination application lodged by your proposed employer.

During the processing time of the new nomination, you can continue to work for your current employer. If you decide to leave your work, since 1 July 2024 the period during which you cease employment with your sponsor must not exceed 180 days at a time, or 365 days in total across the visa grant period (you can work for other employers during this time). The new nomination processing time is out of your control, as it is at the discretion of the Department of Home Affairs. Therefore, the safest way is to continue to work for your current sponsor until the new nomination is approved.

Process to change sponsor while holding a 482 visa

What if you change start your new work before the new nomination?

If you start working for a new employer without an approved nomination lodged by your new employer while you are still working for your sponsor, or after the 180 day (365 days in total) period has run out, you are in breach of condition 8607, and the new employer risks sanctions and fines if it employs a visa holder in breach of the work conditions. Since 1 July 2024, you can work for other employers once you have stopped working for your sponsor and are within that period.

Breaching a visa condition may jeopardise your visa situation. The risk includes:

  • Your current visa may be cancelled if the Department is aware of the breach of condition, under section 116(b) of the Migration Act 1958.
  • If you are applying for a new 482 visa, any previous failure to comply with visa conditions will be considered as part of the decision-making process against you.

Exempt Occupations

There are a number of occupations which do not require the visa holder’s to work for the business of the sponsor or an associated entity of the sponsor. This enables the 482 visa holder to be engaged as an independent contractor by the sponsor or an associated entity of the sponsor and may work for multiple employers, either simultaneously or consecutively. Therefore, if you are working under any of the below occupations, you will not need to have a new nomination when you change your employer.

Specified occupations
 

Item

 Column 1

Occupation

 Column 2

ANZSCO Code
1 chief executive or managing director 111111
2 corporate general manager 111211
3 general medical practitioner 253111
4 resident medical officer 253112
5 anaesthetist 253211
6 specialist physician (general medicine) 253311
7 cardiologist 253312
8 clinical haematologist 253313
9 medical oncologist 253314
10 endocrinologist 253315
11 gastroenterologist 253316
12 intensive care specialist 253317
13 neurologist 253318
14 paediatrician 253321
15 renal medicine specialist 253322
16 rheumatologist 253323
17 thoracic medicine specialist 253324
18 specialist physician (nec) 253399
19 psychiatrist 253411
20 surgeon (general) 253511
21 cardiothoracic surgeon 253512
22 neurosurgeon 253513
23 orthopaedic surgeon 253514
24 otorhinolaryngologist 253515
25 paediatric surgeon 253516
26 plastic and reconstructive surgeon 253517
27 urologist 253518
28 vascular surgeon 253521
29 dermatologist 253911
30 emergency medicine specialist 253912
31 obstetrician and gynaecologist 253913
32 ophthalmologist 253914
33 pathologist 253915
34 diagnostic and interventional radiologist 253917
35 radiation oncologist 253918
36 medical practitioners (nec) 253999
Can you return and work for the previous employer?

Once the new nomination is approved, you must work for your new employer. You cannot return and work for your previous employer unless a further nomination is approved for that employer.

What if you do not change your sponsor, but your sponsor has changed their entity?

Where there are changes to the business arrangements of the sponsor, it is possible that the visa holder may find themselves working for a new employer.

If a sponsor (whether a standard business sponsor or a party to a labour agreement) changes its business name or structure but retains its original ABN, this may not be regarded as a change of sponsor because the legal entity of the sponsor has potentially remained the same. As a result, a subclass 482 holder could continue to work for the business and not breach 8607.

The situation may, however, be different if a sponsor:

  • is taken over by another business and registers under a different ABN; or
  • is amalgamated into a business and:
    • adopts the subsuming business’ ABN; or
    • retains the existing ABN.

Step by step: changing your 482 sponsor

  1. Find a new employer who is willing to sponsor you and is (or will become) an approved standard business sponsor.
  2. Your new employer completes labour market testing (unless exempt) and lodges a nomination for your position.
  3. Keep working for your current sponsor while the nomination is processed, or, if you have already stopped, keep track of your 180 day period.
  4. If the new role is in a different occupation, or your visa cannot cover it, apply for a new 482 visa as well.
  5. Start working for your new employer only once the nomination (and any new visa) is approved.

Related guides

Changing sponsors FAQs

To be nominated under the Core Skills stream, the occupation must appear on the current CSOL.

Alternatively, the worker may be eligible under the Specialist Skills stream if they meet the relevant requirements.

If a new visa is required because of a change in occupation, the employment period required for future permanent residence eligibility may start again from the date of the new visa.

Yes, if the nomination was lodged before 7 December 2024, the occupation can still be used even if removed from the CSOL and a visa can be lodged under the SID program.

Since 1 July 2024 you have up to 180 days at a time, and up to 365 days in total across your visa grant period, to find a new sponsor, apply for a different visa or leave Australia. Periods before 1 July 2024 do not count towards these limits.

Not while you are still working for your current sponsor. If you have stopped working for your sponsor and are within the 180 day period, you can work for other employers, including in a different occupation. Otherwise, wait until the new nomination is approved.

It can. The 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream needs two years of full time work in your nominated occupation within the three years before your employer nominates you. A change of employer or occupation can affect when you become eligible, so get advice before you resign. You can book a consultation with our team.

Yes, generally. Your two years can be made up of work with more than one sponsor, as long as each was an approved sponsor that nominated you and you stayed in the same occupation. For applications lodged from 29 November 2025, only time working for an approved sponsor counts.

Time with your new employer only counts once you are working for them under their own nomination for you, and that nomination is approved. Gaps between sponsors, time under a nomination that is refused, and work for employers who have not nominated you do not count. A gap does not wipe out your earlier sponsored time, but the three year window keeps running, so a long gap can push older time out of it.

For the Core Skills stream, the occupation must be on the CSOL. If it is not, you may still qualify under the Specialist Skills stream if you meet its salary and other requirements, or under a labour agreement. If a new visa is needed in a different occupation, your time towards 186 permanent residence may start again.

Your visa can only be granted with an approved nomination for the job you will actually do. If your employer withdraws its nomination or the job ends, speak to us before you withdraw anything. Depending on timing and the stage of your case, a new employer may be able to nominate you while your application is still open, or you may need to withdraw and lodge a fresh visa application with the new nomination.

If you withdraw your visa application because there is no approved nomination, you can ask for a refund of the visa application charge. The request is made after the withdrawal, through Manage Payments in ImmiAccount, or with form 1424 if you did not pay in ImmiAccount. Nomination fees and the Skilling Australians Fund levy are generally not refunded when a nomination is refused.

Yes. The Skilling Australians Fund levy is attached to each nomination, not to you, so your new employer pays the levy and the nomination fee for its own nomination. Your old employer may be able to ask for a refund of part of its levy in limited cases, for example if you leave within the first 12 months of a nomination longer than 12 months. See our 482 visa fees guide for current costs.

Usually, yes. Unless an exemption applies, the new employer must advertise the role at least twice within the four months before it lodges the nomination, and show it could not find a suitable Australian worker. The employer must also be (or become) an approved standard business sponsor and pay you at least the core skills income threshold or the market salary rate, whichever is higher.

Only with a new approved nomination. Once your new employer’s nomination is approved, you must work for them in the nominated occupation. To return to your previous employer, they would need to lodge and have approved a fresh nomination for you, and labour market testing and the levy would usually apply again.