Australia Skills in Demand Visa: The 482 in 2026

If you are looking for the Temporary Skills Shortage visa, it no longer exists under that name. The subclass number survived and almost nothing else did: the TSS was replaced by the Skills in Demand visa, which turned one catch-all route into three streams sorted by what the job pays.

Which stream you fall into decides whether you need an occupation list at all, so it is the first thing to establish and the thing most guides still get wrong.

Table of Contents

The three streams

Stream	Salary required	Occupation list?
Specialist Skills	AUD 146,717 or above, from 1 July 2026, up from AUD 141,210	None. Most ANZSCO occupations qualify if the salary clears the threshold
Core Skills	AUD 79,423 Core Skills Income Threshold, for nominations lodged on or after 1 July 2026	Yes. Your occupation must be on the Core Skills Occupation List, which holds 456 occupations
Essential Skills	Lower paid, for critical shortage sectors including aged care, disability support, and some hospitality and agriculture	Requires a Labour Agreement rather than a list

The Skills in Demand streams, 2026. A Labour Agreement stream also continues for employers with an agreement negotiated directly with the Department of Home Affairs.

The Specialist Skills stream is the one worth knowing about even if it looks out of reach, because of what it removes. Clear that salary and the occupation list stops mattering. For senior engineers, IT specialists and finance professionals that is frequently a shorter path than arguing about whether a job title maps to an ANZSCO code.

Most readers will be in Core Skills, and that means the Core Skills Occupation List decides eligibility. It holds 456 occupations and it is the first thing to check.

The salary rule that catches people

The threshold in the table is not the number you have to be paid. It is the floor. Your salary must meet the Core Skills Income Threshold and the Annual Market Salary Rate for that role in that location, whichever is higher.

The Annual Market Salary Rate is what an Australian doing the same job in the same place would be paid. So an offer of AUD 80,000 clears the national threshold and fails the nomination if the market rate for that role in Sydney is AUD 95,000. The threshold is a national minimum; the market rate is local and specific, and it is the one that usually binds.

Before you accept anything, ask the employer for the occupation code and the market rate they are nominating against. It is the same check that decides UK applications, where the going rate for the occupation overrides the headline figure in exactly the same way: the UK Skilled Worker route.

What it costs

Australia has the highest visa charges in the developed world for this kind of route, and the structure surprises people:

AUD 4,015 for the primary applicant.
AUD 4,015 again for each secondary applicant aged 18 or over. Not a reduced rate, the same rate.
AUD 1,005 for each applicant under 18.
The employer separately carries nomination costs and the skills levy, which is the item that makes some employers decline to sponsor at all.

A couple therefore pays over AUD 8,000 in application charges before anything else, and that figure rose from AUD 3,210 per applicant. It is routinely left out of comparisons between destinations: 15 European routes compared puts it against the alternatives.

Who this suits, and who should look elsewhere

Worth being direct, because Australia is unusually transparent about its preferences and the answer is not the same for everyone.

If you are	Australia is
A tradesperson	The best offer in the developed world. Permanent residence has been reachable at the published minimum score, with no sponsor needed at all
In healthcare	Strong, though registration with AHPRA is the slow part rather than the visa
In ICT or engineering	Harder than the headline suggests on the permanent route, and the Specialist Skills stream may be the better door
Bringing a family	Expensive. Price it per adult before you commit

Where the Skills in Demand visa is worth pursuing.

For the permanent, unsponsored alternative see the subclass 189, and for how the subclasses compare, the 186, 189 and 190 side by side.

What to do

Work out which stream you are in from the salary first. It decides whether an occupation list applies to you at all.
Find your ANZSCO code and check it against the Core Skills Occupation List if you are in the Core Skills stream.
Ask for the Annual Market Salary Rate the employer is nominating against, not just the threshold.
Start the skills assessment early. It runs through an assessing authority for your occupation, separately from immigration, and it is usually the slowest step.
Price the whole family. AUD 4,015 per adult changes the answer.

Last checked September 2026. Income thresholds are indexed each 1 July and the Core Skills Occupation List is reviewed periodically. Confirm your occupation, stream and market salary rate with the Department of Home Affairs before acting.

Blog Post