The Australian immigration sector has undergone immense changes in the past year. One of the biggest is the introduction of a new Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) that replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa in December 2024.

If you’re looking to sponsor skilled overseas employees to come and work here, it’s imperative you’re across these changes. It will ensure you can smoothly secure the talent you need for your business to not just function, but grow and thrive.

The TSS visa is now the SID visa

It’s been six years since the Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) replaced the old Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457), with the aim of better addressing worker shortages in the Australia labour market.

We now have the next iteration – the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482)(SID). The four-year employer-sponsored visa looks pretty different to its predecessor. It has three pathways or streams:

1. Core skills stream – to meet targeted workforce (skill shortage) needs
2. Specialist skills stream – to drive innovation and job creation
3. Labour agreement stream – to allow approved employers to sponsor skilled overseas workers under a formal agreement with the Australian Government when standard visa programs don’t meet their workforce needs

Importantly, the changes provide employees with a clearer pathway to permanent residency. This is a clear win for business and industry, as permanent residency is a huge attraction and retention tool for top overseas talent.

What are the key differences between the TSS and new SID?

The major differences include:

• Any work with an approved/sponsored employer in the skilled occupation, counts towards permanent residency eligibility, even when changing employers.

• Under the new SID 482 visa, workers can change employers by securing a new nomination and now have up to 180 days (per instance) to find a new sponsor and start employment.

• Employees now have a maximum of 365 days across the entire visa grant period to find a new sponsor, apply for a different visa, or depart Australia.

• Updates to the skilled occupation list with the introduction of the Core Skill Occupation list, with new occupations included and others removed

Workers can still travel in and out of Australia, and the visa includes family members who can work and study.

There are important eligibility criteria that differ across the three streams. Let’s now look at each stream in further detail.

Core Skills stream

This stream targets skilled workers with a salary threshold of $73,150 AUD (from 1 July 2025 $76,515). They:

• Can work in Australia for up to 4 years with a pathway to permanent residency (Hong Kong passport holders can stay up to five years)
• Must have an approved employer sponsor
• Can be any age
• Work in an occupation on the Core Skills Occupation List
• Meet minimum English language proficiency standards unless exempt

You can view all the eligibility requirements for this stream at the Department’s website.

Costs and processing times

• From $3,115.00 AUD
• 50% of visas processed in 43 days (according to government visa processing times)

Specialist Skills stream

This stream is for highly skilled workers, earning at least $135,000 (from 1 July 2025 $141,210). They:

• Can work in Australia for up to 4 years with a pathway to permanent residency (Hong Kong passport holders can stay up to five years)
• Must have an approved employer sponsor
• Can be any age
• Work in an occupation on the ANZSCO Major Group 1, 2, 4, 5 or 6 list, except trades workers, machinery operators and drivers, and labourers
• Meet minimum English language proficiency standards unless exempt

You can view all the eligibility requirements for this stream at the Department’s website.

Costs and processing times

• From $3,115.00 AUD
• 90% of visas processed in 46 days (according to government visa processing times).

Labour Agreement stream

This stream is for workers nominated by employers who have a Labour Agreement (an agreement between the Australian Government and employers). It includes ‘semi-skilled’ occupations in high demand, particularly in regional areas, allowing employers to access occupations that are otherwise not available under the Core Stream.

Employees:

• Can work in Australia for up to 4 years with a pathway to permanent residency (Hong Kong passport holders can stay up to five years)
• Can be any age
• Meet minimum English language proficiency standards unless exempt

Note: Some regional roles have concessions (lower salary thresholds, relaxed English requirements).

You can view all the eligibility requirements for this stream at the Department’s website.

Costs and processing times

• From $3,115.00 AUD
• 50% of visas processed in 44 days (according to government visa processing times)

The new pathway to permanent residency

As usual, as a sponsored employer, you may want to nominate your employee for permanent residency (PR). If so, the PR visa is called the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) subclass 186, and it has three streams:

1. Temporary Residence Transition (TRT)

This is for employees on a Core Skills and Specialist Skills SID visa. They’re now eligible for PR after two years of work with an approved sponsor (cumulative across multiple sponsors). Further eligibility requirements may apply, for example, being under a certain age.

1. Labour Agreement stream

As the name suggests, this is the pathway to PR for those on a Labour Agreement stream SID visa. The work and eligibility requirements are generally the same as those on a Core Skills or Specialist Skills visa, but exceptions can be made in certain circumstances.

• Direct Entry stream

This stream is for employees who have never or only briefly worked in Australia, i.e. do not have a SID visa. The eligibility requirements are quite different, for instance, the employee’s job must be on the Core Skills Occupation List, they must have at least three years of relevant work experience in that occupation at the qualified level, and they require a relevant skills assessment and evidence of English competency.

It’s also encouraging news that any time spent on the former TSS visa now counts toward PR eligibility under the SID visa’s transitional rules, making it that much easier to retain your migrant employees.

What if I have employees on existing Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visas?

Your employee’s TSS visa remains valid until it expires. You can then get them to apply for the new SID visa if they are eligible under the new changes. Alternatively, if they meet the criteria for the ENS subclass 186 TRT, you may wish to nominate them for PR.

Does labour market testing still in apply as part of the SID visa?

Yes. You must still test the local labour market before nominating a worker under the Core Skills or Labour Agreement streams. This involves advertising the role locally in a specified manner for at least 28 days. Exemptions to the labour market testing requirements might apply, but they are assessed on at a case by case basis.

How well is the new SID working?

It’s difficult to provide a definitive answer here as the SID has been in operation for less than six months. However, the Department of Home Affairs recently provided an update at the Immigration Law Conference hosted by the Law Council of Australia.

They stated that from date of its implementation (7 December 2024) up to the end of February 2025, there were 28,239 SID applications lodged and 7,664 finalised. Broken up across the streams, this means:

• Core Skills – 22,050 visas lodged, 5,004 finalised
• Specialist Skills – 3,764 visas lodged, 2,161 finalised
• Labour Agreement – 2,515 visas lodged, 499 finalised

At this event, the Department also shared their Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa backlog significantly improved during this timeframe with a 35.5% decrease (from 51,566 applications in December 2024 to 33,372 in February 2025).

Extra support

That gives you a comprehensive rundown of the SID visa, a mechanism that can help you secure the overseas talent you need. While it covers most of the major points, the road to getting an employer-sponsored visas can have numerous bumps, curves and sometimes even roadblocks. Unfortunately, the Australian immigration system isn’t the easiest to navigate!

Here at Migration Ways, we aim to remove as many impediments as possible on this road, making the journey a lot smoother. We have a team of registered migration specialists well versed in the SID and associated visas, and have helped countless companies secure visas for overseas employees. Contact us to find out more about how we can help you too.