How to Become a Standard Business Sponsor for a 482 Visa
A2MS 482 Knowledge Centre · Stage 1 of 4
Can my business sponsor a worker?
If you want to hire someone on a Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), first check whether the business that will employ them already holds sponsorship approval. Look at the legal name and expiry date on the approval letter. A café, clinic or franchise may trade under a different name from the company that employs its staff.
If this is your first application, start with the documents below. Home Affairs assesses the business at this stage. The job and the worker are assessed separately.
What should you do first?
- First-time sponsor? Identify the employer and collect records that show it is trading. Apply for standard business sponsorship through ImmiAccount. The application charge is AUD 420 and approval generally lasts five years. Check the current fee and application steps with Home Affairs.
- Already approved? Compare the approval letter with the entity on the proposed employment contract. If they match and approval is current, check whether you need to advertise the role before lodging a nomination.
- Using a labour agreement? Start with your signed agreement and check the occupations and conditions it covers.
1. Which business should apply?
A company, sole trader, partnership or trustee may have a different legal identity from the public-facing business name. The sponsor named on the application should be the legal person that meets the requirements. A trust itself is not a legal person for SBS approval purposes; the trustee applies. A registered business name is also not a separate legal person.
Review the legal name, ACN/ABN/ARBN, business-name registration, relevant trust deed or partnership documents, and who actually operates and employs staff. These differences become critical when the sponsor later signs employment contracts.
2. What shows that your business is trading?
Under regulation 2.59, the business must be lawfully operating. Registration alone does not establish actual operations. Equally, the policy does not impose an automatic minimum trading age or turnover as a universal SBS eligibility threshold. A new business may establish real operations using suitable evidence.
Useful evidence can include transaction-bearing bank statements, premises leases, supplier and customer contracts, payroll, actual trading invoices, BAS, tax returns, financial statements and business plans. A recently established company may have fewer historical records, so the evidence should explain what has actually commenced rather than projecting trading as if it had already happened.
3. What will Home Affairs ask about your hiring record?
An Australian business ordinarily attests to a strong record of, or commitment to, employing local labour and declares that it will not use discriminatory recruitment practices. The Department also considers adverse information about the applicant and associated persons, including relevant sponsorship or employment-law conduct.
Approval as an SBS does not mean the later labour market testing, market salary, genuine-position, employee-skills or visa checks are automatically satisfied. A sponsor should also understand the ongoing obligations to keep records, notify events, cooperate with inspectors and meet sponsored worker employment standards.
4. What if your business is overseas or uses a labour agreement?
An overseas business that is lawfully operating abroad may be eligible in defined circumstances, for example to establish a connected Australian operation or fulfil an Australian contractual obligation. This requires documentary support; overseas registration alone is not enough. Employers operating under a Labour Agreement follow the agreement-based sponsorship route rather than applying for a standard SBS for that stream.
Accreditation is an additional category available to qualifying SBS businesses and may provide priority processing; it is not necessary for every employer to sponsor a worker. The published criteria should be checked before claiming accredited status.
5. Which costs does the employer pay?
The published standard SBS application charge is AUD 420 as at this review. Nomination fees, the SAF levy and other employer-side expenses are separate. Home Affairs expressly states that sponsorship and nomination-related costs must not be passed to a sponsored worker or family.
Consider who will sign the contract, who will employ the person, where they will work and whether the business can continue to fulfil sponsor obligations. These questions should be resolved before moving to LMT and nomination.
Documents to gather before you apply
Documents depend on the employer, occupation and stream. Use the following to prepare questions and gaps, not as an automatic eligibility decision.
- ASIC/ABR record, correct legal entity and business names
- Trust deed, trustee identification, partnership or franchise agreement (if applicable)
- Recent evidence of actual business operation, not just forecasts
- Trading financials, BAS/tax records or startup contracts appropriate to age of business
- Employment structure, workforce details and local-labour attestation
- Any prior sponsorship outcomes and relevant adverse information explanation
Typical situations worth assessing
A recently launched employer
A startup with a genuine lease, trading invoices and bank movements may establish lawful operations even without a full year of accounts. It still must show an actually operating business.
Business conducted through a trust
The trustee, not the trust's trading name, applies. Check the trust deed, trustee identity, trust ABN and relevant registrations.
Owner wishes to be the sponsored worker
A sole trader cannot enter an employment contract with themselves. A separate company nominating its director is a different question, with genuine-position and employment-relationship scrutiny at nomination.
Overseas firm opening in Australia
A realistic expansion plan, contract or joint venture can matter; the evidence must support the permitted overseas-sponsor purpose.
These are hypothetical education scenarios, not statements about A2MS client matters or predictions of decisions.
Buying a business or changing its structure
“We bought a café. Does its sponsorship come with it?” Start with the sale agreement. If a new company bought the café’s assets and now pays the staff, the shopfront, staff and trading name may all look the same while the legal employer has changed. Compare the old and new legal names, ABNs, employment contracts and payroll records. Before transferring a sponsored employee, check whether the buyer needs its own sponsorship and nomination, what the seller must report, and when the worker can start.
If only the shares changed hands, the employing company may still be the same entity. Check its ACN and the approval letter, then assess notification obligations and changes to directors or control. At a franchise, check who signs the contracts and runs payroll: the franchisee and the brand owner may be different companies.
What if a director’s previous business had a workplace finding?
Identify the business, the director’s role, what the regulator found and the outcome. Collect the decision, repayment records and evidence of changes to payroll or recruitment. Explain how those facts relate to the proposed sponsor. Disclosure gives the Department evidence to assess; it does not guarantee approval.
Which approval has changed?
- SBS expiry: read the end date and list pending nominations before planning renewal.
- Loss of accreditation: check the notice for the effect on accredited processing and check the underlying SBS approval separately.
- Refusal, cancellation or a bar: read the reasons, effective date and any review instructions. Check each affected nomination and worker separately.
If you paid the SBS application fee twice following a departmental mistake, keep both receipts and the Department’s correspondence. Ask for consideration of a sponsorship-fee refund on the applicable ground. A nomination fee or Skilling Australians Fund levy is a separate payment with separate refund rules. Compare the nomination refund examples.
Before you accept a sponsored job offer
- Identify the employer. Ask for the legal business name and ABN on the proposed contract. A shopfront, franchise or recruitment agency may use a different name from the business that will sponsor you.
- Search the Australian Border Force Register of Sanctioned Sponsors using the legal name. If you find a match, check the action, its dates and any review note. Ask the employer how the entry affects this nomination before you accept the offer or resign from your current job.
- Confirm the offer separately. The register covers published sanctions for breaches since 18 March 2015 and is updated monthly. A search can miss a recent sanction. Ask the employer to confirm its sponsorship status and who will nominate you for this particular job.
What if the employer appears on an “accredited sponsors” list?
The Home Affairs list released under FOI records accredited sponsors as at 15 January 2025. It can help you recognise a legal business name when researching employers. To establish whether a business is recruiting now, check its own careers page and confirm the vacancy and sponsorship directly. An employer missing from that historical list may still be an approved standard business sponsor.
Still looking for a role? See how to find and approach employers about sponsorship.
Frequently asked questions — Stage 1
Answers are general and depend on the stream, application date and individual evidence.
Do casual workers count towards the 85% accreditation threshold?
For category 3 accreditation, count employees in the Australian workforce, including part-time and casual employees, and identify which qualify as Australian workers. Keep payroll and status records for the calculation. The percentage is only one of the accreditation criteria.
Our sponsorship was refused while the nomination is pending. Do we have to start again?
Check the nomination status first. If the same employer obtains a new sponsorship approval while the nomination is still pending, give Home Affairs the new approval and both application references and ask it to check the link. A pending sponsorship is not an approval. A nomination that has already been decided needs separate advice.
Can an embassy use standard business sponsorship?
A foreign mission should check the pathway for the individual role before offering sponsorship. The Department has advised that missions generally do not meet standard business sponsorship criteria. Some foreign government roles have a specific subclass 403 pathway. Eligibility depends on the duties and diplomatic or consular status.
Who is covered when we sponsor a worker under a labour agreement?
The sponsorship rules expressly include Skills in Demand visa holders in the definitions for both the main worker and qualifying family members. This applies even if the visa was granted before 29 November 2025. Check each obligation separately: who is covered depends on the obligation and the circumstances.
Does a trip overseas on a Bridging B visa end our obligation to pay return travel costs?
Departure alone is not enough under this rule. It applies where the main sponsored worker’s last substantive visa was a Skills in Demand visa, the worker leaves Australia holding a Bridging B visa (subclass 020), and that bridging visa subsequently ceases. Check the visa and travel records before treating the obligation as ended. See the 2025 skilled visa amendments.
Can a new company apply for SBS without 12 months of trading?
Yes, a new business can apply. Show what the business is doing now. For example, provide signed customer contracts, invoices and bank records showing the payments. Explain any short trading history and which entity actually employs the staff.
Does an ABN automatically make a business eligible?
No. An ABN helps identify an entity but does not by itself show lawful and actual business operations, nor resolve trust/trustee identity.
Can a family trust be a Standard Business Sponsor?
The trust itself is not a separate legal person. The trustee—who may be a company or individual—must be correctly identified as the sponsorship applicant, with supporting trust documentation.
Can a business sponsor its owner or director?
This depends on the legal structure. A sole trader cannot employ themselves under a contract with themselves; a separate corporation may nominate an associated individual, but the position, contract and genuine-purpose requirements need close assessment at Stage 3.
Is a minimum annual turnover required for ordinary SBS approval?
The SBS policy does not set one universal turnover minimum as a separate criterion. Financial capacity becomes important for nomination and may be relevant evidence of business operations.
How long does SBS approval last?
Approval is generally for five years. Check the end date on your approval letter. If you plan to keep sponsoring workers, check renewal arrangements before that date, including what happens to any pending nominations.
If SBS is approved, is a 482 visa guaranteed?
No. Labour market testing, occupation and nomination criteria, and then the individual visa criteria, are distinct matters.
Can the employer charge SBS or nomination costs to the worker?
The employer pays the sponsorship application fee, nomination fee and applicable Skilling Australians Fund levy. Do not recover these from the worker or their family through an invoice, a wage deduction or a repayment clause.
Our café trades under a brand name. Which name goes on the application?
Start with the legal entity operating the café. Compare its ABN record with the lease, payroll and employment contracts. A brand name alone does not identify the employer. If a trustee operates the business, identify the trustee and provide the relevant trust documents.
Can an overseas business apply before opening an Australian office?
An overseas business may qualify to establish an Australian operation or to fulfil a contractual obligation in Australia. Show that the overseas business is operating and provide evidence of the Australian plan or contract. Registration overseas alone does not establish eligibility.
Need advice about your actual circumstances?
These articles explain the legal framework and procedural issues; they do not determine eligibility or predict the Department’s decision. Migration and visa advice is provided by Sunil Choudhary, Registered Migration Agent (MARN 2418425).
Sources, policy vintage and legal reference
Research basis: Department of Home Affairs Procedural Instruction VM-5232 · LEGEND 7 December 2024, provided to A2MS. Departmental policy is guidance, not legislation. The older policy version is checked against the operative Act, Regulations and Home Affairs public guidance; current instruments and application-date rules prevail. Last editorial review: 7 November 2026.
