For Australian employers who cannot fill a role
Watch this before you sponsor anyone.
In 30 minutes a registered migration agent assesses your business against every employer sponsored pathway, the 482, the 186, the 494, the 407, and the regional and industry agreements beyond them, then tells you which one you can actually use, what it will cost and how long it will take.
A strategy call about your workforce, not a sales call. You leave knowing which pathway is open to your business, what it costs, and how it fits your hiring plan for the next few years.
MARN 1800859
Registered Migration Agents
8+ years
As a Registered Migration Agent
1,000+
Applications lodged
300+
Five star Google reviews
482 / 186 / 494
All pathways assessed
Australia wide
Metro and regional
Any size
Family business to $100m turnover
★★★★★
"I had a great experience working with Nationwide Migration and Education on my Subclass 482 visa. They were professional, knowledgeable, and clear throughout the process. Communication was timely, and everything was handled efficiently. Thanks to their expertise, my visa was successfully approved. I highly recommend their services for visa and immigration matters."
★★★★★
"Thank you so much to Suman and the team for supporting me in successfully obtaining my SC 482 visa. I highly recommend Nationwide Migration to anyone looking for expert advice on work visas. They guided me professionally throughout the entire process, starting from my skills assessment. The journey was hassle-free, and I couldn't have done it without you. Highly recommended!"
★★★★★
"I'm incredibly grateful to Nationwide Migration for their outstanding support throughout my 482 visa process. From the initial consultation to the final grant notice, their team was consistently professional, responsive, and thorough. Their expertise and dedication truly made a difference."
Reviews are published as the client wrote them, shortened only for length. Every application is decided by the Department of Home Affairs on its own facts, and no outcome can be guaranteed.
Recent grants
Four real files: a 186, a 494 and two 482s. Tap any notice to see it full size.
Subclass 186 · Granted
Subclass 494 · Granted
Subclass 482 · Granted
ANZSCO 421111
Subclass 482 · Granted
These are past outcomes for individual clients. Every application is decided by the Department of Home Affairs on its own facts. Processing times are set by the Department, they vary case by case, and no registered migration agent can influence, prioritise or speed them up. Nothing here predicts your result and no outcome can be guaranteed.
How it works
No guesswork and no surprises. Here is exactly what happens, in order.
Thirty minutes, AU$150, booked and paid online. Bring the role, the location and the person if you have one.
Your business, the position and the candidate checked against the 482, the 186, the 494, the 407, and any regional or industry agreement that could apply.
The pathway, the eligibility gaps, the government charges including the training levy, a realistic timeline and our fee.
Sponsorship, nomination and visa application, the advertising you are required to run, the contracts and the evidence. You keep running your business.
Every sponsorship, nomination and visa decision is made by the Department of Home Affairs on the evidence in front of it. Processing times are theirs, they vary case by case, and no registered migration agent can influence, prioritise or speed them up. What we control is that your case is put together properly the first time.
The real cost of the vacancy
Most employers come to us after they have already spent months and thousands of dollars trying to solve this the ordinary way.
You have advertised repeatedly. The qualified people are not applying, and the ones who do have three other offers. This is not going to fix itself next quarter.
Agency fees, job board spend, your own time in interviews, then the induction, then it happens again. Employers routinely spend more on repeat recruitment than a sponsorship would have cost.
Filling the role is only half of it. A sponsored employee is building a life and often a permanent residence pathway around your business. That is a very different level of commitment to a candidate who leaves for fifty cents an hour.
While the role sits empty your existing team covers it. You knock back work, you burn out the people who stayed, and the vacancy quietly costs you more than the salary would have.
Sponsorship is not the hard part. Knowing which pathway your business qualifies for, before you spend anything, is what makes it straightforward.
Situation one
They are on a student, graduate or working holiday visa, they are good, and their visa is running out. You want to keep them. This is the most common call we take, and it is usually the most straightforward, provided it starts early enough. Timing is the whole game here.
Situation two
You advertised, and the best applicant is not in Australia. You would take them tomorrow if you knew how the visa side worked. You do not need to work it out. That is our job, and we do it every day.
Your business does not have to be an approved sponsor already. The Department's own words are that any legally established and operating business can apply to be a sponsor. Almost every employer we act for is sponsoring for the first time. Becoming a sponsor is the first step of the process, not a barrier standing in front of it.
Source: Department of Home Affairs, learn about sponsoring, immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, checked 7 September 2026.
The pathways
Most employers arrive certain they need a 482. Often they do. Just as often the position is better placed on a 186 or a 494, or on an agreement nobody has ever mentioned to them.
| Compare | 482Skills in DemandTemporary | 186Employer Nomination SchemePermanent | 494Skilled Employer Sponsored RegionalRegional, 5 years | 407Training visaTraining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You get | Live and work for the sponsoring employer, with family | Permanent residence from the day it is granted | 5 years living, working and studying in a designated regional area | Workplace based training. This is not a work visa |
| How long | Up to 4 years. Up to 5 years for a Hong Kong passport holder | Permanent | 5 years | Up to 2 years may be granted |
| Age | The published criteria do not include an age requirement | Under 45 for Direct Entry, unless exempt | Under 45, unless an exemption applies | Check the current criteria |
| Experience | At least 1 year in the occupation or a related field | 3 years for Direct Entry, or about 2 years sponsored work for the transition route | At least 3 years in the occupation | Not an experience based visa |
| Occupation list | Must be on the list the stream uses. Core Skills uses the Core Skills Occupation List | Core Skills Occupation List for Direct Entry | On the relevant list, with a skills assessment unless exempt | The training has to match the job, the study or the field |
| Watch out for | Work only for the sponsor, and only in the nominated occupation | Higher English than the 482. For the transition route the nomination must be approved in the 6 months before lodging | Live and work only in the region for the 5 years | Refused when the training plan does not hold up. Not a shortcut into a work visa |
| Then what | May lead to permanent residence later, if eligible | Already permanent. Citizenship later if eligible | Permanent residence 3 years after grant, through the subclass 191 | Not a pathway to permanent residence |
Swipe the table sideways on a phone
Which one applies to you is decided by your location, your turnover, the occupation and the person. That is what the consultation is for. And if none of the four fit, the conversation does not stop there.
A DAMA is an agreement between the Government and a specific region. It opens occupations the standard lists leave out, and many carry concessions on age, English or salary for particular roles. What is available differs by region and occupation, so it has to be checked against your actual location and position.
Where the standard program cannot serve your industry, a labour agreement is negotiated directly with the Department for your business. It can unlock occupations and concessions that are otherwise unavailable. We prepare and negotiate these, so if that is the route your business needs, it is one we can actually run rather than refer away.
Some occupations require a formal skills assessment, some do not, and there are exemptions. The assessing authority differs by occupation, and trade licensing adds another layer in several states. We tell you what your candidate actually needs before anyone pays for the wrong assessment.
Labour agreements. They generally run five years, they use the 482, 186 and 494 programs, and there is no cost to request the agreement itself. A business on an agreement can only nominate for the occupations named in it.
DAMA concessions. The easier rules are set occupation by occupation, not across the board, so two roles on the same regional list can have completely different concessions and some have none at all. Your region's own representative body has to endorse your business before you approach the Department.
Source: Department of Home Affairs labour agreements and DAMA pages, immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, checked 7 September 2026.
How it runs
This is not one application. It is three, each can be refused on its own, and a problem found at step one costs far less than the same problem found at step three.
STEP 01
You become an approved sponsor. Or, if a labour agreement or a regional DAMA suits your business better, we set that up instead.
STEP 02
You nominate the actual role, with the occupation, the salary evidence, the advertising you had to run and the documents the Department asks for.
STEP 03
Your candidate applies for the visa itself. Work history, skills assessment, English, health and character.
For most 482 Core Skills, 482 Specialist Skills and 494 Employer Sponsored nominations, the Department requires this before you lodge:
Exemptions exist, including under Australia's international trade obligations, and a small number of occupations are exempt. Getting this stage wrong is one of the most common reasons a nomination is refused. We set the advertising up so that it counts, rather than hoping it does.
Source: Department of Home Affairs, labour market testing page, immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, checked 7 September 2026.
If the person you want to keep is already working for you, the options narrow every week their current visa gets closer to expiry, and some of them close entirely once it does. If you are inside six months, this is the week to have the conversation, not next quarter.
What working with us looks like
The visa process has three approvals. Working with us has three steps. This is the second one, so you know what you are buying and where it ends.
STEP 01
Thirty minutes, AU$150, booked and paid online. No back and forth. Bring the role, the location and the person if you have one. We assess your business against all four pathways and tell you which are open to you and which are not.
STEP 02
After the call you receive a written summary: the pathway, the eligibility gaps, the government charges, a realistic timeline and our fee. You decide with the numbers in front of you, not from memory of a phone call.
STEP 03
Sponsorship, nomination and visa application, including the advertising you are required to run, the contracts and the evidence. You keep running your business. We deal with the Department.
Book your strategy consultation
Not just a visa question. A conversation about how you fill this role, keep the person, and stop repeating the same recruitment cycle next year. Pick a time, pay online and you are booked. Bring the role, the location and the candidate if you have one.
Thirty minutes with a Registered Migration Agent, not a salesperson.
Your business, the position and the candidate assessed against the 482, the 186, the 494 and the 407, and any regional or industry agreement that could apply.
A workforce view, not just a visa answer: what this does for retention and what your next two or three hires should look like.
The realistic pathway, the eligibility gaps, and what it would take to close them.
Government charges and a fee quote you can budget against.
A written summary of the call, sent to you afterwards.
A frank view of how your matter is actually looking, including the risks and the weak points, before you spend anything.
A firm with a team of Registered Migration Agents behind it, so the work does not stall when one person is unavailable.
If we cannot tell you something you can act on in those 30 minutes, tell us on the call and we will refund the AU$150. We have no interest in keeping money from a conversation that did not help you.
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Payment secures your time. Reschedule free with 24 hours notice. With your confirmation you receive a receipt, a copy of the OMARA Consumer Guide and our refund policy. Your consultation is with Suman Dua, Registered Migration Agent, MARN 1800859. If your business sits in a region covered by a Designated Area Migration Agreement, say so when you book and we will cover it on the call.
Be honest with yourself
The firm behind the consultation
Nationwide Migration and Education is led by a Registered Migration Agent registered since 2018, with a team of Registered Migration Agents behind them. When you engage us you get a firm with capacity, not a single adviser you cannot reach in July.
Several Registered Migration Agents and a support team, so your matter keeps moving when one person is on a file, in a hearing or on leave.
Our principal has been a Registered Migration Agent since 2018 and the firm has lodged more than a thousand applications across employer sponsored, skilled, family and student work. Employer sponsorship is our core practice area.
We act for the businesses and for the workers, so we see how a sponsorship actually plays out for both. The advice is practical rather than theoretical.
Sponsorship, nomination, visa, and the harder work most firms refer out: labour agreements, DAMA applications and review matters.
Your consultation is with Suman Dua
Principal Migration Agent · MARN 1800859 · Nationwide Migration and Education
Suman leads the firm's employer sponsored practice and takes the consultations personally. Employer sponsorship is what this practice does every working day: the sponsorships, the nominations, the labour agreements and the awkward cases in between.
TEDx speaker on migration
Featured in Forbes Australia
Interviewed by ABC News
Contributor, SBS Radio
Registered with the OMARA
Leads a team of Registered Migration Agents
Our registration is on the public register and you are welcome to check it before you book. We would encourage you to check anyone you are thinking of paying.
Suman was featured in
We act for employers as well as workers, so we see both sides of every sponsorship.
Our office is in Brisbane and we act for businesses across Australia, metropolitan and regional.
Every fee is quoted in writing before you engage us.
We do not take money for applications that cannot succeed.
We do not find or arrange workers for you. We are migration agents, not a recruitment agency.
If we think a pathway is not realistic, we say so rather than lodge something that cannot succeed.
Where we act for both your business and the worker, we put the conflict of interest to each side in writing first.
Straight answers
Tap a question to open the answer
No. This is the most common misconception we hear. The Department says any legally established and operating business can apply to be a sponsor. Becoming one is the first step of the process, and almost every employer we act for is sponsoring for the first time.
Because it is advice, not a sales call. You get thirty minutes with a registered migration agent who assesses your business and your candidate against four different visas, plus the agreements beyond them, and a written summary afterwards. You leave with an answer you can act on, whether or not you go any further with us.
No. What matters is that the business is lawfully operating, the position is genuine and full time, and you can show the financial capacity to pay the salary for the period of the nomination. Size is not the test.
Two separate costs. The Government's charges, which include the sponsorship, the nomination, the Skilling Australians Fund levy and the visa fee. And our professional fee.
The levy alone runs into the thousands and depends on your turnover and how many years you nominate the position for. Some of these costs are the sponsor's by law and cannot be recovered from the worker. You get every number in writing after the consultation, before you commit to anything further.
For the 482 and the 494, usually yes. The Department generally requires two advertisements, each running at least four weeks, within the four months before the nomination is lodged, with specific content requirements. Getting this wrong is one of the most common reasons a nomination fails. There are exemptions, including under Australia's international trade obligations. We set it up so it counts.
Often yes. The Department says you can sponsor a skilled worker who is living overseas, living in Australia on a visa that does not allow work, or already living and working here on another visa. That includes people on student, graduate and working holiday visas. Their current visa and its conditions change the timing and sometimes the options, so bring their visa details to the call.
It depends on the subclass, the occupation and whether your business is already an approved or accredited sponsor. The Department publishes current processing times for each visa and those figures move constantly. We give you a realistic range on the call rather than a number that flatters us. No migration agent can influence, prioritise or speed up how long the Department takes.
Paying the nominated salary, keeping the person in the nominated occupation and position, keeping records, notifying the Department of certain changes, covering the costs that are legally yours, and cooperating with monitoring. Some obligations continue after the person stops working for you. They are manageable, and we set them out in plain English at the start rather than after something goes wrong.
You are not tied to one person forever, and there are obligations running both ways. There are also rules about which costs are the sponsor's by law and cannot be passed on to or recovered from the worker. We explain exactly what you are committing to before you sign anything.
Not necessarily. The 494 uses a different occupation list to the 482, and where nothing fits there may be a labour agreement or a Designated Area Migration Agreement covering your industry or your region. The Department itself says that if the occupation you need is not on the list of eligible skilled occupations, you might be able to negotiate a labour agreement. We check all of it before telling you no.
Compare it honestly against what you are already spending: agency fees, job board spend, your own time, induction, and the cost of the role sitting empty in the meantime. Sponsorship is a real cost and we will not pretend otherwise. What it buys you is a one off cost attached to someone who has a strong reason to stay. We will put both sets of numbers in front of you on the call.
A sponsored employee is building their working life, and often a permanent residence pathway, around your business. That is a different level of commitment to someone weighing up an extra dollar an hour elsewhere. It is not a guarantee that anyone stays, and there are obligations on you as well, which we explain in full before you commit.
No. We are migration agents, not a recruitment agency. We do not find, provide or arrange workers or sponsors. An employer sponsored visa needs a genuine job offer and a real candidate. Our role is the sponsorship, the nomination and the visa.
No. No migration agent can guarantee a visa outcome or a processing time. All sponsorship, nomination and visa decisions are made solely by the Department of Home Affairs. What we can do is prepare each stage carefully, make sure the evidence answers what the Department actually asks for, and tell you honestly if we think a pathway is not realistic.
Answers reflect Department of Home Affairs information checked on 7 September 2026. Occupation lists, income thresholds, sponsor obligations and processing times change without notice. Always check the current position at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au.
Ready to start
Bring the role, the location and the person if you have one. You will finish the call knowing which pathway is open to your business, what it will cost and what happens next. If none of them are viable, we will say so plainly rather than sell you an application that cannot succeed.
Book my 30 minute consultationRather talk first? Call +61 7 3726 5183 or message us on WhatsApp.
