Standard Business Sponsorship: How to Become an Approved Sponsor in 2026

Standard business sponsorship is the Home Affairs approval a business needs before it can sponsor a worker on a Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) or a regional 494 visa. It costs $420, lasts five years and covers any number of nominations in that time. It is not needed for the permanent 186 visa.

To be approved, the business must be lawfully operating and free of adverse information. An Australian business must also attest in writing that it employs local labour and will not recruit in a discriminatory way. There is no minimum turnover, headcount or years-in-business test.

Which visas need standard business sponsorship?

Two: the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa (subclass 494). For both, the sponsorship is the first of three applications, followed by the nomination (the employer’s application for the position) and the worker’s visa application. All three can be lodged on the same day.

The permanent Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186) has no sponsorship step. The employer lodges a nomination directly, and it is assessed on its own criteria.

Who can be approved as a standard business sponsor?

Home Affairs applies four tests, and every applicant business is measured against the same four:

• Lawfully operating — the business is legally established and currently trading, in Australia or overseas. An ABN or ASIC extract proves the first part; bank statements, BAS returns or financial statements prove the second.
• No adverse information — Home Affairs knows nothing about the business, or anyone associated with it, that makes it unsuitable to sponsor, or what it knows is reasonable to disregard. Past sponsorship sanctions, workplace-law breaches and insolvency events are the usual concerns.
• Local labour attestation — a business in Australia must attest in writing that it has a strong record of, or a demonstrated commitment to, employing local labour. This is a signed statement in the form, not a document to attach.
• Non-discriminatory recruitment — the same business must declare in writing that it will not recruit in a way that discriminates on citizenship or visa status.

An overseas business with no Australian operation can also be approved, but only to bring in a 482 holder who will set up its Australian branch or fulfil a contract here. A sole trader, partnership, trust or company can all apply. A trust applies in the trustee’s name.

What does standard business sponsorship cost?

The sponsorship application charge is $420, paid once for the five-year approval. The costs that follow attach to each nomination, not to the sponsorship.

Every figure in the table is a cost the sponsor must pay itself. Sponsor obligations prohibit recovering the sponsorship charge, the nomination charge, the levy or the agent’s fees for those applications from the worker. The worker’s own 482 visa charge of $4,015 is different: the law does not fix who pays it.

How do you apply for standard business sponsorship?

The application is lodged online in ImmiAccount and takes six steps:

1. Prove legal establishment — an ABN certificate for an Australian business, an ARBN certificate for an overseas business registered here, or the overseas registration for a business with no Australian presence. Companies add an ASIC extract; trusts add the trust deed’s signature and parties pages.
2. Prove it is currently operating — an established business may attach its most recent profit and loss statement and annual report. A small business may attach BAS returns for the last four quarters, or bank statements. A new business may attach a business plan with client contracts and bank statements for the period it has traded.
3. Sign the two attestations — the local-labour attestation and the non-discriminatory recruitment declaration are completed inside the form.
4. Decide on accreditation — the same form asks whether you want accredited status. It costs nothing extra and is covered below.
5. Lodge and pay — submit the form, attach the documents and pay the $420. Home Affairs does not start processing until the charge is paid.
6. Keep the transaction reference — the nomination form asks for it, and the sponsorship’s expiry date later appears in ImmiAccount under this application.

A business that has changed structure since it was last approved, from a sole trader to a company for example, is a new legal entity. It applies afresh, and every existing 482 or 494 worker needs a new nomination lodged by the new entity, or they will be working outside their visa conditions.

How long does approval take, and how long does it last?

Home Affairs’ processing guide shows half of 482 sponsorship applications decided within 24 days and 90 per cent within four months (checked 14 September 2026). In our practice the difference is completeness: clean financials are decided in weeks, and a missing document is what turns weeks into months.

Approval lasts five years from the day it is granted (regulation 2.63A). Home Affairs suggests renewing about two months before expiry. A renewal approved while the current approval is still running starts when that one ends, but still ceases five years from the day it was granted. Applying very early shortens the second term.

What do you sign up to as a sponsor?

Approval brings sponsor obligations, set out in regulations 2.78 to 2.87. They run for set periods, some of which continue after the worker leaves or the sponsorship expires:

• Tell Home Affairs of changes — within 28 days: a worker’s employment ending or changing duties, a change of legal or trading name, a new director, insolvency, or the business ceasing to exist. This runs until two years after the sponsorship ends and no sponsored worker is employed.
• Nominated occupation only — a different role needs a new nomination, and for 482 and 494 holders a new visa.
• Salary and conditions — earnings must stay at least what the approved nomination stated, and conditions no less favourable than an Australian doing the same work. The annual market salary rate is the benchmark.
• Keep and produce records — in a reproducible form, including pay records and the records showing how the position was recruited.
• Pay the return travel — economy airfare home for the worker and sponsored family, within 30 days of a written request from the worker or Home Affairs, once only.
• Cover removal costs — if a sponsored person becomes unlawful, up to $10,000 of the Commonwealth’s cost of locating and removing them, less any travel already paid. This runs until five years after they leave.
• Cooperate with inspectors — Australian Border Force inspectors can enter premises and ask for documents.

A breach can bring a bar on further sponsorship, cancellation of the approval, an infringement notice of up to $79,200 per breach for a company, or a court-ordered penalty of up to $396,000. Those are the maximums; Home Affairs also uses warnings and enforceable undertakings where it considers a breach fixable.

Should you apply for accredited status at the same time?

Yes, if the business fits one of the six categories, because there is no extra charge and accreditation runs for the life of the sponsorship. Priority processing is no longer the reason to apply: Direction 119 gave accredited sponsors no place in the queue, and the directions that replaced it on 19 September 2026 (Directions 121 and 122) do not cover nominations at all. Accreditation is requested in the same form, or at renewal.

The six categories are:

• Government agencies — Commonwealth, state and territory departments and agencies with at least 75 per cent Australian workers.
• Australian Trusted Traders — with at least 75 per cent Australian workers.
• Low volume, 85 per cent Australian — turnover of at least $4 million for two years, at least one approved 482 nomination in the last two years, more than 97 per cent of nominations approved, and at least a year as a standard business sponsor.
• High volume, 75 per cent Australian — at least ten approved nominations in the last two years and more than 97 per cent of nominations approved.
• Major investors — at least $50 million invested in Australia that has directly created Australian jobs.
• STEM start-ups — operating in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics field and funded by venture capital within the last two years.

The categories share two further conditions: no adverse monitoring outcomes, and pay set by an enterprise agreement or a salary table that reflects market rates. A first-time applicant rarely fits the volume categories, which need a year as a sponsor first, so accreditation is more often added at renewal.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need standard business sponsorship to sponsor someone for a 186 visa?

No. The 186 nomination is lodged on its own and has no sponsorship step. Standard business sponsorship is required only for the 482 and 494. An employer moving a 482 worker to the 186 lodges a 186 nomination, and the existing sponsorship plays no part in it.

Can a new business be approved as a standard business sponsor?

Yes. Regulation 2.59 requires a lawfully operating business, not one of a particular age. A new business attaches a business plan, client contracts and bank statements for the period it has traded, and its approval lasts the same five years. The nomination is where a new business is tested harder.

How much does standard business sponsorship cost in total?

The sponsorship itself is $420. Each 482 nomination then costs $330 plus the Skilling Australians Fund levy of $1,200 or $1,800 for each year of the visa, and the worker’s visa charge is $4,015. For a two-year 482 in a business under $10 million turnover, the government charges total $7,165 before any professional fee.

What happens if the sponsorship is refused?

Home Affairs must give written reasons. A refusal for insufficient evidence of trading is fixed by reapplying with the missing documents and a new $420 charge; a refusal on adverse information needs the matter explained or resolved first. Any nomination lodged alongside falls with it.