Posted December 13 2024
By Alasdair Spinner
Greetings.
On 7th December the Aussie government replaced the 482 business visa (Temporary Skill Shortage TSS 482) with the new Skills in Demand (SID) 482 visa.
If you are a medical specialist these are the main takeaways of the new visa:
Psychiatrists, anaesthetists, emergency medicine, physicians, radiologists, pathologists, obstetricians and gynaecologists etc. are eligible for this visa , being listed as Level 1 occupations. All specialties are included in Level 1.
All medical specialists meet the minimum salary requirement of the new SID 482.
This will be the visa the vast majority of medical specialists and their families will be on when they enter Australia. It is a visa which is sponsored by the employer and which the specialist's family will also be on. The specialist's partner or spouse will have full work entitlements on this new SID visa.
As with the previous version of this visa, the SID visa will have a pathway to permanent residence through the the Temporary Residence Transition Stream of the Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme , after 2 years of employment in Australia in the 3 years immediately before the application.
Interestingly, greater flexibility will be applied for a member of the family unit who is aged 23 years old and above to be included in, and granted, the Subclass 186 visa with the primary applicant if at the time of the Subclass 186 visa application:
"the family member is included in the application for the Subclass 186 visa application visa; and
the person holds a Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) visa granted on the basis that the person was a member of the family unit of a person holding a visa of the same kind."
Naturally, the Australian government has used the announcement of this new visa to increase visa application fees. They are:
Main applicant: A$3,115.
Per secondary applicant 18 and over: A$3,115.
Per secondary applicant under 18 : A$780
What if I have applied on the 482 subclass visa before 7th December ?
The Australian government confirmed that the changes don't operate retrospectively. All nominations and visa applications for the TSS visa made before the commencement of the amendments will be processed using the requirements that were in force at the time that the application was made.
Where there is a lodged position nomination application for a TSS visa that was not accompanied by a corresponding TSS visa application before the amendments commenced, this nomination can be ‘linked’ to a new SID visa application (provided the nomination is still valid).
Sources:
https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/skills-in-demand-visa-subclass-482
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/classifications/anzsco-australian-and-new-zealand-standard-classification-occupations/2022