Corporate Migration Lawyers
The My Migration Lawyers Difference
Affordable fees
Competitive professional fees make experienced legal representation more accessible.
Instalment payment options
Pay professional fees in manageable instalments throughout your matter.
Experienced lawyers
Experienced representation for visa applications, refusals, cancellations and judicial reviews.
Complex matter capability
Experienced representation when complications, refusals, cancellations or judicial reviews arise.
Two-day
cooling-off period
You receive a two-business-day cooling-off period after signing the costs agreement.
Where an occupation, a salary or a workforce model does not fit the standard settings, a labour agreement or a Designated Area Migration Agreement can create the concessions that make the hire possible.
Corporate Migration Services
Six areas, and most employers need several of them at once. A single sponsorship approval is straightforward enough. A workforce program running across multiple sites, occupations and states, with the compliance obligations that attach to every one of those visas, is a different exercise entirely.
Standard Business
Sponsorship
Skills in Demand
Nominations
Labour
Agreements
DAMAs and Regional
Workforce
Permanent Residence
Pathways
Sponsorship
Compliance
The Three Skills in Demand Streams Compared
Stream selection is the first commercial decision on any nomination and it drives cost, timing and eligibility. The Specialist Skills stream is dramatically faster but capped and closed to trades. The Labour Agreement stream unlocks occupations and concessions the other two cannot reach at all.
Skills in Demand subclass 482 streams, current from 1 July 2026
Talk to Our Corporate Team
When Does a Labour Agreement Make Sense
When the standard settings do not fit your workforce. The occupation is not on the Core Skills Occupation List, the market rate for the role sits below the income threshold, the English or work experience requirements exclude the people you can actually recruit, or you need volume across an extended period on terms a standard nomination cannot deliver.
Core Skills threshold
79,499
Specialist threshold
$146,717
Sponsorship approval
5
Negotiation takes time and it is evidence driven. The Department expects a demonstrated labour market need, genuine domestic recruitment effort, and a case that the concessions sought are necessary rather than convenient. Union and stakeholder consultation is generally required. Businesses that start this six months before they need the workers get agreements. Businesses that start when the vacancy is already unfilled usually do not.
What Are Your Obligations After the Visa Is Granted
Sponsorship obligations continue for the life of the sponsorship and in some cases beyond it. They are actively monitored by the Department, breaches attract sanctions including barring and civil penalties, and the most common failures we see are administrative and preventable rather than deliberate.
Record Keeping
Notifiable Events
Equivalent Terms and Market Rate
Working in the Nominated Role
How Employer Sponsored Migration Works
Three separate applications, often lodged in sequence and sometimes concurrently. Sponsorship approves the business. Nomination approves the position. The visa application approves the person. Each is decided on its own criteria by a different assessment, and any one of the three can fail on its own without affecting the others.
Workforce Assessment
Which roles, how many, where, and over what period. This determines whether standard nominations will carry your program or whether an agreement is needed.
Standard Business Sponsorship
Approval as a sponsor, generally for five years. Accredited status is available to eligible businesses and materially improves processing. Employers who are already approved sponsors move considerably faster on every nomination that follows.
Stream and Occupation Selection
Core Skills, Specialist Skills or Labour Agreement. This drives the income threshold, the occupation list, the visa period and the processing time.
Labour Market Testing
Where required, advertising must meet prescribed content, duration and platform requirements, and it has a limited validity period. Getting this wrong invalidates the nomination.
Market Salary Evidence
The nominated salary must meet the threshold or the Annual Market Salary Rate, whichever is higher. This is evidenced, not asserted.
Nomination Lodgement
The position, the salary, the testing and the genuine need, prepared to survive scrutiny rather than to be lodged quickly.
Visa Application
Lodged by the worker, with skills, English, health and character requirements depending on the stream. Family members apply concurrently or as subsequent entrants.
Compliance From Grant Onwards
Record keeping, notifiable events, equivalent terms, market rate maintenance, and readiness for a monitoring visit.
This is the stage employers underestimate, and it is the stage where sanctions arise.
Permanent Residence Planning
Retention is the commercial point. The permanent pathway should be planned at the first temporary nomination, not three years later.
Get Clear Answers Before You Lodge
Why Do Nominations and Sponsorships Fail
Three separate applications, often lodged in sequence and sometimes concurrently. Sponsorship approves the business. Nomination approves the position. The visa application approves the person. Each is decided on its own criteria and any one of the three can fail on its own, which is why they are managed as one program rather than three errands.
Labour Market Testing That Does Not Comply
Salary Below the Market Rate
Occupation Not on the CSOL
The Position Not Genuine
Nominating Under the Wrong Stream
Sponsorship Lapsing Mid-Program
Record Keeping Found Wanting
Role Drift
After Grant
How Our Corporate Migration Team Works With You
We act for the business rather than the worker. That means we run the applications end to end, hold the compliance framework, deal with the Department directly, and give your HR team a single point of contact and a status report rather than a process to manage themselves.
Workforce Migration Strategy
Standard Business Sponsorship and Renewals
Accredited Sponsor Applications
Stream Selection on Every Nomination
Labour Market Testing Compliance
Market Salary Rate Evidence
Nomination Drafting
Labour Agreement Negotiation
DAMA Endorsement and Nominations
High Volume Nomination Management
Sponsorship Obligation Audits
Monitoring Visits and Site Inspections
Sanctions and Bar Responses
Permanent Residence Programs
Nomination and Sponsorship Refusals
Reporting and a Single Point of Contact
What Working With Us Looks Like
Lawyers, not agents
We act for the employer
Fees agreed in advance
One point of contact
Corporate Migration Frequently Asked Questions
Do You Act for Individual Applicants
No. Our corporate migration team acts for Australian businesses only. We do not take work visa enquiries from candidates, and we do not act for individuals seeking employer sponsorship.
What Is the Skills in Demand Visa
Subclass 482, which replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa on 7 December 2024. It operates through three streams: Core Skills, Specialist Skills and Labour Agreement, with a single Core Skills Occupation List replacing the previous two-list system.
What Are the Current Income Thresholds
From 1 July 2026, the Core Skills Income Threshold is $79,499 and the Specialist Skills Income Threshold is $146,717. Both index annually against Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings. The salary must meet the threshold or the Annual Market Salary Rate, whichever is higher.
How Long Does Sponsorship Take
It depends on the stream and on whether the business is already an approved sponsor. Specialist Skills nominations are reported in days to weeks. Core Skills programs from first sponsorship to visa grant commonly run to several months. Being an approved sponsor already removes a large part of that.
What Is a Labour Agreement
A formal arrangement between a business and the Commonwealth that varies the standard settings. It can change occupation eligibility, salary requirements, English levels, work experience and permanent residence terms in ways no standard nomination can.
What Is a DAMA
A Designated Area Migration Agreement. A regional arrangement giving employers in a designated area access to occupations and concessions unavailable under standard nominations. Endorsement from the designated area representative is required before nominations can be made.
Do We Have to Advertise the Role First
Labour market testing is required in most cases, and it has prescribed content, platform and duration requirements plus a limited validity period. Non-compliant or expired advertising is one of the most common reasons a nomination is refused.
What Are Our Obligations After the Visa Is Granted
Record keeping in a prescribed form, notifying prescribed events within set periods, ensuring equivalent terms of employment, maintaining market salary rate over time, and cooperating with monitoring. Breaches attract sanctions including barring and civil penalties.
What Happens in a Monitoring Visit
The Department checks compliance with sponsorship obligations, which may include a site inspection and requests for records. Record keeping is the most common area where problems are found, and it is the most preventable.
Can Sponsored Workers Get Permanent Residence
Yes. Employer nomination under subclass 186 through the Direct Entry or Temporary Residence Transition streams, and regional pathways under subclass 494. The permanent pathway should be planned at the first temporary nomination rather than three years later.
What if a Nomination Is Refused
Nomination and sponsorship refusals generally carry review rights to the Administrative Review Tribunal, on deadlines that cannot be extended. We assess the merits and lodge within the period. See Visa Refusals.
Can You Manage High Volume Programs
Yes. Where a business is running many nominations at once, we manage them as a program with consistent templates, tracked deadlines, reporting and a single point of contact, rather than as separate one-off matters.
Who Reviewed This Page
Weiwei Zhang