The two-year work requirement

• Two years of full-time work in your nominated occupation, reduced from three years on 25 November 2023.
• The work must be for an approved sponsor. From 29 November 2025 only approved-sponsor employment counts. Applications lodged before that date were assessed under the older rules, which let some exempt-occupation workers count non-sponsor experience.
• Time is portable between approved sponsors, so moving employers does not reset you to zero. The new employer has to be an approved sponsor and have a nomination approved before you start.
• All 482 streams can use the transition pathway. The stream you are on affects your salary threshold, not your access to PR.

Income thresholds, from 1 July 2026

These replaced $76,515 and $141,210. The threshold is tested at the nomination stage, and it is indexed every 1 July, so a salary that clears it today may not clear it next year. Your salary must also meet the annual market salary rate for the role.

Condition 8607, since 1 July 2024

• 180 consecutive days without an approved sponsor, and 365 days in total across the whole visa period.
• During those periods you may work in any occupation for any employer while you look for a new sponsor, apply for another visa, or arrange to leave.
• That work does not count toward your two years, because the employer is not your sponsor. This is the single most misunderstood part of the pathway.
• You can only start work for a new sponsor once their nomination is approved.

Age, English and skills assessment

• Under 45 when you apply. Exemptions include earning at least $190,100 for each of the two years, senior academics nominated by an Australian university, scientists and researchers at a government scientific agency, and regional medical practitioners with three years on a 482 or 457 including two in regional Australia.
• Competent English, generally IELTS 6 in each band or an accepted equivalent. Holders of UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland passports are exempt.
• A skills assessment is generally not required for the transition stream, unlike Direct Entry.

Charges, from 1 July 2026

The applicant charge rose from $4,910 on 1 July 2026. The nomination fee and the levy are the employer's, and the levy cannot lawfully be passed on to you.

The Direct Entry stream

• This tool models the Temporary Residence Transition stream only. Direct Entry has no two-year requirement but does need a skills assessment and three years of relevant experience, and it is a different application.
• If your 482 will expire before you reach two years, Direct Entry is often the alternative worth costing, so it is worth raising with an agent rather than assuming the transition stream is the only route.

Whether your specific work counts

• Whether a period of employment was full-time, in the nominated occupation, and with an approved sponsor is a question of fact decided on your payslips, contracts and position descriptions. A tool cannot settle it.
• Unpaid leave, reduced hours and periods where the sponsorship had lapsed or was still pending are all common places where months quietly disappear.

Things that can still stop an application

• Health, character and public interest criteria sit outside this tool.
• The employer must still be able to show a genuine, ongoing, full-time position for at least two years.
• Previous refusals or cancellations can affect what you are able to apply for.
• Labour agreement and DAMA arrangements carry their own concessions and their own conditions, which this tool does not model.

Thresholds and charges both changed on 1 July 2026, and the work experience rules changed on 29 November 2025. Verify before you rely on a date.