Your Employer Offered a 482 but You Might Qualify for State Nomination: How to Decide
You Are Probably Not Choosing Between Two Things.
Most people arrive at this question as a fork in the road. Take the sponsorship, or go the points route. Pick one. That framing is usually wrong, and it is the most expensive mistake in this decision.
A 482 offer and a state nomination feel like different roads, so people try to work out which one is better. The useful question is not which, but in what order. For most people the answer is both, and the only time it genuinely is a choice is when the job itself takes you out of the state that would nominate you, or when the offer carries conditions you should not sign.
Accept the 482. Lodge the Expression of Interest. Let the Two Run in Parallel.
You accept the 482 and start work. You get your skills assessment done, lodge an expression of interest, and wait for a state invitation.
If a nomination comes, you have a window to lodge the 190, reported as 60 days, and if it is granted you have permanent residence without having waited two years with one employer. If no nomination ever comes, you are still on a 482 heading toward the employer pathway.
What Does Not Change While You Wait
Three mechanics matter here, because misunderstanding them is how people lose the 482 while chasing the 190.
- You keep working for your sponsoring employer. An expression of interest is not a visa, and a state nomination is not a visa either. Until the 190 is actually granted you are still a 482 holder and every 482 condition still binds you, including working only for your sponsor in your nominated occupation.
- Lodging the 190 onshore generates a Bridging visa A, but it sits inactive while your 482 is still in effect. It is a safety net for a gap, not a change in your current status, and it does not release you from anything.
- When the 190 is granted it replaces the 482. You do not need to do anything to end the old visa.
People Treat a State Nomination as Though It Were the Visa.
They cut their hours, take a better offer, or stop working for the sponsor before the 190 is granted, and breach the 482 in the gap.
A nomination is an invitation to apply. Nothing about your obligations changes until the grant letter arrives, and a breach in that window can cost you both visas rather than one.
There are situations where it genuinely is a choice, usually when the employer is asking you to commit to something or when the job requires you to move away from the state you would be nominated by. The rest of this page is about those.
Send Us Your Occupation, Points Position and State.
If you have an offer on the table and you are not sure whether to take it, we will tell you whether a state route is realistically open to you and whether you need to choose at all. In most cases people do not. There is nothing to pay for the initial review, and we do not find employers.
The Two Things That Actually Differ
Cost is what people compare first and it is the least important difference. The two that matter are what you are tied to, and when you become permanent.
What You Are Tied To
On a 482 you can generally only work for your sponsoring employer, in the occupation you were nominated for. That is a visa condition, and it binds you. Some occupations are exempt, but most are not, and a new employer needs a new nomination approved before you start.
On a 190 you are not tied to an employer at all. You are expected to live and work in the nominating state in your nominated occupation.
Here is the part that surprises people, and it cuts against the way most couples and workers weigh this up.
What Legal Commentary Says About the State Commitment on a 190
Legal commentary describes the state commitment as technically not a condition of the 190 visa, closer to a moral obligation, with no legal basis for the Department to enforce it.
Read That Carefully Before Acting On It
That is not permission to accept a nomination and move. The same commentary notes it is unclear how departing early might affect a later citizenship application or your ability to sponsor a partner or relative, and a state nominated you on the basis of what you told it.
The useful point is narrower: if you are turning down a 190 because you believe you would be legally locked into a state for two years, that belief is not accurate, and should not be the reason you choose employer sponsorship instead.
When You Become Permanent
| Route | When permanent residence happens |
|---|---|
| Subclass 190 | On grant. You are a permanent resident from the day the visa issues. |
| Subclass 491 | Not on grant. It is provisional. Permanent residence comes later through the subclass 191 after meeting regional work and residence requirements. |
| Subclass 482 then 186 | After you have completed the required period of sponsored employment. The current requirement is two years, not three. |
That last row carries a correction worth knowing about. Plenty of pages still say the 482 leads to permanent residence after three years. That was the position before the changes in late 2024. The current requirement is generally at least two years of full time sponsored employment in the occupation you were nominated for, within the three years immediately before you lodge the 186.
One Limit on That Which Matters if You Are Thinking of Moving Employers Later
Time with more than one sponsor can count, but the 186 nomination has to come from your most recent 482 sponsor. So the experience travels with you, and the nomination does not.
What Happens if the Job Ends
This is the single biggest practical difference and it is the one people never ask about at the offer stage.
If you hold a 190 and you lose your job, nothing happens to your visa. You are a permanent resident. You find another job the way anyone else does.
If you hold a 482 and the employment ends, you generally have up to 180 days to find a new approved sponsor who lodges a nomination, or to apply for another visa. During that period you cannot simply start work for someone else. For most occupations a new nomination has to be approved before you begin.
So the question to ask yourself is not whether you trust this employer. It is what your position looks like if the business is sold, restructured, loses a contract, or simply decides in eighteen months that it no longer wants to carry a sponsorship. On a 482 that is your problem. On a 190 it is not.
The Money, and Who Legally Pays What
The costs are not symmetrical and the law decides who carries which.
| Cost | Amount | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsorship application | Reported at $420 | The employer. Cannot be passed to you. |
| Nomination application | Reported at $330 | The employer. Cannot be passed to you. |
| Skilling Australians Fund levy | Reported at $1,200 per year for employers with turnover under $10 million, $1,800 per year otherwise | The employer. Cannot be passed to you, including by wage deduction. |
| 482 visa application charge | Reported at $4,015 for the primary applicant | You, unless the employer chooses to pay it. |
| Your skills assessment, English test, medicals, police checks | Varies | You, on either route. |
So on paper the 482 looks cheaper to you, because a meaningful part of the cost is legally the employer. The state route puts more of the direct cost on you, and gives you a permanent visa for it.
One Thing to Watch at the Offer Stage
Agreements requiring you to repay sponsorship costs if you leave within a set period are not made lawful by your signature. Costs the employer is legally required to carry cannot be recovered from you by agreement, by deduction or by any other route. If a clawback clause appears in what you are asked to sign, that tells you something about the arrangement. Our page is at employer wants you to pay sponsorship costs.
When It Genuinely Is a Choice
When the 482 Is Genuinely the Better Choice
- Your occupation is not on a state list, or the states that list it are not ones you can live in
- Your points total is not competitive and will not become competitive soon
- You need to work now. A 482 nomination is a defined process with a defined outcome. An EOI is a queue with no guaranteed end
- You do not yet have a skills assessment, and getting one will take months you do not have
- The role is genuinely good and the employer is stable. Two years is not long when the alternative is an indefinite wait
When State Nomination Is the Better Choice
- Your occupation is listed by a state you are willing to live in, and your points are in range
- You want to stop being dependent on one employer. This is the real reason most people ask
- The 482 offer comes with conditions you are uncomfortable with: pay, hours, a clawback clause, loyalty you did not agree to
- Your partner or family situation needs certainty. PR changes what dependants can do and what they pay
- You already have a skills assessment and an EOI lodged. The work is largely done
How to Work It Out, in Order
- Check your occupation first. Not the job title, the ANZSCO code on your skills assessment or the one your employer is nominating. The whole decision depends on whether that code is listed where you live. Our general page on assessment is at skills assessment for skilled visas.
- Check which states currently list it, and their requirements. State lists change annually and mid year, so check the state site rather than any article. Ours on quotas and chances is at Australian state nomination quotas.
- Work out your points honestly, including what they will be in twelve months. Age, Australian work experience and English all move.
- Then ask whether you actually have to choose. In most cases the answer is no, and the 482 becomes the platform rather than the destination.
- Get advice before you sign the employment contract, not after. The clauses that matter are in the contract, not the visa application.
For how a 482 with your current employer actually works once you have decided, see move from 485 to 482 with your current employer. If you are weighing two points tested visas against each other rather than against sponsorship, that comparison is at 189 vs 190. For the wider question of which occupations can reach permanent residence with no employer at all, start at can you immigrate to Australia without a job offer.
Before You Sign Anything
- Get the ANZSCO code your employer intends to nominate, in writing.
- Check that code against the state lists where you live and where you would be willing to move.
- Read the employment contract for any repayment or clawback clause covering sponsorship costs.
- Confirm who is paying the visa application charge, and get that in writing too.
- Ask how long the nomination period will be, because the levy and your pathway timing both follow it.
- Lodge an expression of interest anyway, unless there is a specific reason not to.
- Get advice on the contract and the visa together. They are one decision, and most people treat them as two.
Frequently Asked Questions
Send Us Your Occupation, Your Points Position and Which State You Are In.
We will tell you whether a state route is realistically open to you and whether you need to choose at all. In most cases people do not. We do not find employers, but we can check every other option you have.
Written by
Founder and Editor, Aussie Migration Guide
Karan Rawat is the Founder and Editor of Aussie Migration Guide. With nearly 4 years of experience in SEO and digital content, including work with Australian migration law clients, he specialises in turning complex Australian visa rules, fees and eligibility criteria into clear, practical guides. Every article is checked against current official sources such as the Department of Home Affairs before it goes live. Karan is not a registered migration agent, and the content on this site is general information, not migration advice.