Permanent Employer Sponsored Visa Australia

If your employer wants to keep you long-term, the Permanent Employer Sponsored Visa Australia — officially the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) — is the single fastest route from a job offer to a Green passport-style outcome: permanent residence, no points test, no waiting list. Here's exactly how it works in 2026-27.

What Is a Permanent Employer Sponsored Visa in Australia?

The subclass 186 visa lets an Australian business nominate a skilled worker for permanent residence directly. Unlike the 189 or 190 skilled visas, there's no SkillSelect invitation, no competing on points — your employer's nomination and your eligibility are the only gates. Grant it, and you walk out with full PR rights: live, work and study anywhere in Australia, Medicare access, and a pathway to citizenship.

The Three Streams of the 186 Visa

Home Affairs runs three separate doors into the 186:

• Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) — for 482/457 visa holders who've worked for their sponsoring employer for the required period.
• Direct Entry — for workers coming straight from overseas or on a different visa, needing a positive skills assessment in most occupations.
• Labour Agreement — for employers operating under a formal labour agreement with Home Affairs, often with negotiated concessions.

Picking the wrong stream is one of the most common (and expensive) mistakes we see.

Who Qualifies for Employer-Sponsored PR in 2026-27

Broadly, you'll need: an employer willing to nominate you, an occupation on the relevant skilled list, a positive skills assessment (stream-dependent), competent English, and to be under 45 at time of application (with limited exemptions). Age and skills-assessment requirements are the two areas applicants most often get wrong.

Salary, Fees and Costs You Actually Need to Know

For nominations lodged between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027, the Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) sits at AUD $79,423, and the Specialist Skills Income Threshold at $146,576 — up from last year under standard indexation. The salary must be guaranteed base earnings; super and non-cash perks don't count. Visa application charges start from roughly AUD $6,140 for the main applicant, plus employer-side nomination and Skilling Australians Fund levy costs, so budgeting early matters as much as eligibility.