Employer Sponsored
Labour Agreement Streams
When the standard rules do not fit, a labour agreement between an employer and the Commonwealth can set its own: concessions the ordinary streams cannot offer.
Requirements
What the agreement route asks of you.
The agreement's terms govern everything: which occupations, which concessions, which visas. The same role can be impossible under the standard stream yet open under an agreement's concessions.
An employer and the Commonwealth
A labour agreement is negotiated between a business and the Australian Government where the standard skilled program cannot meet a genuine need. Once in effect, generally for five years, it lets the business nominate overseas workers under the labour agreement streams of the 482, 186 or 494, as its terms provide.
Industry, regional, company.
Industry agreements serve sectors with recognised ongoing shortages. Designated area migration agreements, DAMAs, give a region access beyond the standard program through a state, territory or regional authority. Company-specific agreements are negotiated for one business's genuine need, and a skilled refugee labour agreement pilot rounds out the current set.
The settings an agreement can move
Within limits the Commonwealth accepts, an agreement can concede age limits, English levels, salary settings and experience requirements. The concessions available are written into the agreement itself, so the first step is always reading its terms.
What you still must show
The position must be genuine, and tested against the local labour market unless an exemption applies. You need the skills the agreement specifies for the role, the English level it sets, and health, character and any licensing the occupation demands. Sponsors carry the agreement, nomination and recruitment costs, including the training levy, and cannot recover them from you; the visa application charge itself remains yours.
The pathway
How we run an agreement matter.
Agreement check
We establish whether an agreement covers your employer, industry or region, and read its terms before anything else.
Nomination
The employer's nomination is lodged under the agreement, with labour market testing evidence where required.
Visa application
Your application is lodged with the nomination, or before the nomination expires, against the agreement's criteria.
The pathway on
Depending on the agreement and the visa, permanent residence can follow through the 186 or the 191.
General information only, not immigration advice. Your circumstances matter. Visa requirements, fees and processing times change regularly. Facts on this page last reviewed 15 July 2026. Check current details with the Department of Home Affairs , or speak with us for advice on your situation. Website terms.
Begin with a conversation.
Speak with a MARA-registered migration agent in Melbourne about your pathway. Book a time that suits you.