Preparing a Defensible 482 Nomination: Salary Evidence and Labour Market Testing

What this module covers

1. SECTION 1 — Two tests, not oneIncluded free ↓
2. SECTION 2 — Determining the applicable thresholdFull text on enrolment
3. SECTION 3 — Determining and evidencing the annual market salary rateFull text on enrolment
4. SECTION 4 — Does labour market testing apply?Full text on enrolment
5. SECTION 5 — Assessing advertising evidenceFull text on enrolment
6. SECTION 6 — Evidence that must accompany the nominationFull text on enrolment

SECTION 1 — Two tests, not one

(Public preview section — ungated)

The single most common structural misunderstanding in this area is that a 482 nomination has "a salary requirement." It has two, they are cumulative, and they do different work.

The income threshold is a floor set by the Regulations. It is the same for every nomination in a given stream lodged in a given year, and it has nothing to do with the particular occupation or workplace.

The annual market salary rate is workplace-specific and occupation-specific. It asks what an Australian citizen or permanent resident earns, or would earn, for equivalent full-time work at the same workplace and location.

A nomination can clear one and fail the other. A role paid $95,000 clears the Core Skills Income Threshold comfortably and still fails if equivalent Australian workers at that workplace are paid $120,000. A role paid $120,000 in the Specialist Skills stream satisfies any plausible market rate and still fails, because the Specialist Skills Income Threshold sits above it.

The structure in the Regulations

Regulation 2.72(15) sets out the requirements, and it is worth seeing that it contains three separate comparisons rather than one:

• 2.72(15)(c) — the AMSR has been determined by the sponsor in accordance with the instrument made under reg 2.72(17).
• 2.72(15)(d) — the AMSR, excluding non-monetary benefits, is not less than the applicable threshold: the specialist skills income threshold for Specialist Skills stream nominations, the core skills income threshold for Core Skills stream nominations.
• 2.72(15)(e) — the nominee's annual earnings will not be less than the AMSR.
• 2.72(15)(f) — the nominee's annual earnings, excluding non-monetary benefits, will not be less than the applicable threshold.
• 2.72(15)(g) — there is no information indicating the AMSR is inconsistent with Australian labour market conditions relevant to the occupation, or it is reasonable to disregard it.

Note that the threshold test is applied twice — once to the market rate and once to the nominee's earnings — and that non-monetary benefits are excluded from both. A package built around accommodation or a vehicle does not reach the threshold on the strength of those components.

The gateway at $250,000

Regulation 2.72(15) applies only where the Minister is not satisfied that the nominee's annual earnings will be at least the amount specified in an instrument made for reg 2.72(15)(b). Section 5 of IMMI 18/033 specifies that amount as AUD 250,000.

At or above $250,000, the entire AMSR structure falls away. No market rate determination, no evidence of equivalent workers, no reconciliation. This is worth knowing before spending an afternoon assembling market rate evidence for a nomination that does not require it.

Home Affairs states the position in the same terms: where the worker will be paid an annual salary of less than AUD250,000, the sponsor must show the AMSR has been determined correctly, that the worker will not be paid less than it, and that both the AMSR and the worker's pay excluding non-monetary benefits are no less than the relevant threshold.

What this module does

This module covers the determination and evidencing of salary, and the determination and evidencing of labour market testing. Both are areas where the operative law sits in legislative instruments that change frequently, and where a great deal of practitioner commentary is out of date. Two of the instruments underpinning this module were amended within the last five months.

The module teaches the structure and the reasoning, and identifies the specific points where the figures must be re-verified rather than carried from a previous matter.

Sample assessment questions

A sample of the question style. The real assessment draws 10 questions at random, is marked server-side, and is available once you enrol.