Hiring workers from India: sponsorship steps, skills assessments and exit rules

Who Australian employers hire from India

Candidate context: visa sponsorship jobs from India.

The Australian side

1. Confirm the occupation is on the Core Skills or regional list and the salary meets A$79,423 and the market rate; roles at A$146,576 or more can use the Specialist Skills stream, with a 37-day median visa time in September 2026.
2. Standard Business Sponsorship (A$420; median 11 days) and labour market testing (two ads of 28 days or more within four months of lodging on platforms with national reach).
3. Nomination (A$330 plus the levy of A$1,200 per visa year under A$10m turnover) lodged with the visa (A$4,015 for a 482). Core Skills visas took a median of four months.

Costs in full: cost to sponsor a worker; timeline: how long sponsorship takes.

The Indian side: no emigration clearance for Australia

India’s Emigration Act requires emigration clearance only for travel to a short list of countries, and Australia is not on it. Indian passports endorsed "Emigration Check Required" therefore need no clearance from the Protector of Emigrants for an Australian job, and there is no contract attestation or recruitment-agency licensing step on the Indian side for a direct hire. The practical consequences: no home-government fee, no exit permit, and a timeline set by the Australian visa and the skills assessment alone. The one Indian-side item that does matter is document verification: assessing authorities and the Department verify degrees and employment references, and a reference that cannot be verified is the most common cause of a request for further information.

Skills assessment: the timing decision

A skills assessment is mandatory for the 482 where the Department’s instrument lists the occupation for Indian passport holders, which covers many trades and some other occupations; for the 186 Direct Entry it is always required. Even where optional, employers ask for one because it settles the qualification question before money is spent on a nomination. The practical sequencing: have the candidate lodge the assessment the week you decide to proceed, run labour market testing and the sponsorship application in parallel, and lodge nomination and visa when the assessment is in hand. Nurses are the exception: Ahpra registration, not the visa, sets the pace, and most health employers sponsor only once the candidate is registered or booked for the OSCE.

English

IELTS 5.0 overall and in each component (or PTE, OET, TOEFL, Cambridge equivalents) for the 482; higher for the 186 and for professional registration. Indian candidates educated in English-medium institutions usually test well above the visa minimum; nursing registration at IELTS 7.0 in every band is the one bar that regularly needs a second sitting.

Onshore Indian candidates

Indian students and 485 graduates are the largest onshore cohort in IT, accounting, nursing and cookery. A 485 holder with an Australian degree has full work rights for two to three years and a qualification the assessing authority already recognises; sponsoring them is the same three applications with no relocation. The decision guide applies: an employee has asked you to sponsor them.

Finding Indian candidates

Register free and search by occupation, then filter by current location (India or an Australian city) and by skills-assessment and English status. Contact unlocks cost A$30; a featured listing is A$149 with five unlocks. Search candidates.

Frequently asked questions

Do Indian workers need emigration clearance to work in Australia? No. Australia is not on India’s list of emigration-check-required countries, so no clearance from the Protector of Emigrants, contract attestation or Indian agency licensing applies to a direct hire for Australia.

Which visa do Indian workers usually come on? The 482 Core Skills visa (up to four years, permanent 186 after two years with the sponsor), the Specialist Skills stream for roles at A$146,576 or more, the 494 for regional employers, and the 186 Direct Entry where the candidate already holds the assessment and experience.

Is a skills assessment mandatory for Indian 482 applicants? For occupations the Department’s instrument lists for Indian passport holders, yes, and that covers many trades. For other occupations it is optional for the 482 but required for the 186 Direct Entry, and most employers ask for one regardless.

How long does it take to sponsor a nurse from India? The visa is the short part. Ahpra registration for internationally qualified nurses (English at IELTS 7.0 each band or OET B, then the NCLEX-RN and OSCE) commonly takes six to twelve months, and most health employers nominate once registration is in hand.

Can the worker pay the sponsorship costs? No. Sponsorship approval, the nomination charge and the levy are the sponsor’s by law and cannot be recovered from the worker. The worker normally pays their visa application charge, assessment, English test, health and police costs.