Restaurant (Premium Dining) Labour Agreement: sponsoring chefs, cooks, managers and trade waiters

The premium-dining criteria

The template is for restaurants offering a premium-quality dining experience, evidenced by features the Department assesses together rather than as a checklist of one. The criteria commonly summarised from the template include:

• an à la carte menu and full table service (not a counter-service, takeaway or limited-service model);
• a wine list and a front-of-house team led by a maître d’ or equivalent, with uniformed staff;
• industry recognition such as awards, chef’s hats or guide listings;
• highly experienced kitchen and floor staff, with the trade waiter role in particular requiring genuine service skill; and
• a business of sufficient scale (summaries cite a turnover threshold around A$2 million; the template states the figure).

A good suburban bistro will not meet it; a hatted restaurant, a destination regional restaurant or a premium hotel dining room may. The Department applies the criteria to the venue, so a group with several venues needs each one to qualify for the roles placed there.

What the agreement covers

• Occupations: Cook (351411), Chef (351311), Café or Restaurant Manager (141111) and Trade Waiter (431511). The last two are the reason most restaurants look at the template: neither can be sponsored on a standard 482.
• Visas: the 482 labour-agreement stream for up to four years, then the 186 labour-agreement stream after a three-year transition period with the sponsor.
• Concessions: fixed in the template on English and experience; the salary must still be at least the market rate for the role and meet the template’s setting against the income threshold.
• Transfers: a worker changing restaurants can only move to another employer that also holds access to the agreement and meets the criteria.

How to get access, step by step

1. Confirm you fit the template. The business must operate in the industry the Restaurant (Premium Dining) Industry Labour Agreement covers and the role must be one of the template’s occupations; the Department does not add occupations or concessions to an industry template for an individual employer. Anything outside it is a company-specific agreement.
2. Labour market testing. Evidence of genuine local recruitment is required with the request and again at each nomination, and the December 2024 amendments tightened what the Department accepts for industry agreements: two advertisements of 28 days or more, within the four months before lodging on platforms with national reach, stating the salary where required. For a restaurant that means advertising the chef, manager or waiter role itself, with salary.
3. Request the agreement through ImmiAccount (the Department’s labour agreement section handles requests). There is no charge for the agreement itself. Allow several months the first time; the agreement normally runs for five years.
4. Nominate each worker on the 482 labour-agreement stream: nomination charge A$330 plus the Skilling Australians Fund levy of A$1,200 per visa year for businesses under A$10m turnover (A$1,800 above). The worker lodges the visa (A$4,015). The Department’s September 2026 median for 482 processing was four months.
5. Comply. The template’s terms are conditions on your business: the nominated salary, the concession limits, record-keeping, notifying changes within 28 days. Breach suspends or cancels the agreement and the standard sponsor sanctions follow.

The agreement against the alternatives

• Standard 482 or 186 for chefs and cooks at any full-service venue that can pay the A$79,423 floor; see hospitality sponsorship for the caveats.
• Regional DAMAs: the Northern Territory, Far North Queensland, Townsville and others list front-of-house hospitality roles for venues inside the region, with salary and English concessions, and without the premium-dining test. DAMA regions.
• 494 for regional venues nominating a listed occupation (Café or Restaurant Manager is on the regional list).
• Onshore hires: Working Holiday makers and students already in your kitchen, sponsored on the standard program once the occupation and salary fit. What to check.

Where the workers are

SponsorTalent’s hospitality pool runs deep in chefs and cooks (Nepal, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Bangladesh, plus Irish, British and European Working Holiday makers already in Australian kitchens) and includes front-of-house professionals and hotel and restaurant managers. Search chef candidates, cook candidates or restaurant manager candidates.

Frequently asked questions

Can a restaurant sponsor a waiter in Australia? Only under the Restaurant (Premium Dining) Industry Labour Agreement, as a Trade Waiter at a venue that meets the premium-dining criteria, or under a regional DAMA that lists front-of-house roles. Waiters are not on the skilled occupation lists, so the standard 482 is not available.

Can a café or restaurant manager be sponsored? Not on a standard 482 or 186, because the occupation is on the short-term list only. Routes are the premium-dining agreement, the regional 494, state nomination, or a DAMA.

What makes a restaurant "premium dining"? The template looks at the venue as a whole: à la carte menu with full table service, a wine list, a maître d’ and uniformed floor staff, industry recognition such as hats or awards, experienced staff and a business of sufficient scale. Counter-service, takeaway and limited-service cafés do not qualify.

Does the agreement lead to permanent residency? Yes. The 186 labour-agreement stream is available after a three-year transition period with the sponsoring restaurant, subject to the permanent-visa requirements in the template.

Can my chef move to another restaurant on the same visa? Only to another employer that holds access to the premium-dining agreement and meets the criteria, which then lodges its own nomination. A move to a venue without the agreement needs a standard nomination for a listed occupation.