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482 visa salary requirement: what Filipino workers should check before saying yes to an offer

Visa guide · 2026-10-21 · 10 min read

The 482 visa salary requirement is a pay floor that the employer, not you, has to prove to Home Affairs. For Core Skills nominations lodged between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027, the job must pay at least AUD79,423 a year (the Core Skills Income Threshold, or CSIT) and also match the going market rate for the occupation, whichever is higher. If an offer you receive from Australia sits below that line, it cannot be sponsored in the Core Skills stream as written, however good the job sounds.

This guide explains which threshold applies to which visa, why the date your employer lodges the nomination matters, how to compare the figure with the pay you know at home, and the warning signs that a salary offer is not what it seems.

Three income thresholds, one shared number

Home Affairs publishes the figures on its salary requirements page for sponsored positions. Two of the three thresholds are the same amount this year, which confuses many applicants. The peso column is a rough comparison at the Reserve Bank of Australia rate of 43.78 pesos per Australian dollar published on 16 Oct 2026; rates change daily.

For most Filipino tradespeople, cooks, carers and office workers, the CSIT is the number that matters. The Specialist Skills stream is limited to occupations in ANZSCO Major Groups 1, 2, 4, 5 or 6 and needs the much higher SSIT, so it mostly suits senior and highly paid roles. Our Skills in Demand (482) visa guide for Filipino workers covers both streams from start to finish.

Market rate or CSIT: the higher figure wins

The CSIT is only half of the test. In the Core Skills stream, the worker must be nominated for an occupation on the Core Skills Occupation List and paid the Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR) for that occupation, and no less than the CSIT. You can read the wording on the Core Skills stream page.

In practice this means two checks. If Australians doing the same job at the same workplace earn more than AUD79,423, the sponsored worker has to be paid at that market level too. If the market rate for the job is lower than AUD79,423, the CSIT still sets the floor. Sponsorship is never a reason to pay an overseas worker less than a local colleague.

Why the lodgement date matters more than the offer date

Skilled visa income thresholds are indexed every year, and the new figures apply from 1 July. The CSIT for nominations lodged between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 was AUD76,515 (about ₱3,350,000 at the same rate). From 1 July 2026 it rose to AUD79,423, an increase of AUD2,908, or about ₱127,000 a year.

Home Affairs links each figure to the date the nomination application is lodged, not to the date you shook hands on the job. So an offer written in May or June at the old figure may need to be raised if the employer only lodges the nomination after 1 July. Ask the employer, politely, when they plan to lodge and which year's threshold they are using.

The same floor follows you towards permanent residence

Many Filipino workers see the 482 as a first step. A 482 holder's employer may be able to sponsor them for permanent residence through the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186), and the Temporary Residence Transition stream of that visa is for 482 holders who have usually worked at least 2 years full time in eligible sponsored employment.

The CSIT also applies to 186 nominations lodged on or after 7 December 2024. A salary that only just met the threshold when you arrived could fall short by the time a 186 nomination is lodged, because the threshold is indexed each July. A pay review that keeps you above the current figure protects that later step.

For regional jobs, the subclass 494 visa uses the TSMIT. This year it is the same AUD79,423, but it is a separate threshold, so check the right line on the official page for the visa your employer is using.

Turning an annual salary into figures you know

Australian offers usually show pay per year or per hour, while many offers at home are quoted per month. Converting the threshold into the same units makes an offer easier to judge. These figures are rough calculations at the 16 Oct 2026 rate, and gross pay before tax.

For comparison, the National Minimum Wage from 1 July 2026 is $26.44 an hour or $1,004.90 for a 38-hour week, which is about AUD52,255 over a full year, according to the Fair Work minimum wages page. The CSIT sits about AUD27,168 above that, so a sponsored Core Skills job is never a minimum-wage job. Our earlier guide to Australian minimum wages and award rates in pesos goes deeper into everyday pay, super and casual loading.

Use the latest figure on the RBA exchange rates page before you plan a family budget, because the peso amount of a fixed Australian salary moves every day.

How to check a salary offer against the threshold

Whether you are looking at a carpenter role in Cairns, a chef job in Bunbury or an opening on our IT and technology jobs page, run through the same checks before you say yes.

1. Find the annual figure in Australian dollars. If the offer only gives an hourly or monthly rate, ask the employer to confirm the yearly salary in writing.
2. Ask which visa and stream they will nominate you for. Core Skills and the 186 use the CSIT, the Specialist Skills stream uses the SSIT, and the 494 uses the TSMIT.
3. Ask when the nomination will be lodged. Match that date to the right period on the Home Affairs salary requirements page.
4. Compare the salary with the threshold for that period. It must be no less than the threshold and must also match the market rate for the job.
5. Check that nothing flows back to the employer. No fee, deposit or salary deduction may be tied to the sponsorship.
6. Get the contract verified before you fly. The DMW says contracts are verified by the Philippine labour office covering the jobsite, which for Australia is the Migrant Workers Office at the Philippine Embassy (mwo_australia@dmw.gov.ph).

When the salary checks out, put your energy into the application itself: a clear Australian-style CV made with a tool like Build AI CV helps the employer match your experience to the nominated occupation. Our step-by-step piece on the route from your trade to a sponsored visa and OFW Pass shows where the salary check fits in the wider process.

Red flags: when money flows the wrong way

A salary on paper means nothing if part of it is taken back. Home Affairs states that it is illegal for a person to pay an employer to sponsor them for a visa, including through salary deductions, and that doing so can lead to visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment. Applicants must also not have asked for, offered, received or provided a benefit in return for sponsorship in the past 3 years.

The employer must pay all costs of becoming a sponsor and nominating a worker, and cannot pass these costs, or the Skilling Australians Fund levy, to you or your family. Our guide to the 482 visa cost in pesos separates what you pay from what the employer pays.

Watch out for offers that show a salary above the threshold but ask you to "return" part of it, pay a "bond", or accept a lower rate once you arrive. Facebook groups and chats that promise to "fix" a low salary for a fee are another warning sign; the DMW has warned about groups like these, as our article on direct hire Facebook scams explains. You can report illegal recruitment to the DMW on its hotline 1348.

Common mistakes Filipino applicants make with the salary threshold

• Comparing a monthly offer with an annual threshold. Multiply or divide first, or ask for the annual figure.
• Using last year's figure. AUD76,515 applied only to nominations lodged up to 30 June 2026.
• Forgetting the market rate. Clearing AUD79,423 is not enough if local workers in the same job earn more.
• Treating the peso figure as take-home pay. The threshold is gross salary before Australian tax, and living costs in Australia are paid in dollars.
• Agreeing to pay something back. Any payment or deduction linked to sponsorship is illegal and can cost you the visa.
• Assuming the salary stays fine for the 186. The threshold is indexed every July, so a later nomination is tested against the figure current at that time.

Frequently asked questions

What is the 482 visa salary requirement in 2026?

For Core Skills stream nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, the salary must be no less than the Core Skills Income Threshold of AUD79,423 and must also match the Annual Market Salary Rate for the occupation. The Specialist Skills stream uses a separate threshold of AUD146,576.

Does the threshold change while my application is being processed?

The thresholds are indexed every year and the new figures apply from 1 July. Home Affairs ties each figure to nomination applications lodged within a set period, so the date the employer lodges the nomination decides which figure applies. Ask your employer for that date in writing.

Can an employer pay me less than AUD79,423 if I agree to it?

Not for a Core Skills nomination. The figure is a minimum set by Home Affairs, not a number that the worker and the employer can bargain below. Agreeing to a lower amount, or to give part of your pay back, can put the nomination and your visa at risk.

Is the CSIT the same as the salary threshold for permanent residence?

The Core Skills Income Threshold also applies to Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) nominations lodged on or after 7 December 2024. A separate figure, the TSMIT, is used for the regional subclass 494 and subclass 187 visas, and for the current year it is the same amount, AUD79,423.

How much is AUD79,423 in Philippine pesos?

At the Reserve Bank of Australia rate of 43.78 pesos per Australian dollar published on 16 Oct 2026, it is roughly ₱3,477,000 a year. This is a rough comparison only: exchange rates move every day, and the figure is gross pay before Australian income tax.

Key takeaways

• Core Skills 482 and 186 nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 must pay at least AUD79,423.
• The salary must also match the market rate for the job; the higher of the two applies.
• The Specialist Skills stream needs AUD146,576, and the 494 uses the TSMIT of AUD79,423.
• The lodgement date of the nomination decides which year's figure applies.
• No payment, bond or salary deduction may be linked to your sponsorship.

Every case is different — book a consultation and our partner registered migration agents (MARA) / licensed NZ advisers will assess yours.

Last checked: 2026-10-21 against the official pages linked above.

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