494 Regional Employer Sponsorship: How the Visa and Permanent Residence Pathway Work

The employer must nominate the worker for a genuine position located in
a designated regional area. For the worker, the visa provides the
ability to live, work and study in designated regional Australia for up
to five years.

Home Affairs currently treats all of Australia except Sydney,
Melbourne and Brisbane as designated regional Australia for the
subclass 494.

That means major centres including Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, the Gold
Coast, Sunshine Coast, Newcastle/Lake Macquarie, Wollongong/Illawarra,
Geelong and Hobart are within designated regional areas for migration
purposes.

The regional classification is based on specified locations and
postcodes, so the exact work location should be checked before relying
on the 494 pathway.

For the Employer Sponsored stream, the employer needs to nominate the
worker for an eligible position in a designated regional area.

The employer must be an approved work sponsor or have lodged an
application to become a standard business sponsor before lodging the
nomination.

The nominated position must be within the sponsoring business or an
associated entity and located in designated regional Australia.

Home Affairs states that an RCB must assess the Annual Market Salary
Rate (AMSR) for a position nominated under the subclass 494 Employer
Sponsored stream.

The relevant RCB depends on where the position is located.

The occupation lists and assessing authorities used for the 494 are not
necessarily the same as those used for every other skilled visa.

Employers should check the occupation specifically against the 494
requirements rather than assuming that an occupation available for a 482
visa is automatically available for the 494.

Labour Agreement stream arrangements can also provide different
occupation settings where an employer has an applicable labour
agreement.

Home Affairs says this experience should generally have been gained
within the previous five years.

The experience does not need to be continuous, and equivalent part-time
work may be considered. Casual work is not counted for this requirement.

A primary applicant in the Employer Sponsored stream usually needs a
suitable skills assessment for the nominated occupation from the
relevant assessing authority.

The assessment must generally be completed before the visa application
is lodged. A skills assessment obtained for a subclass 485 Temporary
Graduate visa is not accepted as the required assessment for the 494.

Specific exemptions apply in some circumstances, so the occupation, visa
history and applicable assessing authority should be checked before
lodgement.

There are specific exemptions, including for some medical practitioners,
scientists and researchers, specified New Zealand visa holders and some
applicants with qualifying sponsored employment and high earnings.

The exemption rules are technical, so being 45 or older should not be
treated as either automatic eligibility or automatic ineligibility
without checking the applicable criteria.

Different settings can apply under a Labour Agreement stream where the
agreement specifies the applicable English requirement.

For the standard 494 framework, employers need to consider the
applicable Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT)
together with the Annual Market Salary Rate.

For 2026--27, the TSMIT is $79,423.

Meeting the threshold alone does not necessarily make the salary
acceptable. The market salary for the position also matters, and the RCB
assessment of the AMSR forms part of the standard regional nomination
process.

Labour agreements can contain different or concessional settings, so
their terms need to be checked separately.

Primary visa holders are generally required to live, work and study in a
designated regional area and to work in the nominated occupation.

Home Affairs states that a visa holder must begin employment within 90
days of entering Australia if the visa was granted offshore, or within
90 days of visa grant if it was granted in Australia.

Visa holders should check the conditions on their own grant notice and
in VEVO.

Changing employment should therefore not be treated as an ordinary job
change without considering the migration consequences.

If you are considering leaving your sponsor or moving to another
employer, check the nomination and visa implications before making the
change.

Eligible members of the family unit can be included in a subclass 494
application. A dependent child may also be added after lodgement but
before the visa is decided.

Home Affairs also provides a subsequent entrant pathway for eligible
family members of a subclass 494 holder who apply separately later.

Home Affairs states that an eligible 494 holder can apply for permanent
residence after holding the 494 visa for at least three years.

The subclass 191 is a separate visa application. The Migration
Regulations require applicants in the Regional Provisional Visas stream
to satisfy criteria including substantial compliance with their regional
provisional visa conditions. The Regulations also require specified tax
assessment evidence for relevant income years.

This means the pathway should not be described as:

"Hold a 494 for three years and PR is automatic."

The three-year period is an important gateway, but the subclass 191
requirements still need to be met.

For subclass 191, compliance with the conditions of the regional
provisional visa forms part of the permanent-residence assessment.

A 494 holder planning for permanent residence should keep appropriate
records of regional residence, employment and other relevant
circumstances.

Home Affairs states that, unless a person has held the subclass 494 for
three years, there are restrictions affecting access to certain other
visas, including several permanent skilled visas.

The 494 should therefore be chosen with an understanding that it is
designed as a regional provisional pathway.

The Employer Sponsored stream uses the standard 494 occupation, skills,
age, English and nomination framework.

The Labour Agreement stream is for workers nominated by an employer that
has a labour agreement with the Australian Government. Occupation
access, skills assessment, age, English and other settings can depend on
the agreement.

A labour agreement does not mean that all standard requirements
disappear. The actual agreement controls the available concessions.

• whether the position is genuinely located in designated regional
  Australia
• whether the occupation is eligible
• whether the business can meet sponsorship and nomination
  requirements
• the applicable AMSR and salary requirements
• the relevant RCB process
• whether the worker can meet the skills, experience, age and English
  requirements
• whether the Employer Sponsored or Labour Agreement stream is
  appropriate

For workers, check:

• whether your occupation is eligible
• whether you have the required work experience
• whether you need a skills assessment and which authority conducts it
• your age and whether any exemption could apply
• your English level
• the regional conditions you will need to follow
• how the 494 fits into your longer-term permanent-residence plan

Hans Immigration Services can review the proposed position, regional
location and worker's circumstances and help you understand whether the
subclass 494 pathway may be suitable.

Book a consultation with Hans Immigration Services to discuss your 494
regional sponsorship pathway.