From 482 to 186: Permanent Residence for Your Chef in Australia

The Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) gets a Japanese chef into your kitchen. The Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186) is what keeps him or her there, because it is permanent. Many chefs accept a sponsored job in Australia on the understanding that the employer will support permanent residence later. This guide explains what that promise involves, using the Migration Regulations 1994 and the Home Affairs pages in force in September 2026. It assumes you have read our guide to hiring a Japanese chef in Australia on the 482.

1. Why the 186 matters for retention

A 482 holder can only work for a sponsor, and the visa runs out. A 186 holder is a permanent resident and can work anywhere. Offering a 186 is therefore a real cost to you as well as a benefit: once granted, the chef is free to leave. In practice, the offer of permanent residence is one of the strongest retention tools an Australian restaurant has during the two years before it is lodged. Our guide on retaining Japanese chefs covers the rest of the retention picture.

2. Two streams: TRT and Direct Entry

For most restaurants the TRT stream is the one that matters. Direct Entry is covered briefly in section 5.

3. TRT: what the chef must show

Clauses 186.221 to 186.227 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations set the chef's criteria. The ones that trip people up:

• Two years on the visa. In the 3 years immediately before applying, the chef held a 457, a 482 (Temporary Skill Shortage) or a 482 (Skills in Demand) visa for a total of at least 2 years. A bridging visa counts only in the circumstances the regulation describes.
• Two years of work. In the same 3 years, the chef was employed by an approved work sponsor in the 482 occupation, full time and in Australia, for a total of at least 2 years. Periods of unpaid leave do not count. A long unpaid trip home in the middle of those two years pushes the date back.
• Age. Under 45 at the time of application. A legislative instrument (LIN 19/216) exempts, among others, 457 or 482 workers who earned at least the Fair Work high income threshold in each of the 2 years. Few restaurant chefs earn that much, so plan on the under 45 rule.
• English. Competent English at the time of application. For many Japanese chefs this is the hardest criterion. Check the level against the chef's last test result early, and book the test well ahead.
• Timing. The visa application must be made no more than 6 months after the nomination is approved.

4. TRT: what the employer must show

Regulation 5.19(5) sets the nomination requirements. In plain terms:

• You must be the last sponsor. The nominator must be the sponsor who last nominated the chef in an approved 482 nomination. The 2 years of work can include time with a previous sponsor, but the 186 nomination has to come from the most recent one.
• Same occupation. The nominated occupation must be the one the chef's most recent 482 was granted for. If the chef was sponsored as a cook, the 186 is as a cook.
• A genuine full time role for at least 2 years, under your direct control, with no clause ruling out extension.
• Capacity to pay. Your business must be able to employ the chef for at least 2 years and pay at least the annual market salary rate each year.
• Salary floor. Both the market salary rate and the chef's actual annual earnings must be at least the Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT), excluding non-monetary benefits.
• Equal conditions. Terms other than pay must not be less favourable than for an Australian doing equivalent work at the same location.

5. Direct Entry for a chef

Direct Entry is for a chef who is not moving from your 482, for example a chef already in Australia on another visa or one you recruit straight from Japan with long experience. The 186 occupation instrument, as compiled on 28 March 2026, lists chef (351311) and cook (351411) on the Core Skills Occupation List with Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) as the assessing authority. Both carry two caveats: the occupation does not apply if the position is in a limited service restaurant (which includes fast food, fast casual and limited service cafes) or involves mass production in a factory.

The chef needs a TRA skills assessment (not one obtained for a 485 visa, and generally no more than 3 years old), at least 3 years of full time experience at the required skill level, Competent English and to be under 45. If the chef holds a regional provisional visa such as the 494, it must generally have been held for 3 years first. See our guide to regional visas for chefs.

6. Costs and the salary floor

• Nomination fee: A$540, which Home Affairs says is subject to stream and location.
• Skilling Australians Fund levy: a one-off A$3,000 if annual turnover is under A$10 million, A$5,000 otherwise. It cannot be passed on to the chef.
• CSIT for 186 nominations: A$79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027; A$76,515 for the previous year.
• Visa application charge: paid by the applicant. Use the Home Affairs visa pricing estimator for the current amount; we have not quoted it here.

Because the threshold is indexed each 1 July, a chef hired at exactly the threshold two years earlier may fall below it by the time you nominate. Review pay each July against the new CSIT, not only at the anniversary of the 482. Our guide to budgeting an international chef hire helps build this into the plan.

7. Where 482 to 186 plans go wrong

1. The chef turns 45 during the 482. Check the date of birth at hiring. For a chef hired at 42, there is little room for delay.
2. The chef's duties drift. A cook sponsored as a cook who in practice runs the kitchen can only be nominated as a cook. A chef sponsored as a chef who in practice works the fryer invites a genuineness problem.
3. Unpaid leave. A long unpaid visit home reduces the 2 year employment count.
4. Pay slips below the threshold. Reduced hours in a slow season can push annual earnings below the CSIT.
5. English left to the end. Competent English is tested at application. Start preparation in the first year.
6. A change of entity. If the restaurant is restructured and a new company becomes the sponsor, the new sponsor must be the last one to have nominated the chef. Take advice before restructuring.

8. A two year plan

1. At hiring: confirm age, choose the 482 occupation carefully (it carries through to the 186), and tell the chef in writing what support you intend to give.
2. Months 1 to 12: keep pay above the CSIT with a margin, keep records of duties and hours, start English preparation.
3. Each 1 July: check pay against the new CSIT.
4. Months 18 to 22: English test, police certificates, review of the 2 year employment count.
5. After 24 months: lodge the TRT nomination, then the chef applies within 6 months of approval.

General information checked against the Migration Regulations 1994, related legislative instruments and the Department of Home Affairs in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Transitional rules can apply to chefs who first held a 482 before 7 December 2024. Confirm with Home Affairs or a registered migration agent before acting.