Hiring a Japanese Chef in Australia: the 482 Visa Step by Step

Australia has the second largest Japanese community in the world outside Japan: 105,566 Japanese nationals as of 1 October 2025, behind only the United States (MOFA). Japan's agriculture ministry counted 2,230 Japanese restaurants in Australia in its 2025 survey, up 230 on 2023. The market is growing, and many restaurants eventually want to sponsor a chef rather than rely on whoever is already in the country.

This guide walks through the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), Core Skills stream, in the order a restaurant actually does it. Every fee and threshold below was checked against Home Affairs pages or the Migration Regulations in September 2026.

1. Which visa, and whether a chef qualifies

The Skills in Demand visa replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa on 7 December 2024. For a restaurant, the relevant stream is Core Skills. It lets an approved sponsor bring in a worker for up to 4 years in an occupation on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL).

Chef (ANZSCO 351311) and Cook (351411) are both on the CSOL, but each carries caveats. The two that matter to restaurants exclude positions in a limited service restaurant and positions in factory mass production. A full service restaurant sits outside both. If your format is counter service, takeaway or a central kitchen supplying several outlets, read the caveat definitions in the occupation list instrument before you nominate, and describe the business and the role accurately.

The worker needs at least 1 year of relevant experience, gained within the last 5 years (part time counts if it adds up to 12 months full time). Japan is not on the list of countries whose nationals need a mandatory Trades Recognition Australia skills assessment for this visa, so most Japanese chefs will not need one, though Home Affairs can still ask for it.

The hurdle that surprises employers is English. Unless an exemption applies (Japanese passport holders are not in the passport exemption list), the chef must sit a test within 3 years before applying. For tests taken on or after 13 September 2025, the minimum is IELTS 5.0 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking, or the equivalent in another accepted test. A brilliant chef with no English will fail this step, so ask about it in the first interview.

2. Step 1: become a standard business sponsor

You apply in ImmiAccount. The business must be lawfully operating, and there must be no adverse information about you or your associates. Australian businesses also attest to a record of, or commitment to, employing local labour and declare they will not discriminate in recruitment.

• Fee: A$420.
• Validity: 5 years from approval.
• Evidence: ABN or ASIC extract, plus proof of trading. An established restaurant gives financial statements; a new one needs at least a business plan, bank statements and ideally a lease and evidence of staff.

You can lodge the sponsorship and the nomination together, but the nomination cannot be approved until the sponsorship is.

3. Step 2: labour market testing, and the Japan exemption

The default rule, in force for nominations since 11 December 2023, is two advertisements in Australia, in English, each running for at least 4 weeks, within the 4 months before you lodge the nomination. Workforce Australia is no longer required. The ads must show the job title, the skills or experience needed, and your business name (or your recruiter's). If the salary is under A$96,400 a year, the ad must also show the salary or a salary range.

Acceptable places: a national recruitment website, an industry site in significant use, LinkedIn's recruitment platform (not member only posts), national print or radio, or your own website if you are an accredited sponsor. General classifieds and social media posts do not count.

4. Step 3: set the salary (AMSR and CSIT)

Two floors apply, and the salary must clear both.

• The annual market salary rate (AMSR): what an Australian in the same role at your workplace earns, or would earn. If you employ an Australian chef at the same level, you cannot pay the sponsored chef less. If you do not, you use the award, an enterprise agreement or market data.
• The Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT): A$79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 (it was A$76,515 the year before). Guaranteed earnings exclude non-monetary benefits.

Compare that with the Restaurant Industry Award. From 1 July 2026 the full time minimum for a cook grade 3 (tradesperson) is A$1,119.10 a week, and for a cook grade 5, the top kitchen grade, A$1,221.10, which is about A$63,500 a year. The CSIT is roughly 25% above the highest award grade. In practice, a sponsored chef costs you at least A$79,423 plus 12% superannuation, even if the award would let you pay a local cook much less.

That gap is the single biggest reason restaurants abandon a sponsorship halfway. Settle the number before you advertise, and put it in the ad if it is under A$96,400.

5. Step 4: lodge the nomination and pay the SAF levy

The nomination identifies the position, the occupation code, the salary and the duration. It must be lodged before or with the visa application. With it you pay:

• Nomination fee: A$330.
• Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) levy: A$1,200 per year of the nomination for a business with turnover under A$10 million, or A$1,800 per year at A$10 million and above. A 4 year nomination for a small restaurant is A$4,800.

The levy is paid in full at lodgement, it is tax deductible, and you must not pass it on to the worker. Refunds are limited; one case is where the worker leaves within the first 12 months of a longer visa, and even then only unused full years come back.

The position must be genuine and full time (generally 38 hours a week), the duties must match the ANZSCO description for Chef or Cook, and the chef must be on a written contract to work only for your business or an associated entity. An approved nomination lasts 12 months.

6. Step 5: the chef's visa application

The chef applies in ImmiAccount with identity documents, evidence of experience (employment references with dates, hours and duties, translated into English), the English test result, health examinations and police certificates.

The visa application charge from 1 July 2026 is A$4,015 for the main applicant, A$4,015 for each additional applicant aged 18 or over and A$1,005 for each child, set in Schedule 1 of the Migration Regulations. Once granted, the chef must start work within 90 days of arriving (or of grant, if already in Australia).

7. What it costs, line by line

Government charges for one chef, 4 year nomination, no dependants, as of September 2026:

Add English test fees, medicals, police certificates, translations and, if you use one, a registered migration agent. Home Affairs is explicit that recruitment and migration agent costs connected with sponsorship and nomination are the sponsor's, and must not be charged to the worker. Then add the flight and the first weeks of housing, which are not required by law but are expected by anyone relocating from Japan (see relocation packages for chefs).

8. After arrival: obligations that catch restaurants out

• Equivalent terms. The chef's pay and conditions must stay at least equal to an Australian doing the same work, for the whole visa.
• Notifications. Tell Home Affairs within 28 days if the chef stops working for you, or if key business details change.
• Return travel. If the chef or a sponsored family member asks in writing, you must pay reasonable and necessary travel costs for them to leave Australia, within 30 days of the request.
• Records. Keep records showing compliance, including that you did not discriminate on citizenship or visa status in recruitment.
• If the job ends. The chef has up to 180 days to find a new sponsor or leave, which cuts both ways: a good chef who is unhappy has a real window to move.

For city specifics see hiring a sushi chef in Sydney and in Melbourne. If sponsorship does not fit your numbers, the working holiday route is the realistic alternative for junior roles. Our general guide to sponsoring a Japanese chef compares Australia with other markets.

General information checked against official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Australian thresholds and charges change every 1 July, and the labour market testing exemption depends on individual circumstances. Confirm with Home Affairs or a registered migration agent before acting.