Guide
Advertising a role you might sponsor
Most SMEs arrive at sponsorship the hard way: a role has been open for four months, the local market has produced nobody, and someone suggests looking overseas. At that point the advertising you have already done may or may not count — and if it does not, you start the clock again.
This page is about the advertising requirement specifically. It is not migration advice, and the thresholds below change every 1 July.
The short version
- Labour market testing generally means two valid advertisements before you can nominate.
- Workforce Australia advertising stopped being mandatory on 11 December 2023 — the requirement dropped from three ads to two.
- The Core Skills Income Threshold is AUD 79,423 for nominations lodged in 2026-27.
- You must pay the higher of the threshold and the annual market salary rate, and non-monetary benefits don't count.
- Advertise as though you will need the evidence, because you may.
What does labour market testing require of a job ad?
For the Skills in Demand visa's Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams, employers must generally run two valid advertisements for the position in Australia and provide copies of the advertising material when they nominate.
Labour market testing exists so the department can see you tried to fill the role locally. Since 11 December 2023 advertising on Workforce Australia is no longer required, which reduced the obligation from three advertisements to two.
The practical consequence for a small employer is simple: keep the evidence. Screenshots of the live ad, the dates it ran, the platform, and the response you got. An ad that has expired and left no record is an ad you cannot prove you placed.
What salary must you pay to sponsor a worker in 2026-27?
You must pay at least the relevant income threshold — AUD 79,423 for Core Skills or AUD 146,576 for Specialist Skills in 2026-27 — and at least the annual market salary rate, whichever is higher.
| Threshold | 2026-27 | 2025-26 | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Skills (CSIT) | AUD 79,423 | AUD 76,515 | Subclass 482 Core Skills stream; subclass 186 ENS nominations |
| Specialist Skills (SSIT) | AUD 146,576 | AUD 141,210 | Subclass 482 Specialist Skills stream |
Two things trip employers up here. The first is that the threshold is a floor, not a target: if an Australian doing the same job in your business would earn $95,000, that is the annual market salary rate and it is what you must pay, regardless of the threshold being lower.
The second is what counts. Home Affairs excludes non-monetary benefits from the calculation. A package padded with a vehicle, accommodation or equity does not clear the threshold — the cash does, or it does not.
How should you write an ad for a role you may sponsor?
Write a genuine, specific ad aimed at the local market first — it has to be credible as a real attempt to hire locally, and a vague ad undermines both the recruitment and the evidence.
There is a temptation to write the ad narrowly so that nobody local qualifies. It is a bad idea on every axis: it weakens the nomination, it wastes the advertising spend, and the requirements list is the single biggest cause of thin applicant pools in the first place.
Don't
A requirements list engineered to exclude
Instead
Three to five genuine non-negotiables. If a local candidate meets them, you have saved yourself a sponsorship.
Don't
"Salary negotiable" on a role you may sponsor
Instead
Publish the actual range. You will have to evidence the market rate anyway, so there is nothing to protect.
Don't
Letting the ad expire with no record
Instead
Screenshot the live ad with its dates on the day it goes up, and file it.
The general advice on writing a strong ad applies here too — see how to write a job ad that gets applications — with the one addition that you are writing for two audiences: candidates, and eventually a case officer.
Is sponsorship worth it for a small business?
It is worth it when the role is genuinely unfillable locally and you can commit to the salary, the fees and a months-long timeline — and not worth it as a reaction to one disappointing advertising round.
Sponsorship is a real commitment: becoming an approved sponsor, the nomination, the visa application, the Skilling Australians Fund levy, and a process measured in months rather than weeks. Against that, the vacancy cost of a genuinely unfillable role compounds every week.
Before you go down this path, it is worth being honest about whether the role is unfillable or just under-advertised. A role that attracted nobody at $75,000 with a twelve-point requirements list is not evidence that Australia has no such workers. Work out what the vacancy is actually costing you and test a stronger ad at a higher rate first — it is cheaper and faster than sponsorship, and sometimes it works.
Common questions
How many ads are required for labour market testing?
Generally two valid advertisements. Advertising on Workforce Australia stopped being mandatory on 11 December 2023, which reduced the requirement from three advertisements to two. Copies of the advertising material must be provided with the nomination.
What is the Core Skills Income Threshold for 2026-27?
AUD 79,423 for nomination applications lodged between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027, up from AUD 76,515 in 2025-26. It applies to the Skills in Demand subclass 482 Core Skills stream and to subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme nominations.
Do non-monetary benefits count towards the visa salary threshold?
No. The Department of Home Affairs assesses the threshold on the worker's pay excluding non-monetary benefits, so a package made up partly of accommodation, a vehicle or equity will not clear the threshold on those components.
Do I have to pay a sponsored worker the same as an Australian?
Yes. You must determine the annual market salary rate — what an equivalent Australian worker in the same job would earn — and pay no less than that, as well as no less than the relevant income threshold. Nominations that pay below the equivalent Australian rate are refused.
Read next
How to write a job ad that actually gets applications
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Finding the right award, and what the legal floor actually is once loading, penalties and super are counted.
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