Proving the employer-employee relationship for 482 and 494 in 2026

Both the Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand visa, formerly Temporary Skill Shortage) and the Subclass 494 (Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa) require the applicant to be in a genuine, direct employment relationship with the sponsor — or, on the 494 Employer Sponsored stream, with a position in the nominator's own business or in the business of an associated entity. For the 494, the requirement comes from regulation 494.222 in Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994; for the 482, the substance is found in regulation 482.212(2) and the operational test is set out in the Department of Home Affairs' PAM3 policy guidance, which for the 494 lists the indicators a case officer weighs — employment contract, power of appointment and dismissal, control over the work environment, task allocation, wage payment, tax compliance, leave, WHS and superannuation — and for the 482 states the applicant is employed by the sponsor or an associated entity unless an occupation-specific exemption applies. For an agent, that means the practical job is not arguing the relationship in a submission — it is assembling six stacks of documents that each independently point the same way. Because the compiled regulation text and the Department's visa pages are updated without notice, the controlling version is always the one currently published on the Federal Register of Legislation and the Department's visa listing pages.

What the 482 rules actually require

The 482 criteria do not use the phrase "employer-employee relationship" in the way practitioners do, but the substance is there. The applicant must genuinely intend to perform the nominated occupation, and the associated position must be genuine (regulation 482.212(2)); the nomination behind the application must have been approved and must not have ceased (482.212(1)). PAM3 adds the operational test: the applicant is employed by the sponsor, or by an associated entity of the sponsor, unless an occupation-specific exemption applies, and working at a business premises unrelated to the sponsor does not by itself negate a direct employment relationship.

That last point is the one worth carrying into every file. A 482 applicant who is on a client site, on a project location, or inside a group company other than the sponsoring entity is not automatically a labour hire arrangement. What matters is who contracts them, who pays them, who directs them and who can dismiss them.

What the 494 rules actually require

The 494 is more explicit. On the Employer Sponsored stream, regulation 494.222 requires the applicant to be employed in the nominated occupation in the business of the nominator, or in the business of an associated entity of the nominator. PAM3 for the 494 states the core requirement in plain terms: direct employment by the sponsor or an associated entity, not engagement as an independent contractor and not a labour hire placement, and it lists the indicators a case officer weighs — employment contract, power of appointment and dismissal, control over the work environment, task allocation, wage payment, tax compliance, leave, WHS and superannuation.

PAM3 also records the bright-line rule that a labour hire company cannot use the 494 through standard business sponsorship. The Labour Agreement stream exists alongside the Employer Sponsored stream, but its age, English, skills and experience requirements are set by the terms of the individual agreement rather than by the standard criteria.

The six evidence stacks behind a direct employment claim

Evidence stack	What it demonstrates	Documents an agent normally holds
Contract	The engagement is employment, not a supply of services	Signed contract or letter of engagement naming the sponsoring entity, position title, duties, hours, pay rate and who may terminate
Payroll	The sponsor pays the person as an employee	Payslips issued by the sponsor, bank credit records, payroll ledger entries
Tax	The relationship is treated as employment for revenue purposes	PAYG withholding records, TFN declaration, payment summaries or STP records
Leave	Employee entitlements accrue and are approved	Leave requests and approvals, accrued annual and personal leave balances
WHS	The sponsor controls and is responsible for the work environment	Induction records, site safety instructions, incident reporting lines, PPE issue records
Superannuation	Statutory superannuation is paid on the person's behalf	Super fund membership, contribution history, choice-of-fund form

The stacks are cumulative, not alternative. A signed contract alone will not carry a file where pay runs through invoices; conversely, clean payroll and super records will not rescue an arrangement where the sponsor has no power to direct or remove the person. Each stack answers a different indicator, and a gap in one is best closed by evidence in the same stack rather than by volume elsewhere.

Where associated entities fit — and where they break

Both subclasses allow the employment to sit with an entity associated with the sponsor, but the relationship must still be direct employment with that entity. In a group structure, the sponsoring entity and the employing entity can differ only if the employing entity is genuinely associated with the sponsor and the person is on that entity's own payroll, under its own contract, subject to its own direction.

The arrangement breaks at predictable points: the person invoices the group rather than being paid through payroll; the person is placed by one company with another company that supervises the work and can end the placement; or the person's contract names one entity while payslips, superannuation and tax records name another. Any of these is a mixed indicator and will attract a request for further information.

What to collect, in order

Start with the contract and read it against the nomination.

Then pull payroll, tax and superannuation records for the same period.

Then collect the control evidence: task assignment records, reporting lines and approvals.

Then collect leave and WHS records.

Then reconcile every document to the same employing entity.

Then check that the documents cover the period up to the date of application, not a later period.

Finally, record the gaps and note which stack each gap belongs to.

What happens when the evidence does not line up

Employer-employee relationship failure is listed in PAM3 among the common reasons for 494 refusal, alongside independent contractor and labour hire findings. For the 482, the equivalent failure usually surfaces as a genuine-position or genuine-intention problem under 482.212(2). Neither decision is made without process: where a decision maker proposes to refuse on specific adverse information, PAM3 requires a written invitation to comment and a reasonable time to respond before a refusal is recorded, and the same natural justice step applies on the 494 where the nomination has ceased or adverse information about the employer is in play.

A practical consequence for agents: the invitation to comment is usually the only chance to supply documents that already existed but were not lodged. Records created after the application date do not prove the relationship at the time it had to exist.

This article is general information about how the published criteria and policy guidance work. It is not advice on any particular case, and it is not a substitute for the current official text or for professional advice on a specific arrangement; the regulation and PAM3 guidance can change, and the version that controls is the one the Department publishes at the time of decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a labour hire company sponsor someone for a 494 visa? Not through standard business sponsorship — PAM3 states plainly that a labour hire company cannot use the 494 on that basis. The subclass also has a Labour Agreement stream, but its requirements come from the terms of the individual agreement rather than the standard criteria.

Does working at a client's premises mean the 482 applicant is not directly employed? No. PAM3 for the 482 says working at a business premises unrelated to the sponsor does not by itself negate a direct employment relationship; the contract, pay, control and dismissal evidence still decide the question.

Can an associated entity be the employer instead of the sponsor? Yes for both subclasses, provided the entity is genuinely associated and the person is its direct employee. Being on the associated entity's contract, payroll, tax records and super contributions is what makes that structure work.

Is a contract enough if the person is paid by invoice? No. Invoicing, an ABN-based arrangement and the absence of PAYG withholding, leave accrual and super contributions point to an independent contractor relationship, which PAM3 treats as failing the 494 requirement.

What should an agent lodge first? The contract and the payroll, tax and superannuation records covering the period up to the application date. Those four stacks answer most of the indicators a case officer applies, and leave, WHS and control records then confirm the rest.

Does an approved nomination prove the employment relationship? Not on its own. An approved nomination is generally treated as evidence that the position is genuine, but the visa stage still examines the applicant's relationship with the sponsor, and new information can reopen the question.