- By Saurabh Smar, Principal Solicitor, Global Vision Migration Lawyers
- 23 Mar, 2026
What is changing on 1 July 2026?
For employer-sponsored visas, the CSIT and SSIT are not meant to sit still. Under reg 5.42A of the Migration Regulations 1994, they are indexed annually on 1 July using the ABS Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) figures for the relevant December quarter. That means a new legislative instrument is not required for the annual update to occur. The ABS released the November 2025 AWOTE figure on 26 February 2026, showing full-time adult ordinary time earnings of $2,051.10, up from $1,975.80 in November 2024.
The current Home Affairs settings for the 2025–26 year are $76,515 for the CSIT and $141,210 for the SSIT, applying to relevant nominations lodged between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. Multiple March 2026 industry updates are now reporting the 1 July 2026 thresholds as $79,499 and $146,717 respectively.
Why is there no legislative instrument this time?
Because reg 5.42A builds the indexation mechanism directly into the Regulations. The provision says the thresholds are replaced on each indexation day if the factor is greater than 1, and the Secretary must publish the replacement amount on the Department’s website as soon as practicable after indexation. Importantly, the regulation also says that a failure to publish does not invalidate the indexation itself.
Which visas are affected?
Subclass 482 – Skills in Demand visa
For the Subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa, the Core Skills stream is tied to the CSIT, while the Specialist Skills stream is tied to the SSIT.
Subclass 186 – Employer Nomination Scheme
For the Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme, Home Affairs’ Direct Entry and Temporary Residence Transition both state that skilled visa income thresholds increase in line with changes to AWOTE, which is why the 1 July 2026 movement matters well beyond temporary sponsorship.
If you are preparing any relevant 482 or 186 nomination for lodgement on or after 1 July 2026, you should assume the salary floor is moving upward and build your case file accordingly.
Do I still need to meet the market salary rate?
Yes. Absolutely.
The threshold is not the whole test. Home Affairs says new nomination applications must meet the relevant income threshold or the annual market salary rate, whichever is higher. It also says that where the overseas worker will be paid less than $250,000 annually, the nominator must show it has determined the annual market salary rate and that the nominee will be paid no less than an equivalent Australian worker.
That means a business offering a salary at or just above the headline threshold can still run into trouble if:
• the AMSR is actually higher;
• the business cannot prove how the salary was set;
• the role description does not match the occupation;
• the hours, allowances or package structure are poorly explained.
Why does this change matter for 482 and 186 cases?
For employers, this is not just a number-change story. It is a budgeting, compliance and timing story.
A higher threshold can affect:
• whether an employer can still justify sponsoring the position;
• whether a candidate’s package needs to be restructured before lodgement;
• whether the role should be lodged before or after 1 July 2026;
• whether the nomination evidence already prepared is still commercially and legally viable.
In practice, the businesses most exposed are those filing close-threshold nominations in sectors where the market salary evidence is already tight. That is common in hospitality, retail-linked management roles, trades, and some small-to-medium professional services businesses where remuneration bands are narrow. This is precisely where legal drafting quality matters: salary evidence has to be consistent across the contract, nomination form, organisational chart, payroll assumptions and recruitment material.
What are Home Affairs and ART trends telling us in 2026?
From a practitioner’s perspective, the 2026 message is simple: front-end nomination quality matters more than ever.
Home Affairs’ current sponsorship materials still emphasise salary compliance, labour market testing, and stream-specific requirements such as the Core Skills Occupation List for the 482 Core Skills stream. The Department’s labour market testing page also continues to require employers to test the local labour market before nominating in relevant cases.
On the review side, the ART remains able to review many migration-related refusal and cancellation decisions, but processing times are far from quick. For migration matters finalised between 1 September 2025 and 28 February 2026, the ART reports that Nomination/Sponsor approval cases were finalised within 1 year and 8 months for 50% of matters, and 2 years and 10 months for 95% of matters. The ART also has a request for expedited decision pathway, but that is not a substitute for getting the nomination right the first time.
Legal Practitioner Perspective
The policy reason behind salary indexation is obvious: the Government wants sponsored workers to be paid at a level that keeps pace with broader wage movement in Australia, not at stale historical rates.
But the legal reality is more nuanced. In the cases I see, refusals often arise not because the employer ignored the threshold, but because they treated the threshold as the only salary rule. That is the mistake. The threshold is the gate. The AMSR evidence is the substance.
What should employers do before 1 July 2026?
1) Review every open 482 and 186 file now
If your proposed package is close to the present threshold, do not wait until late June to review it. Re-check:
• base salary;
• guaranteed earnings;
• superannuation treatment;
• allowances;
• full-time hours;
• internal comparator salaries.
2) Rebuild your AMSR evidence
Where annual earnings are below $250,000, Home Affairs still expects proper AMSR evidence. That means employers should have a clean file showing how the figure was reached, not just what the figure is.
3) Audit labour market testing before you lodge
If the nomination requires labour market testing, the ads and evidence must still be valid and strategically drafted. A rushed re-advertising exercise in late June often causes more damage than delay.
4) Check the occupation strategy, not just the pay
For the 482 Core Skills stream, the occupation still needs to sit on the CSOL. A salary increase does not fix a weak occupation match.
5) Do not assume a later website update changes the legal position
Reg 5.42A expressly contemplates that the Department may publish the replacement amount after the indexation day, and that publication lag does not invalidate the indexation. That is why serious employers prepare for the increase before the website catches up.
Should applicants lodge before 1 July 2026?
Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.
A pre–1 July 2026 lodgement may make sense where:
• the nomination is otherwise decision-ready;
• the salary is lawfully compliant under the current threshold;
• the LMT and occupation evidence are already strong;
• delaying the case would create unnecessary salary pressure.
But a rushed lodgement is a poor strategy where the file still has weak AMSR evidence, inconsistent job duties, or unresolved sponsorship issues. A refusal is usually far more expensive than a properly managed timing decision — especially when ART review times for nomination and sponsor cases are already measured in many months, not weeks.
The bottom line for employers and sponsored workers
For relevant Subclass 482 and Subclass 186 cases, salary thresholds are moving again from 1 July 2026 because the Regulations automatically tie them to ABS AWOTE.
Employers should plan now, because salary threshold changes rarely cause problems in isolation — they cause problems when combined with weak AMSR evidence, rushed labour market testing, or poor occupation alignment.
If you are an employer, HR manager or visa applicant and you want a clear go / no-go view before filing, get the nomination audited before 30 June 2026, not after a refusal
Employers: request a 15-minute Employer Sponsorship Audit with Saurabh Smar before 1 July 2026.
Already received a refusal or procedural fairness concern?
Request a 15-minute ART Appeal Audit and get a straight answer on review rights, deadlines and evidence strategy.
Also Know About
• Employer Sponsored Visas
• Skills in Demand (SID) Visa SC482
• ART & Court Appeals
