- By Saurabh Smar, Principal Solicitor, Global Vision Migration Lawyers
- 10 Sep, 2026
An inner Melbourne restaurant had its Skills in Demand nomination approved and its chef's visa granted on the same day, 5 September 2026. One decision date for both stages, no request for further information, a three year visa with multiple entry.
That matters, because the Department publishes processing times showing the slowest ten per cent of 482 nominations at around nine months and Core Skills visas running to a median near sixty nine days. Landing both on one day means the visa was lodged alongside the nomination and both files were complete enough to decide together.
It matters more because the applicant held a Thai passport, which puts this file in one of the most heavily scrutinised categories in the employer sponsored programme.
The File at a Glance
Why a Chef from Thailand Is One of the Hardest 482 Profiles
Chef sits on the Core Skills Occupation List, so restaurants across Australia can sponsor it. The difficulty is not the list. It is what sits behind it.
A mandatory skills assessment applies to the chef occupation for applicants holding passports from a specified group of countries, and Thailand is one of them. So are Vietnam, India, the Philippines, China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Assessment for trades is carried out by Trades Recognition Australia and it is not a formality, typically involving documentary evidence, a technical interview and in some pathways a practical assessment, charged in stages.
Because the requirement follows the passport rather than the person's skill, two chefs with identical experience can face completely different applications. Restaurant owners usually discover this after they have made an offer.
Lawyer Insight (GVML Strategy)
The skills assessment is not a document you add later. Where a mandatory assessment applies it must be underway before the visa application is lodged.
Lodging without it does not produce a request for further information. It can produce an invalid application, meaning the charge is spent, the nomination clock keeps running, and the chef is left on whatever visa they had.
Build the timeline backwards from the assessment, not forwards from the job offer.
Confirm whether the requirement applies to your candidate's passport and occupation before anyone signs anything, and book the assessment first. That one sequencing decision separates the files that move from the ones that never recover.
The Caveat That Decides Which Restaurants Qualify
The chef occupation carries caveats limiting the kind of business and role that can sponsor. Historically these have excluded positions in limited service restaurants, covering fast food and takeaway, fast casual restaurants, drinking establishments with only limited food service, limited service cafes including coffee shops and mall cafes, and limited service pizza restaurants. They have also excluded mass production in a factory setting.
Caveats are set by legislative instrument and change, so confirm the current wording before you lodge. The principle does not change: the Department is testing whether this is a genuine chef role in a genuine restaurant, or a cook's position dressed up in a better occupation code.
Bringing the Spouse Across Afterwards
Family members need not be included in the original application. A partner or dependent child can apply later as a subsequent entrant, which is common where the chef travels first and the family follows once work and housing are settled.
It requires evidence of a genuine and continuing relationship, health and character clearances, adequate health insurance, and written confirmation from the employer that sponsorship extends to the family member. No fresh nomination is needed, and the partner's visa aligns with the primary holder's rather than running for a fresh period.
Lawyer Insight (GVML Strategy)
When the spouse applies is a strategic choice, not an afterthought. Including a partner in the original application usually costs less overall and gets everyone onshore together. Applying later spreads the cost and lets the chef confirm the job is right first, but it means a second application, a second wait, and a relationship evidenced from scratch.
The trap sits in the alignment rule. A partner who applies two years into a three year visa gets roughly one year, not three, so the value of the second charge falls the longer you wait. Decide the family sequence at the start of the matter, not when the chef rings from Australia asking how to bring his wife over.
The Conditions That Bind the Chef After Grant
Condition 8501 requires adequate health insurance throughout the stay, and reciprocal arrangements may not be enough. Condition 8607 locks the holder to the nominated occupation and sponsoring employer, requires any mandatory licence to be held, and caps time out of employment at 180 consecutive days. For a restaurant the practical risk is a quiet season pushing the chef past that mark with nobody tracking it, and a breach exposes the visa to cancellation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a restaurant sponsor a chef on a 482 visa in Australia?
Yes. Chef is on the Core Skills Occupation List. The business needs standard business sponsorship, must meet the occupation caveats, satisfy labour market testing and pay at least the Core Skills Income Threshold and the market salary rate.
Does a Thai chef need a skills assessment for a 482 visa?
Chef is on the mandatory skills assessment list and Thailand is one of the specified passport countries, assessed through Trades Recognition Australia. Confirm the current position before lodging, because a mandatory assessment not yet commenced can make the application invalid.
What is the difference between a chef and a cook for visa purposes?
Separate occupations, separate codes, different requirements. A chef plans menus, supervises kitchen staff and controls cost and quality. Nominating a chef for what is really a cook's position is a common reason for refusal.
Can I sponsor a chef for a takeaway shop or cafe?
Caveats have historically excluded limited service restaurants, including fast food, takeaway, fast casual, limited service cafes and limited service pizza. Check the current wording against your business before you spend anything.
Can my chef's wife come to Australia later?
Yes, as a subsequent entrant. She will need evidence of the relationship, health and character clearances, health insurance and written confirmation of sponsorship from the employer. Her visa aligns with the chef's rather than running for a fresh period.
What happens if the chef leaves the restaurant?
Condition 8607 allows no more than 180 consecutive days out of employment. Within that window the chef must be nominated by another approved sponsor in the same occupation, be granted another visa, or depart.
Speak to Our Immigration Lawyers
Global Vision Migration Lawyers acts for restaurants and hospitality employers across Australia on standard business sponsorship, nomination, visa lodgement, subsequent entrant applications and permanent residence. We build files that answer the delegate's questions before they are asked, which is the only part of the processing time an employer controls.
Our work is carried out by Australian legal practitioners. That matters on chef and cook files, where occupation caveats, mandatory skills assessments and the line between a chef position and a cook's role decide the outcome, and where a refusal leaves a restaurant short staffed for months. Offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, the Gold Coast and Perth, acting Australia wide.
Book a consultation. Bring your menu, your kitchen structure and your candidate's passport and qualifications, and we will tell you honestly whether the position is nominable before you make an offer.
