Australian businesses that sponsor foreign talent woke up on 6 July to a higher price-of-entry. A legislative instrument that took effect on 1 July has now flowed through immigration systems, and guidance published overnight confirms the new thresholds are in force. The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) has jumped from AUD 76,515 to AUD 79,423, while the Core-Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) and Specialist-Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) rise to AUD 79,423 and AUD 146,576 respectively. The change affects every new nomination lodged for the core skilled streams of the subclass 482 Skills-in-Demand visa, the subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme and the subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa. Existing visa holders are not grandfathered when they move employer or renew; any fresh nomination must satisfy the higher floor, making forward salary budgeting critical. Migration advisers say the three-in-one uplift represents Australia’s most significant real-term salary reset since 2013.
![New Salary Floors Now Live for All Employer-Sponsored Skilled Visas]()
Need a hand aligning your next nomination with the new salary floors? VisaHQ’s Australia portal offers quick visa eligibility checks, document checklists and on-call specialists who can walk employers and talent through TSMIT, CSIT and SSIT compliance.
Because sponsors must also pay the higher of market rate or the threshold, companies in hospitality, early-career tech and retail will feel the pinch first. A Brisbane restaurant that previously cleared the AUD 76,515 bar for a sous-chef must now either raise remuneration or abandon the nomination. The Department of Home Affairs argues the increase simply keeps pace with Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings and helps to protect locals from undercutting. Employer groups counter that repeated rises without streamlined processing could drive skilled workers to Canada or the UAE. Corporates with July recruitment rounds are urgently repricing offer letters; those mid-process have 12 months to lodge decision-ready applications before labour agreements are revisited. Practical tip: build a 5 % contingency into offer budgets, confirm that allowances are ‘guaranteed earnings’ for threshold purposes, and document market-rate evidence early—case officers are already requesting updated employment contracts.
Need a hand aligning your next nomination with the new salary floors? VisaHQ’s Australia portal offers quick visa eligibility checks, document checklists and on-call specialists who can walk employers and talent through TSMIT, CSIT and SSIT compliance.
Because sponsors must also pay the higher of market rate or the threshold, companies in hospitality, early-career tech and retail will feel the pinch first. A Brisbane restaurant that previously cleared the AUD 76,515 bar for a sous-chef must now either raise remuneration or abandon the nomination. The Department of Home Affairs argues the increase simply keeps pace with Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings and helps to protect locals from undercutting. Employer groups counter that repeated rises without streamlined processing could drive skilled workers to Canada or the UAE. Corporates with July recruitment rounds are urgently repricing offer letters; those mid-process have 12 months to lodge decision-ready applications before labour agreements are revisited. Practical tip: build a 5 % contingency into offer budgets, confirm that allowances are ‘guaranteed earnings’ for threshold purposes, and document market-rate evidence early—case officers are already requesting updated employment contracts.
