Australia | Skilled visa income threshold will increase by 3.75% effective July 1

Australia’s skilled visa income threshold will increase by 3.75%, effective July 1, 2026, to align with changes in the annual Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings.

Key takeaways:

Income threshold increases

The Core Skills Income Threshold will increase from AU$76,515 to AU$79,499. The Specialist Skills Income Threshold will increase from AU$141,210 to AU$146,717.

Impacted skilled visa categories

Impacted skilled visa categories include the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) Visa and Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) Visa.

Exemptions

Only nominations lodged on or after July 1 will be impacted by the new thresholds. These changes do not apply to existing visa holders or nominations lodged before July 1. Applications lodged prior to July 1 (but that remain pending) will continue to be considered based on the Temporary Skilled Migration Immigration Threshold in place “at the time of lodgement.”

Additional Information: The thresholds are indexed annually to ensure parity with Australian workers’ wages. An overview of the Australian government’s requirements for nominating workers for subclass 482, 494, 186 and 187 with income thresholds can be found here.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice Group.

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