Allied health sponsorship gives practices, aged care providers and NDIS services a lawful route to the physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and dietitians they cannot recruit locally. However, it also creates obligations that outlast the visa grant. Therefore employers should understand the requirements before they make an offer, not after.
Home Affairs refuses more of these nominations than most employers expect. Rarely does the candidate cause the problem. Instead, registration timing and salary rules interact in ways that catch practices out, and the difficulty usually surfaces after recruitment rather than before it.
This page sets out what allied health sponsorship actually requires: occupation eligibility, professional registration, salary thresholds, and the sponsor obligations that follow. It offers general information rather than advice on your circumstances.
Allied health sponsorship involves three approvals, not one
Employers often treat sponsorship as a single application. In fact it is three, and each must succeed on its own terms. Consequently the most expensive mistake in this area is recruiting first and checking eligibility second.
1. Standard Business Sponsorship
First, you apply to become an approved sponsor. You must operate lawfully in Australia and show no adverse information. Home Affairs will weigh unpaid Fair Work penalties, workplace prosecutions and unresolved compliance findings at this stage. Approval usually runs for five years and covers as many nominations as you need.
2. Nomination of the position
Second, you nominate the specific role. Most allied health matters succeed or fail here. The position must correspond genuinely to an eligible occupation, appear on the applicable occupation list, and attract at least the relevant income threshold and the market rate. Labour Market Testing also applies unless an exemption covers you.
3. The visa application
Finally, the practitioner applies for the visa. They must show the qualifications and experience their occupation demands, meet the English requirement, and satisfy health and character criteria. Above all, they must hold or clearly qualify for any registration the role requires.
Salary thresholds for allied health sponsorship from 1 July 2026
Two separate salary tests apply, and your nomination must clear both. Because the thresholds indexed on 1 July 2026, budgets set earlier in the financial year will often fall short.
| Threshold | Amount | Applies to |
| Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) | $79,423 | Subclass 482 Core Skills stream; Subclass 186 nominations |
| Specialist Skills Income Threshold (SSIT) | $146,576 | Subclass 482 Specialist Skills stream |
| Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) | $79,423 | Subclass 494 and Subclass 187 nominations |
| Annual Market Salary Rate (AMSR) | Role-specific | All nominations — pay the higher of the AMSR and the threshold |
Income thresholds for nominations lodged on or after 1 July 2026.
The lodgement date fixes which figure applies, not the decision date. Accordingly, the earlier CSIT of $76,515 still governs any nomination you lodged before 1 July 2026.
The part-time trap
Home Affairs assesses guaranteed annual earnings as the amount your practitioner will actually receive. It does not pro-rate to a full-time equivalent. For example, a four-day-a-week occupational therapist role paying $68,000 fails the CSIT, even though the notional 1.0 FTE rate would clear it comfortably.
Many practices staff on fractional loads, particularly in paediatric therapy and community health. In those settings, you will generally need to build the nominated position as a genuine full-time role instead.
Which occupations qualify for allied health sponsorship
For the Subclass 482 and Subclass 186 programs, Home Affairs applies the ANZSCO 2022 classification. Other skilled visas, including the Subclass 494 [/skilled-employer-sponsored-regional-494/], still reference an earlier version. As a result, a code that suits one application will not automatically suit another.
Your nominated position must also match the ANZSCO tasks and skill level. A job title alone will not carry a nomination.
| Occupation | Code | Registration | Skills assessing authority |
| Physiotherapist | 252511 | AHPRA — Physiotherapy Board | Australian Physiotherapy Council |
| Occupational Therapist | 252411 | AHPRA — Occupational Therapy Board | Occupational Therapy Council (Australia & New Zealand) |
| Podiatrist | 252611 | AHPRA — Podiatry Board | Australian and New Zealand Podiatry Accreditation Council |
| Speech Pathologist | 252712 | Not AHPRA — self-regulating | Speech Pathology Australia |
| Audiologist | 252711 | Not AHPRA — self-regulating | Audiology Australia |
| Dietitian | 251111 | Not AHPRA — self-regulating | Dietitians Australia |
| Exercise Physiologist | 234915 | Not AHPRA — self-regulating | VETASSESS |
| Social Worker | 272511 | Not AHPRA — self-regulating | Australian Association of Social Workers |
| Medical Diagnostic Radiographer | 251211 | AHPRA — Medical Radiation Practice Board | Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy |
| Optometrist | 251411 | AHPRA — Optometry Board | Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand |
Commonly sponsored allied health occupations (ANZSCO 2022).
Occupation lists change. Therefore you should confirm your occupation against the current legislative instrument before you commit to a candidate. We cover the wider list in our guide to the Skills in Demand (Subclass 482) visa [/skills-in-demand-visa-482/].
Registration decides your allied health sponsorship timeline
This distinction drives the sequencing of the entire matter, although employers routinely misunderstand it.
AHPRA-registered professions
Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, psychology, optometry, chiropractic, osteopathy and medical radiation practice all sit under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme. Your practitioner cannot lawfully practise until the relevant National Board grants registration.
Overseas-qualified applicants generally need a positive assessment from their profession’s accreditation council first. That assessment can take many months. Sponsorship does not shorten it, and a visa grant does not replace it.
Self-regulated professions
Speech pathology, audiology, dietetics, exercise physiology and social work fall outside AHPRA. No statutory registration gate applies. Nevertheless, the professional body’s credential still matters commercially, because Medicare provider numbers, NDIS registration, health fund recognition and aged care funding frequently depend on it.
To illustrate: a dietitian who cannot obtain Accredited Practising Dietitian status may be lawfully employable and commercially unusable at the same time. Our allied health and dietitians page [/allied-health-dietitians-employer-sponsorship/] covers how we handle these matters day to day.
Sequence the assessment first
For AHPRA professions, start the accreditation council assessment before the nomination, or at least alongside it. Otherwise you risk holding an approved nomination and a practitioner who cannot see a patient for another six months.
Choosing the right visa pathway
| Pathway | Nature | Key features |
| Subclass 482 — Core Skills | Temporary, up to 4 years | The occupation must appear on the Core Skills Occupation List. One year of relevant experience applies. Leads to permanent residence after two years with you. |
| Subclass 482 — Specialist Skills | Temporary, up to 4 years | No occupation list applies, but earnings must reach the SSIT. Allied health rarely reaches it outside senior clinical leadership. |
| Subclass 494 | Provisional, 5 years, regional | Regional employers only. Leads to permanent residence via Subclass 191. |
| Subclass 186 — Direct Entry | Permanent | Requires a skills assessment. Suits a credentialed practitioner you want to secure permanently from the outset. |
| Subclass 186 — Temporary Residence Transition | Permanent | For practitioners you already sponsor. Usually the cleanest route for an existing 482 holder. |
| Labour agreements and DAMA | Negotiated | Can unlock concessions on salary, English or occupation. Particularly relevant for aged care and regional NDIS providers. |
What allied health sponsorship obligates you to
Sponsorship approval carries enforceable obligations, and Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force monitor them actively. These are not administrative formalities, because breaches attract civil penalties, sanctions and barring.
- Equivalent terms. You must not employ the practitioner on terms less favourable than an equivalent Australian worker in the same role and location.
- Pay the nominated salary. Actual earnings must not fall below the approved figure. Cutting hours to manage a quiet quarter breaches this obligation.
- Nominated occupation only. The practitioner must work in the position you nominated. Moving a sponsored physiotherapist into practice management breaches the obligation even if they agree to it.
- Notify changes within 28 days. Tell Home Affairs when employment ends, duties change, your structure changes, or the business becomes insolvent.
- Keep records in a reproducible form for the prescribed period.
- Do not recover costs. You cannot pass sponsorship or nomination costs, including the Skilling Australians Fund levy, on to the worker.
Allied health employers face a second layer as well. These obligations sit alongside the Fair Work Act, your modern award or enterprise agreement, and — for NDIS and aged care providers — sector-specific screening and quality standards. Consequently a migration decision made without checking the award rate becomes a compliance problem later. Our employment law team [/employment-law/] works on these questions alongside the visa file.
Costs and timing
Budget for the sponsorship application, the nomination charge, the Skilling Australians Fund levy, the visa application charge, skills assessment and accreditation fees, English testing and health examinations. Home Affairs charges the levy per nomination, scales it to your annual turnover, and for temporary sponsorship calculates it on the number of years you nominate.
Realistic end-to-end timing runs to months rather than weeks. Notably, the accreditation council assessment — not the visa — usually sets the critical path. Plan your recruitment around it.
Allied health sponsorship: common questions
Can we sponsor an allied health assistant?
Generally not through the standard program. Allied health assistant roles do not map to an eligible professional occupation code under the classification Home Affairs applies to these visas, and your nominated position must match the tasks and skill level of the occupation. Where the workforce need is genuine, explore a labour agreement instead.
Does the practitioner need AHPRA registration before the visa is granted?
Where registration is mandatory, the applicant must hold it or demonstrate eligibility for it. In practice, registration should be well advanced before you lodge. Otherwise a grant leaves you with a worker you cannot lawfully deploy.
We are a small NDIS provider. Can we sponsor?
Yes. No minimum business size applies to standard business sponsorship. You must operate lawfully, show the position is genuine and ongoing, and demonstrate you can pay the applicable threshold and market rate. Newer businesses should expect closer scrutiny of financial capacity, however.
Can a sponsored practitioner work across two of our clinics?
Usually yes, provided the nomination reflects the arrangement accurately and both sites belong to the same legal entity. Placing the practitioner with a separate entity, or on-hiring them to another provider, raises different issues and attracts prohibitions in some circumstances.
What happens if the practitioner resigns?
Notify Home Affairs within 28 days. The practitioner then has a limited period to find a new sponsor, apply for another visa or depart. Your notification obligation applies regardless of how the employment ended.
Talk to us about allied health sponsorship
Tolic Lawyers advises private practices, aged care providers, NDIS services and community health organisations on employer-sponsored recruitment. We handle sponsorship approval, nomination strategy, sponsor compliance and Fair Work exposure.
Because we practise in both migration and employment law, we can tell you whether a proposed salary satisfies the CSIT and the award before you make the offer. Book a consultation at www.toliclawyers.com.au with our Parramatta office on (02) 8077 2562.
Discaimer: This page contains general information current as at July 2026 and does not constitute legal advice. Thresholds, occupation lists and fees change. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
