Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186)

The Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) is permanent residency sponsored by an Australian employer. For Irish workers who are already in Australia, or who can find a sponsor, it is usually a more achievable route to permanent residency than the points test.

The reason is simple. The points-tested visas put you in a ranked pool and invite the highest scorers in your occupation, which means your outcome depends on how you compare with everyone else. The 186 has no pool and no ranking. If your employer nominates you and you meet the criteria, the application is assessed on its own merits.

The two streams that matter

Temporary Residence Transition. You have worked for your sponsoring employer for two years on a Skills in Demand visa and they nominate you for the role permanently. This is the common path, and the two year period was reduced from three.

Direct Entry. You apply without having held a 482, but you need a positive skills assessment for your occupation and at least three years of relevant work experience. Used by people recruited directly from Ireland into roles where the employer wants to sponsor permanently from the outset.

There is also a Labour Agreement stream for employers with negotiated agreements covering specific occupations.

The sequence most Irish applicants follow

1. A Working Holiday visa, often where the relationship with the employer begins
2. Employer sponsorship on a 482, which requires them to become an approved sponsor
3. Two years working in the nominated role
4. The employer nominates you for the 186, and you apply for permanent residency

Each step is a separate application with its own cost and timeline, and the whole sequence runs over years rather than months. What makes it work is that the Australian employer already knows your work by the time permanent residency is on the table.

The age limit is the real deadline

You must generally be under 45 when you apply. This catches people out because the pathway is slow by design: two years on a 482 before you can use the transition stream.

Work backwards. If you are 42 when you start a 482, you will be 44 when you become eligible — which is tight but workable. If you are 44, the transition stream will not be available to you in time.

Some exemptions exist, including for certain applicants who have held a 457 or 482 and been paid above a high income threshold for the relevant period, and for some academic, research and medical roles. They are genuine but narrow, so do not plan around one without checking whether it actually applies to you.

English, and why it is simpler here

The 186 requires competent English, and an Irish passport establishes that without a test.

This is worth contrasting with the points-tested route. On a 189 or 190, competent English scores zero points, so Irish applicants who want to be competitive have to sit IELTS or PTE to claim proficient or superior English. On the 186 there are no points to chase — competent is the requirement and your passport meets it. For many Irish applicants that alone makes this route considerably less work.

What your employer has to do

Your employer must be an approved sponsor and must nominate you for a genuine, permanent, full-time position, paying at least the market salary rate for the role.

They also carry the nomination costs. As with the 482, employer-side costs are legally the employer's and it is unlawful to pass them on to you. You pay your own visa application charge.

Because this is a permanent nomination rather than a temporary one, employers treat it as a bigger commitment than a 482 nomination. Raising it early, and well before your 482 is close to expiring, gives everyone time.

The trade-off

The two year transition period is tied to your sponsoring employer. Changing employers generally means starting it again with the new sponsor.

That is the honest cost of this pathway. It rewards staying with one employer through a period when you might otherwise move for better pay or conditions, and it puts you in a weaker negotiating position while you do. Worth knowing before you commit rather than discovering at month eighteen.

Costs

Confirm the current charge on the official fee schedule before lodging, and see our costs page for how this compares with other routes.

After it is granted

Permanent residency lets you live and work in Australia indefinitely, with access to Medicare and no employer restriction on your visa — so once it is granted, the incentive to stay with your sponsor disappears. It is also the usual step before applying for Australian citizenship.

Partners and dependent children included in the application are granted permanent residency at the same time.

How we can help

We help Irish applicants plan the sequence towards employer-sponsored permanent residency, prepare the visa side of a nomination, and check the age arithmetic before you commit years to a pathway that will not finish in time.

We are not registered migration agents in Australia. Cases involving an age exemption, a contested skills assessment or a refused nomination may need a registered agent, and we will say so.

You can apply directly yourself at any time through the Department of Home Affairs. Get in touch to talk through where you are in the sequence.