How to find employers who sponsor visas in Australia (2026)

The quick version. Australia does not publish one searchable list of every employer that can sponsor a visa. You can still find thousands of them for free. Home Affairs releases lists of accredited sponsors under Freedom of Information and publishes a list of every employer with a current labour agreement. Free directories such as SponsorMap make the accredited list searchable by occupation and state. The Australian Border Force names sponsors that broke the rules, so you know who to avoid. Use these to build a target list, then apply to those companies' ads on Seek and Indeed.

This guide covers what each source shows, what it leaves out, which industries sponsor the most, the salary rules that decide whether sponsorship is even possible, and a step by step routine to turn a list of names into interviews.

Rules and figures were checked in October 2026. Visa settings change often, so confirm anything you rely on with Home Affairs or a registered migration agent.

why this matters to the people we build for

Of the 158 people who have filled in their karmik.ai profile, 37 are on a 485 Temporary Graduate visa and 11 more are on student visas. Almost every one of them is asking the same question: which companies will actually sponsor me when this visa runs out?

The good news is that 29 of those 37 graduates have more than 12 months left on their visa. That is enough time to target sponsors properly instead of applying to anything that moves. This guide is how to use that time.

why there is no single list of sponsors

Some countries publish a full public register of every employer licensed to sponsor workers. Australia does not. Approval as a sponsor is a private arrangement between the business and Home Affairs, and the department does not publish every approved standard business sponsor.

What it does publish, or release when asked, are pieces of the picture: the accredited sponsors, the employers holding labour agreements, and the sponsors that have been sanctioned. Put together, those pieces cover a large share of the employers who sponsor regularly. They miss smaller businesses that hold standard sponsorship without accreditation, which is why a company missing from every list may still sponsor.

the four kinds of sponsoring employer

Before you search, it helps to know what you are looking for. Employers sponsor under different arrangements, and each one shows up in a different place.

the free sources that show who sponsors

These are the sources worth your time. All of them are free. None of them shows who is hiring this week, so each one is a starting point, not a job list.

source 1: the accredited sponsor lists

Accreditation is the top tier of sponsor approval. Home Affairs grants it to employers with a track record of sponsoring and a clean compliance history, and their nominations get priority processing. A company on this list has done it before, knows the paperwork, and is far less likely to say 'we have never sponsored anyone'.

Home Affairs does not keep the list on a public page. People request it under Freedom of Information, and the department publishes the released documents in its FOI disclosure log. Each release is a snapshot. The January 2024 release, for example, lists accredited sponsors with an agreement in effect as at 11 January 2024.

How to use it: download the most recent release you can find, search it for the big names in your field, and add them to your shortlist. Expect a long PDF, so search it rather than reading it.

source 2: SponsorMap, the searchable version

SponsorMap is a free, independent directory built from a 2025 Home Affairs FOI release of accredited sponsors. It lists about 2,900 companies and does what the PDF cannot: you can search by job title, ANZSCO occupation code or company name, and browse by state and by sector.

That makes it the fastest way to answer the useful question, which is not 'who sponsors?' but 'who sponsors people in my occupation, near me?'. A software engineer in Melbourne and a registered nurse in Perth need very different lists.

Two cautions. It is not run by Home Affairs, and it says so. And it shows no as-at date, so a company's status may have changed since the release. Treat every name as a lead to confirm, not a promise.

source 3: the list of current labour agreements

This is the one official list Home Affairs keeps on a public page. It names every employer holding a current labour agreement, in alphabetical order, including employers endorsed under a Designated Area Migration Agreement in regional areas.

Labour agreements let an employer sponsor outside the standard settings, for example in an occupation that is not on the usual list or with agreed concessions. They are common in sectors such as aged care, agriculture, meat processing, hospitality in regional areas, and some religious and community organisations.

If your occupation is hard to sponsor through the standard route, this list is where to look. Home Affairs is clear that it is not a list of preferred employers, and a company being on it does not mean it is recruiting now.

source 4: the register of sanctioned sponsors

Not every employer that can sponsor is one you want. The Australian Border Force keeps a public register of sponsors that have breached their obligations since 18 March 2015, such as failing to pay the agreed salary or keep records. It names the business and its ABN, the obligations breached and the sanction, which can range from an infringement notice to a bar on sponsoring anyone new.

Check every name on your shortlist against it. A sponsor that has been barred cannot nominate you, however much it wants to hire you. And an employer with a history of underpaying sponsored workers is a risk to your visa and your wages.

source 5: ABN Lookup

ABN Lookup is the government's free business register. It will not tell you whether a company sponsors, but it will tell you whether the business is real, whether its ABN is active, and how long it has been registered.

Use it on any small or unfamiliar employer, and on anyone who contacts you offering sponsorship. A business registered last month, or one whose name does not match its ABN, is a reason to slow down.

which industries sponsor the most

Home Affairs publishes quarterly reports on the temporary skilled visa program, broken down by the sponsor's industry. In the report to 31 December 2025, health care and social assistance was the largest sponsoring industry, with 6,530 grants in the first half of 2025-26, about 17% of the total. Professional, scientific and technical services followed with 4,760, then construction with 3,520.

Accommodation and food services, long one of the biggest sponsors through chef and cafe manager roles, fell sharply, down 43% to 5,460 grants over the same comparison. Mining also fell, by about 36%.

What that means for your list: if you work in health, engineering, accounting, technology or construction, your field sponsors at scale, and the large employers in it are very likely to be on the accredited list already. If you work in hospitality, sponsorship still happens, but it is harder to find than it was two years ago.

Source: Home Affairs, BR0008 Temporary resident (skilled) report at 31 December 2025

the salary rule that decides whether sponsorship is possible

A sponsor is only half of it. The role also has to qualify. For the Skills in Demand visa, which replaced the 482 Temporary Skill Shortage visa in December 2024, that mostly comes down to occupation and pay.

The Core Skills stream covers occupations on the Core Skills Occupation List, and the salary must be at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold. That is $79,423 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026. The Specialist Skills stream covers most occupations but needs a salary above a much higher threshold, over $146,000 from 1 July 2026. Labour agreements set their own terms.

The salary must also match what Australians in the same role are paid. An employer cannot sponsor you on less than they pay a local doing the same job.

So when you build your list, filter it twice: employers who sponsor, and roles in your occupation that pay above the threshold. A sponsor offering you a job at $70,000 cannot use it for a Core Skills nomination, however keen they are.

Source: BDO, skilled visa income thresholds from 1 July 2026

how to turn a sponsor list into interviews

A list of 2,900 names does nothing on its own. This is the routine that turns it into applications.

1. Shortlist 20 to 30 employers. Search SponsorMap for your occupation or ANZSCO code and open your state. Add the big names in your field from the latest accredited sponsor release, and anyone relevant from the labour agreement list.

2. Remove the risky ones. Check each name against the sanctioned sponsors register and ABN Lookup. Cross off anyone barred, inactive or unrecognisable.

3. Set a Seek and an Indeed alert for each employer. Search the company name with daily alerts. Most employers who sponsor never say so in the ad, so the name is a better filter than the word 'sponsorship'.

4. Read their careers pages. Large sponsors often post roles on their own site first, and many run graduate programs that open up to a year before the start date. Look for any line about temporary or graduate visa holders.

5. Apply to roles that could qualify. Prioritise roles in your occupation that pay above the threshold. A role that could never be sponsored is fine as a stopgap, but it should not crowd out the ones that could.

6. Lead with what you have now. If you hold a 485 or another visa with work rights, open with that and your real expiry date. The list is for your targeting. Asking for sponsorship in the first line of an application usually gets it skipped.

7. Raise sponsorship at the right moment. The second interview or the start of offer talks is usually right. Ask whether the team has sponsored people before. With an accredited sponsor, the answer is very likely yes.

a sponsor list on Seek and Indeed: what the ads tell you

Once your alerts start coming in, the ad wording tells you a lot.

'Must have full working rights' means they will not sponsor for this role, but a visa with full work rights, such as a 485, still qualifies. 'Australian citizens or permanent residents only' rules out any temporary visa. A security clearance requirement rules out most visa holders entirely. 'Sponsorship available' or a mention of the 482 or Skills in Demand visa is a direct signal, but these ads are rare and draw heavy competition.

Our guide to finding sponsoring employers on Seek on a 485 goes deeper on reading ads and the five saved searches that work best.

how karmik.ai helps you apply to sponsors faster

I built karmik.ai after graduating into a hiring freeze and applying by hand. A sponsor list turns that problem up a notch: 20 to 30 target companies, a steady stream of their ads, and a visa with a fixed end date.

karmik.ai takes the writing off you so the list actually gets used.

A tailored cover letter for every ad. Paste in a role from Seek or Indeed and karmik.ai writes a letter against that specific ad, in its own language, where it honestly fits your experience.

Your work rights in every application. Add your visa and its real expiry date to your profile once, and karmik.ai puts it in the first lines, where recruiters look first.

A resume matched to each role, in the Australian format, and a tracker so you know exactly what you sent each employer when they call back.

Auto apply on Seek with Pro. The karmik.ai desktop app applies to Seek jobs for you from your own computer, using the titles and locations you choose. You log in to Seek yourself, so we never hold your password, and you can set it to stop before submitting so you check each one.

You start with 10 free applications and no card. That is enough to work through the first part of your sponsor shortlist and see whether your reply rate moves.

red flags: when 'sponsorship' is a trap

Visa holders are a target for people selling shortcuts. These are the warning signs.

Anyone asking you to pay for sponsorship, a nomination or a job. Asking for or receiving a benefit in return for sponsorship is an offence under the Migration Act, for the employer and for you.

Paid lists of 'guaranteed sponsor jobs'. The useful sources in this guide are free. A paid list is usually the same public data with a price on it, or worse.

Employers who want you to work unpaid, or below the agreed salary, until the visa comes through. Sponsored workers must be paid at least the nominated salary.

Advice from anyone who is not a registered migration agent or lawyer. You can check an agent's registration for free on the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority's website.

Sources: Home Affairs FOI disclosure log, accredited sponsors as at 11 January 2024, SponsorMap, accredited sponsor directory, Home Affairs, list of current labour agreements, Australian Border Force, register of sanctioned sponsors, ABN Lookup