Sub class 482 visa

[jimwhitelegg]

Would appreciate people's opinions on my situation.

I am a UK citizen and have been researching and wanting to relocate to Townsville, Queensland since around 2016. I have a sister who emigrated several years ago who now lives in Alligator Creek nearby.

I visited in 2016 and again in 2022 and during that visit spoke to a migration agent in person who advised looking for an employer to act as sponsor for a sub class 482 visa. She initially suggested looking for office manager or property manager roles but later changed her mind and advised I only look for office manager (as this is my role here in the UK.)

Since then my research has continued and a hunt for jobs has been ongoing from the UK. It became apparent early on that the office manager role was only on the occupation list for Cairns, not Townsville so I have been applying for vacancies there as well.

I had interest from one company in Cairns and spoke to them over Zoom in October 2023 but it was obvious the role was not suitable for me and would have "thrown me in the deep end."

I also e-mailed a few other migration agents and had no responses at all from them. Hence the post here.

Now in 2025 I am deciding whether to continue or give up. As I am now 47 years of age I wonder if this is a barrier to both employers and to the migration system (although the labour list states a maximum age of 50.) Perhaps ageism still exists?

So I am now considering whether I should give up on the idea – or perhaps I should have an extended visit (I can stay up to 3 months on a tourist visa) and put all effort into finding an employer/sponsor. This would be costly due to accommodation and likely needing to resign from my job here. Perhaps it is time for a change anyhow.

I have property to sell here in the UK and savings so could support myself to initially set up in Australia. I visited in 2012, 2016 and 2022 and have relatives in Sydney as well as Queensland (aunts and cousins, plus a sister in Queensland.) Apparently this does not give me any more "points" as potential migrant.

I was back in contact with the migration agent via e-mail back in 2022 after returning home. She suggested the only other way to obtain a permanent visa was to marry an Australian citizen! Since that I have been ghosted. My sister emigrated after meeting and marrying an Australian citizen (he moved to the UK for a few years and they married here before returning to Australia.)

My sister says the migration process was still arduous even given her marriage to an Australian citizen.

All opinions appreciated.

[Toots]

13 minutes ago, jimwhitelegg said:

Would appreciate people's opinions on my situation.

I am a UK citizen and have been researching and wanting to relocate to Townsville, Queensland since around 2016. I have a sister who emigrated several years ago who now lives in Alligator Creek nearby.

I visited in 2016 and again in 2022 and during that visit spoke to a migration agent in person who advised looking for an employer to act as sponsor for a sub class 482 visa. She initially suggested looking for office manager or property manager roles but later changed her mind and advised I only look for office manager (as this is my role here in the UK.)

Since then my research has continued and a hunt for jobs has been ongoing from the UK. It became apparent early on that the office manager role was only on the occupation list for Cairns, not Townsville so I have been applying for vacancies there as well.

I had interest from one company in Cairns and spoke to them over Zoom in October 2023 but it was obvious the role was not suitable for me and would have "thrown me in the deep end."

I also e-mailed a few other migration agents and had no responses at all from them. Hence the post here.

Now in 2025 I am deciding whether to continue or give up. As I am now 47 years of age I wonder if this is a barrier to both employers and to the migration system (although the labour list states a maximum age of 50.) Perhaps ageism still exists?

So I am now considering whether I should give up on the idea – or perhaps I should have an extended visit (I can stay up to 3 months on a tourist visa) and put all effort into finding an employer/sponsor. This would be costly due to accommodation and likely needing to resign from my job here. Perhaps it is time for a change anyhow.

I have property to sell here in the UK and savings so could support myself to initially set up in Australia. I visited in 2012, 2016 and 2022 and have relatives in Sydney as well as Queensland (aunts and cousins, plus a sister in Queensland.) Apparently this does not give me any more "points" as potential migrant.

I was back in contact with the migration agent via e-mail back in 2022 after returning home. She suggested the only other way to obtain a permanent visa was to marry an Australian citizen! Since that I have been ghosted. My sister emigrated after meeting and marrying an Australian citizen (he moved to the UK for a few years and they married here before returning to Australia.)

My sister says the migration process was still arduous even given her marriage to an Australian citizen.

All opinions appreciated.

I looked on the SEEK website for Office Manager 482 visa.  It came up with zero jobs.  SEEK is Australia's number one employment marketplace.

[Marisawright]

 

Sadly, I would say it's time to give up.  

Firstly, although there's no age limit on the 482 visa, it's only a temporary visa.    You won't be able to transition to a permanent visa because the cutoff is 45 years of age.   There are exceptions but only for highly-skilled individuals earning a high salary. 

I'd say the chances of getting a 482 were always remote, to be honest.  The 482 visa is a complicated and expensive process for an employer, and it takes a long time.  If there's a less-qualified local applicant who can start work next month, naturally they'll choose them rather than wait six months for you, no matter how perfect you are for the job.   There needs to be a desperate shortage of local applicants before you'll be considered, and office managers have never been in that kind of desperate shortage.

You are right, having relatives in Australia gives you no real advantage. Australia isn't crying out for migrants any more.  Like any other first-world country, they don't want immigrants, generally, unless they are needed to fill shortages in the workforce.  

[jimwhitelegg]

4 hours ago, Marisawright said:

 

Sadly, I would say it's time to give up.  

Firstly, although there's no age limit on the 482 visa, it's only a temporary visa.    You won't be able to transition to a permanent visa because the cutoff is 45 years of age.   There are exceptions but only for highly-skilled individuals earning a high salary. 

I'd say the chances of getting a 482 were always remote, to be honest.  The 482 visa is a complicated and expensive process for an employer, and it takes a long time.  If there's a less-qualified local applicant who can start work next month, naturally they'll choose them rather than wait six months for you, no matter how perfect you are for the job.   There needs to be a desperate shortage of local applicants before you'll be considered, and office managers have never been in that kind of desperate shortage.

You are right, having relatives in Australia gives you no real advantage. Australia isn't crying out for migrants any more.  Like any other first-world country, they don't want immigrants, generally, unless they are needed to fill shortages in the workforce.  

Hi Marisa

I was beginning to think the same thing. I have applied for several jobs via Seek in both Townsville and Cairns but usually get the "your application is unlikely to progress further" message.

I wish I had visited here earlier - might have saved some time.

You seem quite knowledgeable on the subject - I presume there is no other visa I could use that would allow transition to a permanent residency?

[Marisawright]

6 hours ago, jimwhitelegg said:

I wish I had visited here earlier - might have saved some time.

You seem quite knowledgeable on the subject - I presume there is no other visa I could use that would allow transition to a permanent residency?

No, there is no other visa that would be practical for you.  The problem is that the cutoff age for a permanent residency visa is 45, (with a few rare exceptions for highly-skilled, high-earning individuals).  

To be honest, I doubt you'd have had any luck, even if you'd come over and stayed for a few months in 2016 and knocked on employers' doors.  Very few employers will sponsor an overseas candidate for an office job below senior executive level. It's just too expensive for them, and anyway, in the months they'll have to wait for you to arrive, they could probably find someone local who can halfway do the job. 

For context, I was a facilities manager, managing property and office services for companies (I'm now retired). In the latter part of my career, I was contracting and worked across a wide range of companies, so I'm pretty familiar with the field.

[paulhand]

20 hours ago, Marisawright said:

There are exceptions but only for highly-skilled individuals earning a high salary. 

There are some other exemptions built into some Labour Agreements/DAMAs, but as you say, they are limited.