Straight answers, before you book.

A lawyer reviews your circumstances, identifies the pathways open to you, flags the risks and tells you honestly whether a pathway is viable. You leave with your options, the costs and the next steps. If we do not think an application will succeed, we say so in that meeting.

We work on fixed professional fees agreed in writing before any work starts. The fee depends on the visa type and the complexity of your matter. Government charges are separate and are paid to the Department of Home Affairs. See the fees and process page for every current charge.

Yes. We are based on St Kilda Road but act for clients across Australia and overseas. Consultations are available in person, by phone or by video, booked in your time zone.

Lawyers. The Migration Lawyers is a website of Skyline Migration Lawyers, a registered Australian legal practice. That means legal professional privilege over what you tell us, regulation by the Victorian Legal Services Board, and lawyers who can appear at the Administrative Review Tribunal if a matter goes that far.

Yes, if the business becomes an approved standard business sponsor and nominates your role. The nomination must meet the occupation list for the stream, the salary threshold and labour market testing. We act for the worker and the employer in one matter so nothing falls out of sequence.

The visa application charge is $4,015 for the main applicant as at 1 July 2026, with $4,015 per adult dependant and $1,005 per child. The business pays sponsorship ($420), nomination ($330) and the Skilling Australians Fund levy ($1,200 or $1,800 per year), none of which can be passed to the worker.

Occupations on the Core Skills Occupation List, which currently holds 456 ANZSCO codes, paid at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold of $79,423. Roles paid at or above $146,576 can use the Specialist Skills stream regardless of the list, other than trades, machinery operators, drivers and labourers.

Yes. A new approved sponsor lodges a nomination for you and you can start once it is approved. You have 180 days after leaving an employer to find a new sponsor, lodge another visa or depart. Changing employers restarts the two-year count for the 186 TRT stream.

Two years of full-time work with the nominating employer, in the nominated occupation, while holding a 482 or 457. Time with a previous sponsor does not count. Direct Entry has no 482 requirement but needs a skills assessment and three years of experience.

You must be under 45 when the application is lodged. Exemptions apply to academics, scientists at government research agencies, regional medical practitioners, TRT applicants who earned the Fair Work High Income Threshold in each qualifying year, and the 18 April 2017 subclass 457 transitional group.

The visa application charge is $6,140 for the main applicant as at 1 July 2026. The employer pays a $540 nomination charge and a one-off Skilling Australians Fund levy of $3,000 or $5,000 depending on turnover.

The Department assesses your relationship across four areas: financial, household, social and commitment. Genuine couples are refused every year because their evidence was thin or badly organised. We build the file across all four pillars, dated across the whole relationship, before lodgement.

The government charge is $11,710 for the main applicant as at 1 July 2026, covering both the temporary and permanent stages. Adult dependants are $5,860 and children $2,935. It is the largest charge in the program and it is not refunded on refusal.

A de facto couple normally needs twelve months of the relationship before lodgement. Registering the relationship under a state scheme, which Victoria allows, removes that requirement. Married couples have no minimum period.

Yes, if they applied onshore while holding a substantive visa. The bridging visa A that takes effect when the previous visa expires carries full work rights. Applicants who held a bridging visa or no visa at lodgement need advice first.

A refusal is often not the end. Many decisions can be reviewed at the Administrative Review Tribunal and some cancellations can be revoked, but strict deadlines start from the moment the decision is notified, often 21 days and sometimes far less. Call the day the decision arrives.

The Administrative Review Tribunal application fee for a migration decision is $3,727, reduced by half in financial hardship, and part of it is refunded if the decision is set aside. Our professional fee for the review is fixed and quoted in writing.

Public Interest Criterion 4020 lets the Department refuse a visa where false or misleading information or a bogus document was given in this or a recent application, and bars further visas for three years. Undisclosed history from an earlier application is the usual trigger. It must be addressed head-on in a submission, not left to chance.