Skilled visa income thresholds indexed from 1 July 2026

If you sponsor skilled workers, the salary floor moved on 1 July 2026. Skilled visa income thresholds were indexed, and the new figures apply to applications lodged on or after that date.

What changed

• The income threshold that applies to skilled visa nominations increased to $79,423 a year.
• The Fair Work High Income Threshold increased from $183,100 to $190,100 a year.

The second one is easy to miss. It matters if you are relying on the high income exemption from the age requirement for the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186). If a nominee was comfortably over the old figure but sits between the two, that exemption may no longer be available to them.

What this means for employers

The threshold is a floor, not a target. You still have to pay the annual market salary rate for the occupation, and where that rate is higher than the threshold, the market rate is what governs. Meeting the threshold alone does not make a nomination approvable.

Nominations lodged before 1 July 2026 are assessed against the threshold that applied when they were lodged. It is new nominations you need to look at.

What to do now

• Review any nomination you are about to lodge against the new threshold.
• Check the salary you have documented, not the salary you intended. The paperwork is what gets assessed.
• If you are using the high income age exemption for a subclass 186, re-check the nominee against the new Fair Work figure.
• Confirm the current thresholds on the Home Affairs website before lodging.

Talk it through before you lodge

If you are unsure whether a nomination still stacks up, send it to us before you lodge it. AIS Immigration Solutions are registered migration agents in Brisbane, and we work with clients around the world. Call +61 7 3216 0052 or send us a message and we will give you a straight answer.