Sponsoring a Truck Driver in WA: What the 482 Occupation List Covers in Transport

Sponsoring a truck driver in WA through the subclass 482 visa is not possible in the Core Skills stream, because no driving occupation is on the Core Skills Occupation List. The same instrument gives truck driving as an example of a position that predominantly involves low-skilled tasks, and that is a circumstance in which an occupation does not apply in the Specialist Skills stream either.

That is the answer to the question most transport businesses ask first, and it is better to have it before you advertise than after. It is not the end of the question. The roles around the driving, in the workshop, in fleet management and in supply chain planning, are on the list, and for many transport and logistics businesses those are the positions a sponsorship can actually address.

Where the 482 sits among the employer-sponsored pathways

Three employer-sponsored visas are relevant to a transport business: the subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa, the subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme visa and the subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa, all three covered on our employer sponsored visas page. The requirements on this page belong to the subclass 482 visa and its Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams. The 186 and 494 pathways carry their own criteria, which are not set out here.

What sponsorship commits a transport business to is explained on our page about working with a sponsorship agent in Perth.

Source: Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 2, Parts 186, 482 and 494, compilation F2026C00667, Compilation No. 288, 1 July 2026; Migration Act 1958, section 140GBA, compilation C2026C00232, Compilation No. 171, 4 June 2026.

Sponsoring a truck driver in WA under the Core Skills stream

A Core Skills stream nomination is open only to an occupation on the Core Skills Occupation List. None of the occupations on the list is a driving occupation. In the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), truck drivers sit in Major Group 7, Machinery Operators and Drivers, under unit group 7331, Truck Drivers. The Core Skills Occupation List contains no occupation from Major Group 7.

The licence class makes no difference. The list specifies occupations, not licence classes. Whatever licence a heavy combination or multi-combination driver holds, the work is driving, and there is no driving occupation on the list to nominate.

Source: Migration (Specification of Occupations—Subclass 482 Visa) Instrument 2024 (LIN 24/089), section 6(1) and section 6(3), Core Skills Occupation List items 1 to 456, compilation F2025C01064, Compilation No. 3, 7 November 2025; Australian Bureau of Statistics, ANZSCO 2022, Major Group 7 and unit group 7331.

The Specialist Skills stream does not reach a driving role either

The occupation-list instrument also sets the circumstances in which an occupation does not apply to a Specialist Skills stream nominee. If any circumstance on its Applicable Circumstances List applies to the position, the occupation does not apply to the nominee.

One of those circumstances is a position that predominantly involves responsibility for low-skilled tasks, and truck driving is one of the two examples given for it. A position whose work is driving is the kind of position that circumstance describes.

Whether anything outside the Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams is open to a particular transport business is a separate question. This page does not answer it, and we assess it on the facts of the business rather than in general terms.

Source: LIN 24/089, section 7(2) (Applicable Circumstances List, item 5, Example 2) and section 8(2), compilation F2025C01064, Compilation No. 3, 7 November 2025.

The transport and logistics roles that are on the list

The positions that keep a fleet on the road are a different matter. The Core Skills Occupation List names these occupations relevant to a transport or logistics business:

• Fleet Manager, ANZSCO 149411
• Supply and Distribution Manager, ANZSCO 133611
• Procurement Manager, ANZSCO 133612
• Supply Chain Analyst, ANZSCO 224714
• Transport Engineer, ANZSCO 233215
• Diesel Motor Mechanic, ANZSCO 321212
• Motor Mechanic (General), ANZSCO 321211
• Automotive Electrician, ANZSCO 321111

Seven of the eight carry no applicable circumstance. Supply and distribution manager carries two, items 6 and 12. Item 6 covers a position based in a front-line retail setting, one that predominantly involves direct client transactional interaction on a regular basis, and two narrower settings. Item 12 turns on the size of the business. Either can take a supply and distribution manager position outside the occupation, so both are worth checking before that position is advertised.

For most transport businesses the workshop is where the list reaches furthest. A heavy-vehicle workshop that cannot find a diesel mechanic or an auto electrician locally is dealing with occupations that are on the list, which is a different starting point from a depot that cannot find drivers.

Source: LIN 24/089, section 6(3), Core Skills Occupation List items 22, 23, 43, 80, 115, 323, 324 and 325, and section 7(2), items 6 and 12, compilation F2025C01064, Compilation No. 3, 7 November 2025.

The duties decide the occupation, not the title

An occupation on the list applies to your nominee only if the tasks they will perform in your position correspond to the tasks set out in the ANZSCO code for that occupation. A position description headed "fleet manager" does not make a position a fleet manager position. The work does.

This matters in transport more than in most industries, because senior drivers often take on scheduling, allocation and supervision as they progress. A position that is mostly driving with some coordination added is still, in substance, a driving position. A position whose work is the management of the fleet itself is a different position, and it is the one the occupation describes.

The obligation continues after the visa is granted. As an approved sponsor you must ensure the sponsored worker works in the occupation you nominated. A fleet manager or mechanic regularly put behind the wheel to cover a shortage is a compliance problem, whatever the position description says.

Source: LIN 24/089, section 6(1)(c), compilation F2025C01064, Compilation No. 3, 7 November 2025; Migration Regulations 1994, regulation 2.86 (work in the nominated occupation), compilation F2026C00667, Compilation No. 288, 1 July 2026.

Advertise before you nominate

A listed position has to be tested in the Australian labour market before it is nominated. The advertising must fall within the four months ending on the day the nomination is lodged. Each advertisement must show the title or a description of the position, so write it for the position you intend to nominate rather than for a driving vacancy. Our labour market testing page covers the advertising requirements in more detail.

Source: Migration (LIN 18/036: Period, manner and evidence of labour market testing) Instrument 2018, sections 6(1), 7(1) and 8(2)–(7), compilation F2024C01268, Compilation No. 5, 7 December 2024.

Once the sponsored worker starts

Your obligations as a sponsor continue for as long as the sponsorship does. In a transport business the one most at risk is that the sponsored worker must work in the occupation you nominated. A short-staffed week is exactly when a workshop or office role drifts into driving, and that change has to be considered before it happens, not after. A failure to satisfy a sponsorship obligation can lead to administrative action against your business, including cancellation of your approval as a sponsor or a bar on future sponsorship, and to a civil penalty. Our standard business sponsor page sets out the wider obligations.

Source: Migration Regulations 1994, Division 2.19, regulation 2.86, compilation F2026C00667, Compilation No. 288, 1 July 2026; Migration Act 1958, sections 140K, 140M and 140Q, compilation C2026C00232, Compilation No. 171, 4 June 2026.

What we would ask at the outset

We start by separating the driving positions from the positions around them, because only the second group can be matched to a listed occupation. That means these questions:

• Which positions are you trying to fill: drivers, workshop trades, fleet or transport management, or supply chain and procurement roles?
• For each management or planning position, what does the person actually do in a normal week, and how much of it is driving?
• Does your business have a heavy-vehicle workshop, and which trades does it need?
• Does any position deal directly with retail or transactional customers, which matters for supply and distribution manager?
• Is the candidate already in Australia on a 482 or 457 visa, and if so, in what occupation?
• Is the depot or site in regional WA, in case a 494 nomination is worth considering alongside a 482?

Questions WA transport businesses commonly ask

Speak with a registered migration agent

We cannot tell you in advance whether a particular nomination will be approved, and no registered agent can. What we can do is separate the positions that fall within a listed occupation from those that do not, before your business spends money advertising either.

This page reflects the law as at 2 October 2026. It is general information, not advice about your circumstances.