Home / Hospitality and Tourism

Tourism and Hospitality Visas Australia

Hotels, restaurants, and resorts rely on consistent staffing to deliver high-quality service. Migrant workers help businesses maintain operations during peak tourist seasons.

View Case Studies

Immigration plays a vital role in enabling tourism and hospitality businesses to maintain a flexible and responsive workforce, particularly during peak travel seasons when demand intensifies.

Utilising the skilled migration program provides access to international talent with culinary training, supervisory skills, and multilingual capabilities, enhancing the overall guest experience.

Tourism and hospitality employers often rely on migration programs to address labour shortages in regions where local staffing is limited, helping to maintain service standards and smooth business operations.

Tourism and Hospitality Work Visas Australia

To assist businesses with understanding the top 6 visa arrangements commonly used by the Hospitality and Tourism sector, Interstaff has prepared a comparative analysis based on our industry experience.

DAMAs

Category
Designated Area Regional Migration Agreements

How it Meets Industry Needs

Allows regional employers to sponsor for roles not on standard occupation lists.

Read more

Expanded occupations including, for example, baristas, waitstaff, or tour guides. DAMAs offer visa concessions on age, English, and salary requirements.

Premium Dining Industry Labour Agreement

Category
Industry Labour Agreement

How it Meets Industry Needs

Tailored for high-end restaurants to sponsor chefs, cooks, and restaurant managers.

Read more

Offers visa concessions on English, salary, and age, with pathways to Permanent Residence.
Requires evidence of premium dining credentials.

494 Regional Visa

Category
Short-Term, Highly Specialised Work

How it Meets Industry Needs

Supports long-term employment in regional hospitality venues such as resorts, lodges, and restaurants.

Read more

Provides access to a broader occupation list than the 482 Visa.

Employing Existing Visa Holders in Australia

Category
Visas 485, 189, 190, Working Holiday Maker (WHM), 858 National Innovation Visa

How it Meets Industry Needs

WHM Visa Holders are often engaged for casual and seasonal hospitality roles such as housekeeping, food services, and bar work.

Read more

Many WHM holders transition to employer-sponsored visas if eligible.
States and Territories may nominate workers for Independent Skilled Migration Visas for critical tourism and hospitality occupations.

482 Skills in Demand Visa

Category
Temporary Employer-sponsored

How it Meets Industry Needs

Enables businesses to sponsor workers for roles such as culinary and hotel management workers on the Core Skills Occupation List.

Read more

Suitable for filling mid-level skill gaps.

186 Permanent Visa

Category
Permanent Employer-sponsored

How it Meets Industry Needs

The 186 Transition Stream helps retain experienced hospitality staff.
The 186 Direct Entry stream does not require prior sponsorship and is often used for managerial hospitality roles.

Hospitality and Tourism Labour Insights

In Interstaff’s experience, employer demand for skilled hospitality workers has been ongoing even after the government removed the occupation, ‘Café or Restaurant Manager’ from the Core Skills Occupation List for the 482 Visa in December 2024.

Employers seeking to sponsor workers in this role may explore alternative visa pathways, such as the 482 Visa Specialist Skills Stream—which requires meeting a high salary threshold—or the 494 Visa, which involves regional sponsorship and a skills assessment.

In addition, DAMAs provide an option for accessing a broader range of hospitality and tourism occupations in eligible regions.

Many Hospitality and Tourism businesses rely on Working Holiday Maker (WHM) Visa holders already in Australia to fill casual and seasonal roles.

Read more

However, employers must remain mindful of compliance with visa work conditions —particularly when engaging WHM visa holders beyond the standard six-month limit. Where possible, businesses often seek to retain these workers by sponsoring them for a 482 Skills in Demand Visa.

Speak to us to explore your business’ options.

Interstaff: Skilled Migration Specialists

Sponsoring overseas staff can be daunting for employers running a business. Interstaff works with owner-operators and their teams to bring order and predictability to this process, helping them meet workforce needs without losing focus on daily operations.

Our role is to function as an external migration partner where an HR department may not exist. We interpret complex requirements, prepare and lodge applications, and keep sponsorship obligations on track so compliance doesn’t become an unexpected burden. When immigration rules change or a renewal date approaches, you’ll have access to specialist advice to be able to act with confidence.

Reliable migration advice protects growth and limits disruption. With the right plan in place, businesses can access skilled talent while staying compliant, avoiding unnecessary risk, and keeping staffing plans moving forward.

Interstaff has delivered immigration solutions to businesses and their employees for over three decades.

APPLY

Assess and Strategise:
Visa Strategy

We provide migration advice to help businesses navigate sponsorship and visa options, enabling faster, more confident hiring decisions.

We support businesses by:

Reviewing hard-to-fill roles and workforce needs
Assessing sponsorship and visa eligibility
Advising on Australian hospitality visa strategies tailored to the business needs
Providing guidance on compliance matters

Experience and Insights: Tourism and Hospitality Sponsorship Visa Australia

Explore more about how we work, our industry experience and insights.

DAMAs for Age and Skills Retention Challenges

A metropolitan-based energy systems business needed an immigration solution to retain a skilled migrant worker who exceeded the age limit for Permanent Residence under standard programs, yet whose specialised expertise was essential to operational continuity.

Permanent Residence Planning

Permanent Residence Planning helps employers retain skilled talent by aligning visa pathways with long-term workforce strategies and employee settlement goals.