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Cost of moving to Australia from Tanzania: AUD 4,015.00 for the visa, and the bills your employer must carry

Tips · 2026-11-04 · 10 min read

If you are working out the cost of moving to Australia from Tanzania, start with one number: Home Affairs lists the base application charge for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) at AUD 4,015.00. Immigration New Zealand says its Accredited Employer Work Visa costs from NZD 1,540. Those are the charges you pay. The sponsor's own costs belong to the employer, and flights, rent and your first weeks are your own estimate.

This guide separates the piles so you can spot anyone asking you to pay for something that was never yours. It gives no grand total, because nobody can honestly promise one.

Cost of moving to Australia from Tanzania: three piles, three payers

Think of the bill as three piles. The first is the visa charge, which Home Affairs publishes and the applicant pays. The second is what an employer pays to become a sponsor and to nominate you. The third is everything around the move: tests, medicals, police papers, travel and the first month of living costs.

A pile-two cost shown to you as "your sponsorship fee" is a red flag, not a bill. Our Skills in Demand (482) guide explains how the visa itself works; here we stay on money.

Pile one: the visa charges you pay

The table shows the 482 and AEWV charges as the official pages listed them when this guide was written. Open the Home Affairs visa pricing table before you budget, because charges are reviewed and a figure that is right today may not be right when you lodge.

A worked example shows how fast family charges stack up. A main applicant, a partner and one child under 18 would add up to AUD 4,015.00 + AUD 4,015.00 + AUD 1,005.00, which is AUD 9,035.00 in base charges, before any test, medical or police paper.

New Zealand quotes its figure in New Zealand dollars. Using the Reserve Bank of Australia rate of 16 Oct 2026, NZD 1,540 comes to roughly AUD 1,254. Treat that as a rough comparison only: rates change daily and the AEWV price is "from", not a fixed total. The AEWV rules, including the job offer and skills conditions, are in our New Zealand AEWV guide and on the Immigration New Zealand AEWV page.

Pile two: what the employer pays and cannot pass on

An Australian employer who sponsors a worker has its own bill, set out on the Home Affairs cost of sponsoring page. The table lists the lines that matter to you only because they must never appear on your side of the ledger.

The rule is plain. The sponsoring employer must pay all costs of becoming a sponsor and nominating you and cannot transfer them to you or your family, and the levy must not be passed on to you either. Home Affairs also says it is illegal to pay an employer to sponsor you, including through salary deductions, and that doing so can lead to visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment.

That also binds you: an applicant must not have asked for, offered, received or provided a benefit in return for sponsorship in the past 3 years, so paying "to be safe" can damage your own application. Employer Sponsored Jobs has a separate line-by-line piece on who pays for visa sponsorship in Australia, written from the employer's side.

Pile three: tests, medicals, police papers and cover

Besides the visa charge, Home Affairs says applicants pay other costs for English language tests, health checks, police certificates and biometrics. No price for these was verified, so get a written quote from each provider and note the date.

• English test. If you need practice first, PractiseNow offers English test practice. For the 482 Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams the IELTS minimum is 5.0 in each of listening, reading, writing and speaking, and the test must be taken within 3 years before you apply. A Tanzanian passport is not on the exempt list, but at least 5 years of full-time study at secondary level or above, where most classes were in English, can be shown instead.
• Health examination. Home Affairs says checks outside Australia must be done by an approved panel physician or clinic, and results are generally valid for 12 months. Booking too early can mean paying twice, so read our panel physician guide before you book.
• Police certificate. Home Affairs names the Police Clearance Certificate from the Criminal Investigations Department, and lists the fee only as "Payable". Zanzibar records are kept separately from the mainland, and a certificate is valid for 12 months from its issue date.
• Health insurance. A 482 holder must keep adequate health insurance for the whole stay in Australia. No premium was verified for this guide, so ask the employer which cover they expect before you accept.

Your own estimate: flights, first rent and exchange rates

Some lines you must estimate yourself: a one-way flight from Dar es Salaam, Dodoma or Arusha, the first weeks of rent and food, and the gap before your first pay. This guide converts nothing into Tanzanian shillings, because no dated official shilling rate was checked. Ask your bank for its rate on the day you pay, and keep a margin.

A written job offer helps you plan: read your offer letter carefully and ask who pays for each item before you resign from your current job. If you want to see what employers are offering, the jobs page lists current roles, and our visa guides cover the routes in more detail.

How to build your budget, step by step

1. Write down who will be on the visa application: yourself, a partner, each child. Count every person.
2. Open the official pricing page and copy the charge for each person, with the date you looked.
3. Ask the employer in writing to confirm that it will pay its sponsor, nomination and levy costs, as the rules say it must.
4. Get written quotes for the English test, the medical, the police certificate and translations, and add them as separate lines.
5. Add your own estimates for flights, first rent and the weeks before your first pay, then add a margin for exchange rates.
6. Set the total against your savings. If it does not fit, wait rather than borrow from anyone offering "fast approval".

Read who does what in a 482 sponsorship alongside this list, and if you have a family, the family-of-three budgeting piece shows how higher application charges affect a household.

Common mistakes

• Paying a "sponsorship fee" or "approval fee". The employer's sponsor and nomination costs cannot be moved onto you, and Scamwatch lists a request for a recruitment fee before you start as a job scam sign.
• Sending money by mobile money or bank transfer to a stranger. Immigration New Zealand never asks for visa fees to be paid into a bank account; it accepts debit or credit card payment on its forms or payment at an approved Visa Application Centre.
• Doing the medical or police certificate too early. Both are valid for 12 months, and a late lodging can mean doing them again.
• Using an unregistered helper. Anyone giving immigration help for an Australian visa must be a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner or an exempt person, and an agent without a registration number is not legitimate. In New Zealand an adviser must be licensed unless exempt.
• Assuming the employer covers the family. The rule says the employer cannot pass on its own costs; it does not say who pays your partner's or children's visa charges. Ask, and get the answer in writing.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the visa cost for a Skills in Demand (482) application?

Home Affairs lists the base application charge for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) as AUD 4,015.00 in each of its three streams. Partners and children add their own charges, so the total depends on who is on the application. Always check the current pricing table on the day you pay, because charges change.

Can my employer ask me to repay the sponsorship costs?

No. Home Affairs says the sponsoring employer must pay all the costs of becoming a sponsor and of nominating you, and cannot transfer them to you or your family. The Skilling Australians Fund levy also may not be passed on. If an employer asks you to repay any of it, including through salary deductions, treat it as a serious warning and speak to a registered migration agent.

Does the New Zealand work visa cost the same as the Australian one?

Not exactly. Immigration New Zealand says the Accredited Employer Work Visa costs from NZD 1,540, while the Australian 482 base charge is AUD 4,015.00. Using the Reserve Bank of Australia rate of 16 Oct 2026, NZD 1,540 is roughly AUD 1,254, but rates change and extra charges may apply, so compare quotes from the official pages on the day you pay.

What should I pay for a job offer, a visa interview or an "approval letter"?

Nothing. Australia says it is illegal to pay an employer to sponsor you, and Scamwatch lists a request for a recruitment fee before you start as a job scam sign. New Zealand employers cannot charge you fees for a job, and Immigration New Zealand declines an application if money was offered for a job offer.

Do I need an English test, and who pays for it?

A Tanzanian passport is not on the list of passports exempt from the English test for the 482, so most applicants show English by an approved test or by at least 5 years of full-time study in English. The test fee is a cost the applicant meets, so ask the test centre for its current price before booking.

Key takeaways

• The 482 base application charge is AUD 4,015.00 and the AEWV is from NZD 1,540; each family member adds their own charge.
• The employer pays its sponsor, nomination and levy costs and cannot pass them to you or your family.
• Tests, medicals, police certificates, translations and insurance are your separate lines: get written quotes with dates.
• Never pay anyone for a job offer, sponsorship or an approval letter.
• Flights, rent and exchange rates are your own estimate; this guide gives no total and no shilling conversion.

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