Companies That Hire 485 Visa Graduates in Australia (and Who Won't)

Australia still does not give you a clean, public list of who hires people on a 485 visa. A law to create one passed in April 2026, but the register is not switched on yet, so right now you are still applying blind. Most graduates burn months on companies that quietly require citizenship or permanent residency, then blame their resume.

So I built the list the reel promised. Below are named employers that hire 485 graduates right now, the exact line from each company's own page, the ones that will auto-reject a temporary visa, and the free government tools that prove your work rights to a recruiter in under a minute.

Why this matters

Your 485 clock is ticking the whole time you job hunt. Every week spent applying to a company that needs PR is a week you do not get back. The problem is specific: you cannot easily check who hires temporary-visa holders, so applications vanish into a black hole and you assume the resume is broken.

Usually it isn't. A live public register of approved sponsors is finally coming. The Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Act 2025 passed both houses on 1 April 2026 and received Royal Assent on 8 April 2026. The public register is still being implemented and is not live as of mid-2026. Until it switches on, the only public source is a dated 2023 Home Affairs FOI release of accredited sponsors. The information gap is the actual problem, and that is what this list closes.

Who this is for

This is for you if:

• You are on a 485 visa and applying to graduate programs without knowing which ones accept your visa.
• You keep getting auto-rejected and you think it is your resume.
• You are searching for a "sponsor list" and finding nothing usable.
• You want Australian experience now, not a PR promise five steps away.

The one thing to get straight before you apply

A 485 visa comes with full, unrestricted work rights. You can work any hours, in any sector, for any employer. Check your own grant conditions to confirm, but in almost every case you do not need a company to sponsor anything to start a job.

So the real question is not "who sponsors a 485". It is "who hires people on a temporary graduate visa instead of demanding PR". Most employers below will not sponsor your next visa. They will still hire you now. And "now" is what gets you Australian experience and a foot toward a 482 or PR later.

One more thing in your favour. When the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) replaced the old TSS visa on 7 December 2024, the Core Skills work-experience requirement dropped from 2 years to 1 year. The 485-to-482 path is shorter than it used to be. Eligibility still depends on your occupation and circumstances.

Green light: companies that hire on a 485 right now

Each of these confirms full work rights, not PR, on its own page. Graduate salaries are rarely published on these pages, so treat any figure you see elsewhere as a rough guide and confirm it in the written offer.

KPMG

✅ Visa stance: "You don't need to be an Australian resident, but you must have full-time working rights within Australia at the time of your application." KPMG graduate FAQ 🎯 Best for: audit, tax, consulting, technology, deals

KPMG is the clearest green light on this list. The FAQ says it in plain words: no PR or citizenship, just full work rights. A 485 holder qualifies. They review on a rolling basis, so apply when a stream is open rather than waiting.

PwC

✅ Visa stance: "Have full-time working rights within Australia at the commencement of the program." PwC graduate program ⚡ Catch: "PwC Australia cannot sponsor work visas or permanent residency for this program."

PwC accepts any valid work-rights visa at commencement, including a 485, but will not sponsor your next one. The current round was closed when I checked, so watch for the next opening rather than applying to a dead link.

Deloitte

✅ Visa stance: accepts "students who do not yet hold Australian permanent residence into select areas." Deloitte graduate program 📋 Catch: Canberra roles require Australian citizenship. Two intakes a year, February/March and July.

Deloitte opens the door to students without PR in select teams and points international applicants to its International Student Opportunities page for the full eligibility rules. 2027 applications run 1 to 22 July 2026. Skip the Canberra postings, which need citizenship.

Telstra

✅ Visa stance: international students with "a valid visa that enables them to work in Australia without any work restrictions are eligible to apply to our technical pathways." Telstra graduate program 📋 Catch: technical pathways only (software, network, cyber, technology consulting). 2027 intake closed, 2028 opens early 2027.

A 485 has no work restrictions, so you qualify, but only for the technical streams. Telstra also wants a recent Australian undergraduate degree, completed within the last three years.

Canva

✅ Visa stance: Early Careers applicants "must be based in Australia or New Zealand and have working rights." Life at Canva, Early Careers ⚡ Catch: "Canva will not be able to sponsor visas for Early Talent positions."

If you already hold full work rights through a 485, you meet the bar. Canva will not sponsor a future visa for early-career roles, so this is a hire-now, sort-the-next-visa-later play.

Also worth checking (engineering and property grads)

These three appear on the major graduate platforms as accepting graduate-visa holders with full work rights. The wording lives on aggregator listings rather than a single FAQ line, so confirm on the live ad before you apply.

🛠️ Aurecon accepts applications from holders of an "Australia International Student/Graduate Visa." Aurecon on Prosple 🛠️ WSP welcomes international students "once you have graduated as long as you are eligible for a Graduate visa with full working rights." WSP on Prosple 🛠️ REA Group asks that you "have or will have full working rights in advance of the graduate program start date" and accepts international students. REA Group on GradConnection

Red light: PR or citizenship only

Do not spend a 485 application on the main program at these. You will be auto-filtered.

❌ Commonwealth Bank. "Temporary visa holders are not eligible." Needs AU or NZ citizenship or PR at the time of application, and bridging or 820 visas do not count. CommBank graduate programs ❌ EY. The standard program asks you to "hold Australian or New Zealand citizenship or be an Australian permanent resident." International students are routed to a separate, narrow International Student pathway, and EY will not sponsor for residency. EY 2027 graduate program ❌ Government and APS programs. Most require Australian citizenship under section 22(8) of the Public Service Act. A waiver exists, but only for non-ongoing roles, so ongoing graduate programs stay shut to a 485.

Free tools every 485 holder should use

These are official and free. Use them before you apply, not after a rejection.

🛠️ VEVO (Visa Entitlement Verification Online). Generates a Home Affairs check of your visa conditions and work rights that you can send straight to a recruiter who asks "can you legally start?" 📋 Home Affairs: accredited sponsor. Explains what accredited sponsorship means and the priority processing those employers get, so you know which names are worth targeting after the 485. 📊 Right To Know: accredited-sponsor FOI archive. Crowd-archived copies of the Home Affairs FOI sponsor lists. Dated, but more sponsor leads than most grads ever look at. 📋 Core Skills Occupation List. Check your occupation is on the list before you build a job search around the 485-to-482 path.

What you can do about it

1. Filter to the green-light names firstThose are the highest-yield applications you can make on a 485. Start there before you touch anything else.
2. Search every ad before you applyOn each role page, search the text for "work rights", "citizen", and "permanent resident". If it demands PR or citizenship and you do not have it, skip the main program. Thirty seconds saves you a wasted week.
3. Apply early, on a rolling basisKPMG, Deloitte, the Big 4 and the tech grad programs review as applications arrive, and roles close once filled. Applying late lands the same as applying never.
4. Prove your work rights up frontRun a VEVO check and note your 485 and its expiry near the top of your resume. Recruiters want to see you can legally start. Left off entirely, it reads as a question mark you do not need.
5. Target the role type, not just the company nameA 485-friendly company can still run a PR-only team, and a tech-only program like Telstra's will reject a non-technical application. Apply to the streams that match the visa stance above, not just the logo.

Sources and further reading

📊 Study Australia: Temporary Graduate visa (485). Confirms the 485 gives full, unrestricted work rights.

📋 Parliament of Australia: Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Act 2025. The law behind the coming public Approved Work Sponsor register, with its passage and assent dates.

📊 Home Affairs FOI: accredited sponsors (Sep 2023). The real but dated list of active accredited sponsors.

📋 Home Affairs: Skills in Demand visa, Core Skills stream. The 482 stream behind the 1-year experience rule for the 485-to-482 path.

🎯 KPMG Australia: graduate FAQ. Confirms full work rights, no PR or citizenship required.

Company programs and visa rules change. Statuses here are built from public careers pages and accredited-sponsor records, not a Home Affairs endorsement, and none of this is migration advice. Confirm the live ad before you apply, and for visa or PR decisions talk to a registered migration agent (MARA).