858 Visa Salary Requirement: Meeting the Fair Work High Income Threshold

The income requirement is the element of the subclass 858 National Innovation Visa that most frequently surprises otherwise strong applicants. Many professionals who clearly qualify on the achievement criteria — researchers, founders, technical specialists — look at the Fair Work High Income Threshold and assume they cannot meet it. In many cases, they are wrong. Here is how the requirement actually works.

The 2025–2026 Threshold: $183,100 AUD

The Fair Work High Income Threshold (FWHIT) is the Australian government's benchmark for high-income employment, used across employment law and skilled migration. For the 2025–2026 program year, it sits at $183,100 AUD per annum. This is indexed to inflation each 1 July, so the figure increases slightly each year.

For the subclass 858, the FWHIT is not a current earnings requirement. It is a market value benchmark. The Department of Home Affairs is asking: "Is this person's expertise the kind that the Australian market values at this level?" That question can be answered in three ways.

Three Paths to Meeting the Requirement

Path 1: Current Earnings Above the Threshold

The cleanest evidence. If you are currently employed and your annual base salary plus guaranteed allowances exceeds $183,100 AUD equivalent, you demonstrate this through:

• Recent payslips (typically the last three months)
• A current employment contract showing base salary
• Tax returns for the most recent year

If you are employed in a foreign currency, conversion to AUD uses current exchange rates. A tech executive in San Francisco earning USD 150,000+ or an engineer in London earning GBP 120,000+ generally clears the threshold comfortably. Professionals in India, China, or Southeast Asia often face a larger gap between their local salary and the AUD equivalent, which brings Path 3 into play.

One important detail: the FWHIT counts base salary and guaranteed allowances only. Non-guaranteed bonuses, commissions, and performance payments are excluded. Equity and stock options are generally excluded unless accompanied by a cash component and a verifiable business valuation.

Path 2: An Australian Job Offer

A formal letter of offer from an Australian employer specifying a position and a base salary above $183,100 satisfies the requirement directly. The offer must be genuine — a speculative "expression of interest" from a contact who thinks they could hire you does not suffice.

This path is most accessible to professionals who have been actively approached by Australian employers, or who have applied and received concrete offers. It is less relevant for offshore applicants who have not yet made contact with the Australian market.

Path 3: Ability to Attract

This is the path that matters for researchers, founders, and many offshore applicants. The Department accepts that exceptional professionals do not always earn exceptional salaries in their current role. A university research fellow may earn $90,000 at their institution while their skills and publication record would command $200,000+ in the Australian private sector. A founder reinvesting all revenue into their startup may draw minimal salary while the company itself is worth millions.

The "ability to attract" assessment is forward-looking: given your credentials and the Australian labour market, would a role exist there that pays above the threshold?

Evidence used to demonstrate ability to attract:

Salary surveys. Industry salary reports from Hays, Michael Page, Robert Half, or equivalent specialist recruiters, showing that roles matching your seniority and specialisation in Australia are compensated above the threshold. For a Principal AI Engineer in Sydney, for example, Hays data consistently shows senior technical leadership roles above $200,000.

Recruiter correspondence. Written confirmation from specialised Australian recruiters who have reviewed your profile and assessed your marketability at the threshold level. A recruiter who can state "based on your experience and sector, roles for professionals of your calibre in Australia typically attract $190,000–$230,000 base salary" provides strong supporting evidence.

LinkedIn market intelligence. Salary data from LinkedIn's salary insights tool for comparable roles in Australia can supplement the above, though it carries less weight than a signed recruiter assessment.

The PhD Pathway

Recent PhD graduates in target sectors occupy a special position. The Department generally treats a doctorate in DigiTech, Health Industries, Renewables, or another Tier One sector as evidence of ability to attract salary above the threshold, even without independent market evidence. This recognises that specialised doctoral expertise in priority fields is valued above the FWHIT threshold in the Australian research and industry sectors.

"Recent" is not precisely defined in legislation but is generally interpreted as within three years of completion, or where the doctoral research remains active and current.

What Gets Counted

The threshold includes:

• Base salary
• Guaranteed allowances (not performance-dependent)
• Cash component of salary packaging

The threshold excludes:

• Performance bonuses
• Sales commissions
• Non-cash benefits (cars, housing, etc.)
• Equity or options (unless a cash salary component accompanies them and the business has a credible valuation)

Common Mistakes

Including bonuses in the calculation. Applicants frequently assume their total compensation package — including annual bonus — is what the Department assesses. If the bonus is not guaranteed in the contract, it cannot be counted.

Using gross-to-net comparisons. The threshold applies to gross (pre-tax) Australian income. Comparing your net overseas income to the gross Australian threshold creates a false gap.

Failing to provide the ability to attract evidence. Applicants earning below the threshold who only assert (rather than evidence) their market value tend to receive Section 56 requests for additional documentation, which delays the application significantly.

Relying on outdated salary data. The threshold increases each July. Evidence of salary levels from three or four years ago may no longer demonstrate threshold compliance if the market has moved.

The income requirement is solvable for most genuinely exceptional professionals. The harder challenge is usually the achievement evidence and the nominator. The Australia Global Talent Visa (858) Guide includes salary benchmarking templates and the specific market evidence formats that the Department accepts for ability-to-attract assessments across each target sector.

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