Skilled Regional Migration

Skilled Visa State Nominated

The 491 skilled Regional visa is a temporary visa that allows you to apply for permanent residence after 3 years. To be invited to apply applicants:

• must have an occupation on the relevant skilled occupation list.
• must complete a successful skill assessment from the relevant occupation.
• must have at least Competent English.
• must have obtained a minimum of 65 points on the point assessment.
• must be aged under 45 years at the time of invitation.
• must submit an expression of interest (EOI) and be invited by SkillSelect.

Each state nominates a limited number of skilled migrants per year. Minimum eligibility requirements and assessment criteria are used to select the highest applicants with the greatest chance of finding employment and settling in each state.

In addition to obtaining sponsorship from a participating State or Territory government and passing a points test. Points can be claimed in areas related to age, English language ability, specific work experience skills and other bonus categories.

The 491 skilled regional provisional visa allows you to:

• stay in Australia for 5 years.
• live, work and study in a designated region of Australia.
• travel to and from Australia as many times as you want, while the visa is valid
• apply for permanent residence, if eligible, through the Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa (subclass 191) – which starts on 16 November 2022. You can’t apply for other permanent visas until you have held your subclass 491 visa for 3 years.

To qualify for skilled migration, applicants must also be able to satisfy the visa requirements related to age, English language ability, occupation, skills, qualification, health and character.

Note: Unless you have held your subclass 491 visa for 3 years, you cannot make a valid application for a subclass 820 (Partner) visa or be granted 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme), 188 (Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional)), 189 (Skilled (Independent)), 190 (Skilled (Nominated)) or 858 (Distinguished talent).

The current pass mark for the Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (Subclass 491) is 65 points.