Skilled Nominated visa, subclass 190
A state nominates you, you gain 5 points, and the visa you are granted is permanent from the first day. In this program year it is also the largest skilled pathway Australia runs.
Permanent from the day it is granted
The 190 is not a stepping stone towards permanent residence. It is the permanent visa, and everything that comes with residence starts immediately.
Work on your own terms
NO SPONSOR, NO EMPLOYER- Any employer, any occupation, any hours
- No employer sponsorship to obtain or keep
- Start a business, or work for yourself
Medicare and public services
FROM GRANT- Enrol in Medicare once the visa is granted
- School enrolment on the same basis as residents
- Access to the services a resident can use
Family, and then citizenship
THE LONGER VIEW- Partner and children included in the one application
- The clock towards citizenship starts running
- Eligible relatives can be sponsored later
One detail worth knowing early. The visa carries a travel facility of 5 years. Your permanent residence itself does not expire, but if you want to travel back into Australia after those 5 years you need a Resident Return visa first. Diarise it on the day you are granted.
The trade you are making
Almost everyone weighing a 190 is really choosing between two visas. The honest comparison is short.
Subclass 190
FEWER POINTS, PERMANENT NOW- 5 points from state or territory nomination
- Permanent residence on the day of grant
- You may live anywhere, and you commit to 2 years in the nominating state
- 35,500 places this program year, up from 33,000
The cost of the smaller points boost is that your own score has to carry more of the load.
Subclass 491
MORE POINTS, THREE YEARS FIRST- 15 points from regional nomination
- Provisional for 5 years, with the 191 permanent visa after 3
- Conditions bind where you live, work and study
- 14,110 regional places this program year, cut from 33,000
The extra 10 points are real, but the regional program shrank sharply this year, so it is no longer the soft option it was.
This is the shift most pages have not caught up with. For years the advice was that regional was the realistic route and the 190 was for high scorers. The 2026 to 2027 planning levels moved 35,500 places into state nomination and left 14,110 for the whole regional program. If your score is anywhere near competitive, the 190 deserves a serious look this year. Read the regional skilled work visa page for the other side of the decision, and work out your points before you choose either.
Four gates before a state will look at you
These are hard requirements, not scoring factors. Fail one and no amount of points rescues the application.
Under 45
Your age is assessed on the day you are invited to apply, not the day you lodged your expression of interest. Turning 45 in the pool ends it.
Competent English
IELTS 6.0 in every band, or the PTE equivalent, as the floor. Proficient and Superior are what actually earn you 10 and 20 points.
Skills assessment
A positive assessment from the right authority. The 190 draws on both the medium and long term list and the short term list, so it is wider than the 189.
65 points
The minimum to enter the pool, and the 5 points from nomination count towards it. It is a floor, not a target.
A note on the occupation lists, because the news has confused this badly. The Core Skills Occupation List that changed everything in 2025 governs the employer sponsored visas. The points tested visas, including this one, still run on the older lists. Your occupation being missing from a CSOL headline does not mean you are ineligible for a 190.
How state nomination actually works
The federal points test decides whether you qualify. The states decide whether they want you, and each of them decides differently.
Two applications, not one
THE STEP PEOPLE MISS- An expression of interest in SkillSelect, which is free
- A separate nomination application to the state you are targeting
- Some states charge a nomination fee, others charge nothing
- New South Wales invites from SkillSelect rather than taking applications
Only after a state nominates you does the invitation to apply for the visa itself arrive.
Eight programs, eight sets of rules
WHY ONE STRATEGY DOES NOT FIT- Every state publishes its own occupation list and its own criteria
- South Australia and the ACT score you again on their own matrices
- Tasmania and the Northern Territory weigh time already spent there
- New South Wales and Victoria are the most competitive, and open with little warning
A state can also close a program mid year once its allocation is used. Timing matters as much as your score.
Which state is right for you is a question about your occupation and your evidence, not about which city you like the sound of. We look at all eight programs against your profile, then aim at the ones that are actually nominating your occupation this year.
What it costs, and how long it takes
The government charge rose sharply on 1 July 2026. Budget from the current figure, not from what a friend paid last year.
The charge
AUD 6,140 for the main applicant from 1 July 2026, 3,070 for a partner and 1,535 for each child under 18.
Around it
A skills assessment, an English test, the state nomination fee where one applies, panel medicals, and police checks from every country you have lived in.
The waiting
Nomination in two weeks to three months, then the visa itself. Recent published times put most decisions somewhere between 12 and 17 months, and the figure moves with the state and the occupation.
The invitation is the deadline that catches people. Once it arrives you have 60 days to lodge a complete application, and a skills assessment or a police certificate cannot be produced inside that window. The documents come first, then the invitation.
The part most agents leave out
You will be told you must live in the nominating state for 2 years. Here is what that obligation actually is, and why it still matters.
What is not on your visa
THE LEGAL POSITION- No condition binding where you live
- No condition binding where you work
- No reporting of your address to a state
- No visa expiry to serve out
Unlike the 491, the 190 is granted without residence conditions attached. As a matter of law you are a permanent resident who may live anywhere in Australia from the first day.
Why you should honour it anyway
THE PART THAT BITES- You declared an intention to settle there. A declaration you never meant is a misrepresentation, and misrepresentation is what visas are cancelled for
- States keep records, and a broken commitment follows your family into later nomination applications
- Your immigration history is read again at citizenship and whenever you sponsor someone
- A state spent one of its limited places on you rather than on somebody else
The honest version. Nobody from Home Affairs will knock on your door if you move interstate in your first year. That is not the same as the move being free of consequence, and any agent who sells you a 190 by winking at the commitment is selling you a risk they will not be around to carry. If your circumstances genuinely change, and they do change, write to the nominating state and ask to be released. States agree more often than people expect, and a released commitment leaves a clean record. A quiet departure leaves a file note.
How we run it
Four stages, across offices in Nepal and Australia, with the same team from the points check to the grant.
The honest points check
We score you properly, and we tell you plainly whether a 190 is realistic this year, whether the regional route is the better play, or whether the answer is to spend six months adding points first.
Skills assessment and English
We name the right assessing authority the first time, and we plan the English test around the points you actually need rather than the test you are used to sitting.
State strategy, not a state guess
One expression of interest, all eight programs weighed against your occupation and their published criteria, applications timed around their opening dates, and a date of effect we protect rather than accidentally reset.
Nomination, lodgement, arrival
We prepare and lodge inside the 60 days, then help you land in the state that backed you, which is the part that makes the 2 year commitment straightforward rather than a burden.
Common questions
How many points do I need for a subclass 190?
Do I have to live in the nominating state for 2 years?
Is the 190 better than the 491?
Which state should I apply to for nomination?
Can my partner and children come with me?
Free subclass 190 eligibility and points check
- We score you against the current points test, honestly
- We name the states actually nominating your occupation this year
- We compare the 190 against the regional route on your numbers
- We tell you the full cost and the realistic timeline before you commit
No obligation, and confidential.
Send us your details
We reply within one working day.
Find out which states are actually nominating your occupation
Most people aim at the state they have heard of. Twenty minutes with us will tell you which programs are open to you right now, and what your score has to be.
Charges are indexed each July, state programs open and close through the year, and nomination scores move with every round. Figures checked 7 September 2026.