Quick answer: Victoria opened its 2026–27 Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) program to Registrations of Interest (ROIs) on 26 October 2026. There are 900 places, roughly a third of last year’s 2,700. An ROI now costs AUD 60 (AUD 66 if you’re in Australia), and invitations go to the highest scorers on the new Victorian Points Test. The subclass 491 is not open yet.
If you’ve been refreshing the Live in Melbourne site since April, when Victoria stopped taking new ROIs for 2025–26, the program is back. It isn’t last year’s program with a new date stamped on it, though.
Victoria now charges fees. It has fewer places to hand out. And for the first time it has published the exact scoring it uses to rank applicants, so you can work out where you stand before you spend a cent. One more thing catches people out: any ROI you lodged in an earlier year is gone. You need a new one.
Here’s what changed, who can apply (including from Nepal), how the scoring works, and what we’d do in your position.
What changed in the 2026–27 Victoria 190 program
| What | 2025–26 | 2026–27 |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass 190 places | 2,700 | 900 |
| Subclass 491 places | 700 | Not finalised yet |
| ROI fee | Free | AUD 60 (AUD 66 incl. GST) |
| Nomination application fee | Free | AUD 180 (AUD 198 incl. GST) |
| How ROIs are ranked | Factors listed, weightings not published | Victorian Points Test, weightings published, 950 points max |
| Priority industries | Health, social services, education, construction, new energy, advanced manufacturing | Healthcare, social assistance, education, construction |
| ROIs from earlier years | Carried over | Not carried over, lodge a new ROI |
The fee gets the headlines, but at AUD 60 it won’t stop anyone. The allocation is the real story. That’s 1,800 fewer subclass 190 nominations than last year, and the applicant pool hasn’t shrunk to match. Expect the scores needed for an invitation to sit higher than in any recent year. Live in Melbourne, 2026–27 Skilled visa nomination program
Who can apply for a Victoria 190 nomination?
You have to meet the federal Department of Home Affairs rules for the subclass 190 and Victoria’s own nomination rules. In practice, that means you need to:
- live in Victoria, or live overseas
- be committed to living and working in Victoria
- be under 45 when you’re nominated
- hold at least Competent English
- have a valid skills assessment in an occupation on the Home Affairs skilled occupation list for the 190, matching the occupation in your SkillSelect EOI
- score at least 65 on the federal points test, counting the 5 points for state nomination
- have your ROI selected (an ROI is not an application, and selection isn’t guaranteed)
There’s no minimum work experience and no minimum hours. You don’t even need to be working.
Living in Australia vs living overseas
If you’re already in Australia, you must be living in Victoria. Victoria says it won’t select ROIs from people living in other states and territories, apart from some case-by-case exceptions in border communities.
If you’re overseas, you can apply as long as you’re genuinely planning to settle in Victoria. Nepal-based applicants fall into this group.
Applying for Victoria 190 from Nepal
Most of the rules are the same wherever you live, but a few things play out differently for offshore applicants.
You can’t claim earnings points. Earnings are worth up to 150 points, but only for people in skilled work with an employer physically based in Victoria. From Kathmandu or Pokhara, your ceiling is 800 points, not 950. That’s fine, because everyone offshore is in the same position.
English is your biggest lever. Going from Competent to Superior English adds 200 points. Nothing else on the test moves that much, and it’s the one factor you can change in a few months. If you’re sitting on a Competent score, retaking PTE or IELTS is probably the best money you’ll spend this year. Check Home Affairs’ English language page for the exact score each test needs, since the equivalents have been revised before.
Your payment card has to work overseas. Victoria accepts only Visa and Mastercard, and the fee is charged in Australian dollars. Many Nepali debit cards are blocked for international online payments by default, so check with your bank before you sit down to lodge. You won’t pay GST from Nepal, so the ROI is AUD 60.
Watch your inbox. Invitations arrive by email from no-reply-gems@liveinmelbourne.vic.gov.au, and they expire. Victoria won’t reissue an expired invitation. Add that address to your contacts and check your spam folder.
The two-year commitment is real. Once nominated, you agree to live and work in Victoria for at least two years and to answer settlement surveys every six months. Don’t take a Victorian nomination if you’re actually planning on Sydney.
How the Victorian Points Test ranks you
This is separate from the federal 65-point test. The federal test decides whether you’re eligible for the visa at all. The Victorian Points Test (VPT) decides who gets invited, by ranking every ROI against the others.
There’s no pass mark. Each invitation round, Victoria invites the highest-scoring ROIs in the pool at that moment. It considers you in two ways:
- against everyone, across all eligible occupations
- against others in your industry, if your occupation is in a Victorian priority industry
Your score is worked out automatically from what you put in your ROI and your SkillSelect EOI. You don’t upload documents at the ROI stage, but everything you claim has to be backed up later.
| Factor | Maximum points | How it scores |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 300 | Highest at 20–29, falling every year after |
| English | 200 | Competent 0, Proficient 100, Superior 200 |
| Experience in your nominated occupation | 100 | 1 year 20, 2–3 years 40, 4–5 years 60, 6–7 years 80, more than 8 years 100 |
| Education | 100 | Other 25, Bachelor’s or Honours 50, Master’s 75, PhD 100 |
| Occupation skill level | 50 | ANZSCO skill level 1 gets 50, levels 2 and 3 get 0 |
| Partner skills | 50 | Only if your partner is in your EOI and visa, you claimed 10 partner points, and their occupation is on the priority list |
| Annual earnings (onshore only) | 150 | 8 points at AUD 80,000, rising about 8 points per AUD 5,000, capped at 150 from AUD 170,000 |
| Total | 950 |
Age carries the most weight, and it drops fast in your late thirties and early forties:
| Age | Points | Age | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 265 | 37 | 180 |
| 19 | 282 | 38 | 166 |
| 20–29 | 300 | 39 | 150 |
| 30 | 286 | 40 | 136 |
| 31 | 270 | 41 | 106 |
| 32 | 256 | 42 | 76 |
| 33 | 240 | 43 | 46 |
| 34 | 226 | 44 | 16 |
| 35 | 210 | ||
| 36 | 196 |
Look at the jump between 40 and 41: thirty points gone on a birthday. If you’re close to a threshold, lodging this program year rather than next matters.
Three example scores
These are our own sums from the published tables. They’re not official benchmarks, and no one can tell you whether a given score will be invited this year.
Sita, 31, registered nurse in Kathmandu. Proficient in English, 3 years’ experience, Bachelor of Nursing, skill level 1, applying from Nepal. 270 + 100 + 40 + 50 + 50 = 510. Nursing is a priority occupation, so she’s ranked in the healthcare pool as well as the overall pool.
Bikash, 27, civil engineer in Lalitpur. Superior English, 4 years’ experience, Master’s, skill level 1, offshore. 300 + 200 + 60 + 75 + 50 = 685. Civil Engineer isn’t on the construction priority list, so he only competes overall. His English and age carry him anyway.
Anita, 33, early childhood teacher in Melbourne. Proficient English, 2 years’ experience, Bachelor’s, skill level 1, earning AUD 86,000 in a Victorian centre. 240 + 100 + 40 + 50 + 50 + 16 = 496. Early childhood teachers with at least a year’s experience and Proficient or better English get extra priority.
Bikash outscores both of the others without being in a priority industry. That’s the point of the published test: a priority occupation helps, but it doesn’t rescue a weak profile, and a strong profile doesn’t need it.
Victoria’s priority industries for 2026–27
Any eligible occupation can lodge an ROI. Occupations in these four industries also get ranked within their own pools:
- Healthcare: registered nurses across most specialties, midwives, nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, sonographers, pharmacists, and a long list of medical specialists
- Social assistance: social workers, welfare workers, clinical and other psychologists
- Education: secondary, middle school and special needs teachers, plus early childhood (pre-primary) teachers
- Construction: professionals such as construction project managers, surveyors and geotechnical engineers, and trades including electricians, plumbers, carpenters, bricklayers, tilers, metal fabricators and motor mechanics
New energy and advanced manufacturing were priorities last year. They aren’t on the 2026–27 list. If you work in those fields, you’ll be competing in the overall pool.
Being on the priority list doesn’t make your occupation eligible for the 190 by itself. You still need a skills assessment in an occupation on the Home Affairs list. The full ANZSCO codes are on the VPT page, so check yours there rather than relying on a summary.
How much does a Victoria 190 nomination cost
| Fee | From Nepal (no GST) | From within Australia (incl. GST) |
|---|---|---|
| Registration of Interest | AUD 60 | AUD 66 |
| Nomination application (only if invited) | AUD 180 | AUD 198 |
| Home Affairs subclass 190 visa charge, main applicant | AUD 6,140 | AUD 6,140 |
A few rules worth knowing:
- The ROI fee is charged once per program year. If you withdraw and resubmit in the same year, you don’t pay again.
- The nomination fee applies each time you submit a nomination application.
- Victorian fees are generally non-refundable, including when you aren’t invited or your application is refused. Refunds are only for technical or administrative errors.
- The Home Affairs charge is separate and paid when you lodge the visa, plus extra charges for any family members you include.
Step by step: from EOI to visa
- Check eligibility. Age, English result, skills assessment, and where you live. Both your English test and your skills assessment need at least 12 weeks of validity left when you submit a nomination application, so don’t let either run close.
- Lodge or update your SkillSelect EOI. Victoria ranks you using your EOI, so your occupation, experience and partner details have to be right. If your EOI expires within 12 months, create a new one.
- Lodge your ROI on the Live in Melbourne visa nomination portal using your EOI number, and pay the ROI fee. You can only have one active ROI for one subclass.
- Wait for an invitation. There are no fixed round dates. If you haven’t received an invitation email, you can’t apply.
- Submit your nomination application through the portal before the invitation expires, with your passport and evidence for everything you claimed. Onshore applicants also need residence proof (six months of bank statements, a lease, utility bills, a licence) and, if they claimed earnings, a contract, position description, recent payslips and a super statement.
- Answer any request quickly. Victoria averages about 20 business days to decide, not counting time spent waiting on you.
- Lodge your visa within 60 days of nomination. Miss that, or have errors in your EOI when you’re nominated, and Victoria won’t nominate you again this program year.
If your circumstances change after lodging (your earnings, your subclass choice, your partner points or your EOI number), you can’t edit the ROI. Withdraw it and lodge a fresh one. Victoria says this doesn’t hurt your position.
Why Victorian nominations get refused
Victoria checks documents and contacts employers and institutions directly. The refusals it sees most often come from:
- overstated earnings, or earnings from work that isn’t skilled or isn’t with an employer actually located in Victoria
- living in another state while applying as an onshore Victorian
- claiming partner points you aren’t entitled to
- changing your SkillSelect EOI after being invited
- expired skills assessments or English results
- false or misleading information about work or residence
A refusal shuts you out for six months, and the fee isn’t refunded. Most of these come down to claiming something in the ROI that you can’t prove later. Claim only what your documents show.
What about the Victoria 491?
Not yet. Victoria hasn’t finalised its 2026–27 subclass 491 places and isn’t accepting 491 ROIs. When it does open, keep in mind that the 190 and 491 are ranked separately, and you have to pick one. You can’t sit in both pools at once.
Should you lodge now or wait?
If you’re eligible today, lodge now. The ROI costs less than a dinner out in Melbourne, rounds run through the year, and every month you wait, you’re no younger. Last year’s pattern was regular rounds from November through April, and some agents expect the same this time, but Victoria hasn’t published dates.
The harder question is whether Victoria is your best bet at all. With 900 places, a 510-point profile is a hopeful lodgement, not a plan. If you’re in that range, lodge the ROI and, at the same time, work on your English score and look at what other states are offering.
Victoria 190 nomination FAQs
Is Victoria’s 190 nomination open for 2026–27?
Yes. Victoria opened 2026–27 subclass 190 Registrations of Interest on 26 October 2026, with 900 places. The subclass 491 is not open yet.
How many points do I need for subclass 190 in Victoria in 2026–27?
You need at least 65 on the federal SkillSelect test, including 5 for state nomination, to be eligible. Victoria then ranks applicants on its own Victorian Points Test, which has no pass mark. Invitations go to the highest scores in each round.
Can I apply for Victoria 190 nomination from Nepal?
Yes. Offshore applicants are eligible if they meet the age, English, skills assessment, and points requirements and are committed to living in Victoria. Offshore applicants can’t claim earnings points, so English, age, experience, and education decide your score.
Does my ROI from 2025–26 still count?
No. ROIs from earlier program years don’t carry over. Log in to the Live in Melbourne portal and lodge a new ROI for 2026–27.
How much does Victoria state nomination cost in 2026–27?
The ROI is AUD 60 (AUD 66 including GST if you’re in Australia), and the nomination application is AUD 180 (AUD 198 including GST). These are on top of the Home Affairs visa application charge.
How long does Victorian nomination take?
Victoria’s average is about 20 business days after you submit a nomination application, not counting any time it waits for extra information. There’s no processing time for an ROI, because an ROI isn’t an application.
Can I apply for the Victoria 190 and 491 at the same time?
No. You can only have one active ROI, and the 190 and 491 are ranked separately. You have to choose one.
Get your Victorian ROI right the first time
The new points test means you can score yourself before you pay anything. Do that first. If the number looks borderline, or you’re not sure your experience or partner points will hold up, talk to a registered migration agent before you lodge. A refusal costs you six months in a year with very few places.
This article is general information, not migration advice. Program settings can change without notice. Check Live in Melbourne and Home Affairs before you lodge.
