Skilled Independent visa, subclass 189
Nobody has to nominate you, nobody has to sponsor you, and the visa is permanent from the day it is granted. It is also the hardest of the three skilled visas to be invited for, and this page says why.
What independent actually buys you
The 189 is the only skilled visa where no third party stands between you and the grant. That is worth more than most people realise, and it is the reason the competition for it is so fierce.
Nobody to answer to
NO NOMINATION, NO SPONSOR- No state or territory nomination to win first
- No employer sponsorship to obtain or keep
- No relative required to sponsor you
- One application to one decision maker
Live anywhere, from day one
NO COMMITMENT ATTACHED- No region you are bound to, and no state you promised
- Any employer, any occupation, any hours
- Free to move the week you land
- Start a business, or work for yourself
Family, Medicare, citizenship
PERMANENT ON GRANT- Partner and children included in the one application
- Medicare enrolment once the visa is granted
- The clock towards citizenship starts running
- Eligible relatives can be sponsored later
One detail worth diarising on the day you are granted. The visa carries a travel facility of 5 years. Your permanent residence itself does not expire, but to travel back into Australia after those 5 years you need a Resident Return visa first.
The narrowest occupation list of the three
Before points, before English, before anything else, the 189 asks one question. Is your occupation on the medium and long term list?
Subclass 189
MEDIUM AND LONG TERM LIST ONLYThe tightest of the three. If your occupation sits on the short term list or the regional list, this visa is closed to you no matter how high your score is.
Subclass 190
TWO LISTSState nomination draws on the medium and long term list and the short term list, so a great many occupations that fail the 189 test pass this one.
Subclass 491
ALL THREE LISTSRegional nomination is the widest of all, adding the regional occupation list on top of the other two. The widest door, with the most conditions behind it.
A correction, because the news has confused this badly. The Core Skills Occupation List that dominated the headlines governs the employer sponsored visas, the 482 and the 186. The points tested visas, including this one, still run on the older lists. Your occupation being absent from a CSOL headline does not tell you anything about your 189 eligibility. Checking the right list is the first thing we do, and it takes minutes.
Four gates before you can even lodge an expression of interest
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. Because rounds are irregular, turning 45 while waiting in the pool is a real and common way to lose this visa.
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, and on a 189 those points usually decide it.
A positive skills assessment
From the correct assessing authority, for an occupation on the medium and long term list. The wrong authority is the single most expensive mistake in this process.
65 points
The minimum to enter the pool. On a 189 it is a floor and almost never a target, because there are no nomination points to top up your score.
Your expression of interest sits in SkillSelect for 2 years if no invitation arrives. Editing it can reset your date of effect, which is the tie breaker between two applicants on the same score. Never touch a live expression of interest without knowing what the edit will do.
What score actually gets invited
65 puts you in the pool. What gets you out of it depends almost entirely on which occupation pool you are standing in.
Trades
65 TO 75 POINTSCarpenters, bricklayers, tilers and similar trades have been invited at the 65 point floor in recent rounds. If you hold a trade assessment, this visa is genuinely open to you.
Health and education
75 TO 85 POINTSNurses, allied health and teachers have been prioritised, but the volume of applicants pushes the invited score above the floor by a clear margin.
Engineering
85 TO 90 POINTSA crowded pool with a deep queue. A strong profile without Superior English or a skilled partner rarely reaches the invited score here.
ICT and accounting
90 TO 110 POINTSThe most oversupplied pools in the program. Scores in this band are attainable, but only with Superior English, a specialist qualification and years of assessed experience.
These bands come from the published results of recent invitation rounds and they move every time a round is run. Treat them as the shape of the competition rather than a promise. The only way to know where you stand is to score yourself honestly, and then to look at the queue in your own occupation. Work out your points before you spend anything on a skills assessment.
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 6,135 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, panel medicals, and police checks from every country you have lived in for 12 months or more. There is no nomination fee, because there is no nomination.
The waiting
Once you are invited, published times put half of the points tested decisions inside a few months and the large majority inside a year. The unpredictable part is not the decision. It is the wait for an invitation.
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 expression of interest, then the invitation.
The part most agents leave out
The 189 is the visa every agent sells and the one fewest clients receive. Two facts explain why, and neither of them is on many websites.
The rounds are irregular
THE WAIT NOBODY WARNS YOU ABOUT- There is no monthly round. In the last full program year, invitations came in 2 large batches rather than a steady stream
- Long gaps happen. Months can pass with no round at all, and no announcement of when the next one falls
- Your age is assessed at invitation, so a quiet stretch can age you out of a visa you already qualified for
- A state nomination program, by contrast, is open and taking applications for most of the year
Applying from overseas is harder
THE 70 TO 30 SPLIT- Of the 185,000 places in this year's program, 129,590 are directed at people already living in Australia
- That leaves 55,110 for everyone applying from outside the country
- The 189 allocation did rise, from 16,900 to 21,090, so the news is not all bad
- But an offshore applicant is competing for a smaller share than the headline number suggests
The honest version. If you are a tradesperson with a valid assessment, the 189 is a realistic plan and you should pursue it. If you are an accountant or an ICT professional applying from Nepal on 75 points, it is not, and an agent who takes your money to lodge an expression of interest for one is selling you a lottery ticket. The credible route for most people is a state nomination, which has 35,500 places this year and adds 5 points, or the regional skilled work visa, which adds 15. Lodging one expression of interest for all three costs you nothing extra. Being told the truth about which of them will actually invite you is the part that saves you a year.
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 against the current points test, we look at what your occupation pool has actually been invited at, and we tell you plainly whether the 189 is a plan or a hope this year.
Occupation, list and assessing authority
We confirm your occupation sits on the medium and long term list, name the correct assessing authority the first time, and plan your English test around the points you need rather than the test you are used to sitting.
One expression of interest, every door open
The same expression of interest can carry the 189, the 190 and the 491. We build it so all three are live, protect your date of effect, and never edit it without a reason.
Invitation, lodgement, arrival
Documents ready before the invitation lands, a complete application lodged inside the 60 days, and support through medicals, police checks and the move itself.
Common questions
How many points do I need for a subclass 189?
Do I need a sponsor or a state nomination for a 189 visa?
Why has there been no 189 invitation round for months?
Is my occupation eligible for a 189 visa?
Should I apply for a 189 or a 190?
Free subclass 189 eligibility and points check
- We confirm whether your occupation is on the right list
- We score you against the current points test, honestly
- We compare your score against what your occupation is actually being invited at
- We tell you whether the 190 or the 491 is the shorter road for you
No obligation, and confidential.
Send us your details
We reply within one working day.
Find out whether the 189 is a plan or a hope
Twenty minutes will tell you what your occupation pool is really being invited at, what your score is worth against it, and which of the three skilled visas gets you there fastest.
Charges are indexed each July, occupation lists are reviewed annually, and the score invited in each occupation moves with every round. Figures checked 7 September 2026.