The Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) is a permanent residence visa for points-test skilled workers who want to work and live in Australia after being nominated by an Australian state or territory government agency.

To be able to apply for this visa you need to submit an expression of interest and then be invited through SkillSelect to apply.

You can be in or outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is granted.

What this visa lets you do

This is a permanent residence visa. It lets you and any family members who have also been granted this visa to:

• stay in Australia indefinitely
• work and study in Australia
• enrol in Medicare, Australia’s scheme for health-related care and expenses
• apply for Australian citizenship (if you are eligible)
• sponsor eligible relatives for permanent residence
• travel to and from Australia for five years from the date the visa is granted (after that time, you will need a resident return visa or another visa to return to Australia).

Before you apply

To be able to apply for this visa, you must first submit an expression of interest and then be invited through SkillSelect. If you receive an invitation, you will have 60 days to apply online for the visa. During that time, you cannot change the information in your expression of interest.

When you have submitted your expression of interest, a state or territory government can examine it and decide whether to nominate you to apply for a visa. State and territory authorities have their own criteria for deciding who to nominate. Each state or territory government agency have different processes for nominating expressions of interests, some will contact you first and others may wait for you to contact them.

Your visa application is likely to require extensive supporting documents, as listed in the document checklist. Start compiling your documents early in the process, even before you lodge your expression of interest.

Nomination by a state or territory government

State and territory government agencies can view your expression of interest in SkillSelect and decide whether to nominate you for a visa. Each state or territory has a list of occupations that guides the types of skills they are looking for.

In your expression of interest, you can indicate your interest in just one state or territory, or you can choose to be available to all of them. If you accept a nomination, the states and territories may require you to:

• live in the nominating state or territory for a specified minimum time
• tell the state or territory your address, both before and after you arrive in Australia
• be prepared to complete surveys and providing other post-arrival information they ask for
• meet any of their other requirements.

Each state or territory government agency has its own process for nominating expressions of interest. Some agencies contact people directly and others wait for people to contact them.

Who could get this visa

You might be eligible to apply for this visa if you were invited. When we sent your letter of invitation, you must also have:

• nominated an occupation that is on the relevant skilled occupation list
• obtained a suitable skills assessment for that occupation
• not yet turned 50 years of age
• achieved the score specified in your letter of invitation based on the factors in the points test
• at least competent English
• been nominated by an Australian state or territory government agency.

Health requirements

You must meet certain health requirements. The health examinations you need will depend on your personal circumstances, including your country of citizenship, time spent in another country during the last five years and your intended activities in Australia. The results of your health examinations are generally valid for 12 months.

This applies to you and any dependent family members included in your application.

You are able to organise your health examinations upfront before lodging a visa application.

Character requirements

You must meet certain character requirements. You must provide a police certificate from each country you have lived in for 12 months or more during the past 10 years after you turned 16 years of age.

This also applies to all dependent family members in the application who are 16 years of age or older.

Debts to the Australian Government

You must have no outstanding debts to the Australian Government or have arranged to repay any outstanding debts to the Australian Government before this visa can be granted.

Provide biometrics

You might be asked to provide biometrics (a scientific form of identification) as part of the application.

Use our free service to find out whether you could qualify for this visa. Fill out the assessment form. Make sure that all information provided is authentic in order to make a proper assessment.