Who Can Apply for 189 Visa
The 189 visa is not open to everyone. To be eligible, you must meet all of the following:
Age
You must be under 45 years old at the time you receive your invitation to apply. There are no exceptions to this rule.
Occupation
Your nominated occupation must appear on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL). This list is more restricted than the lists used for the 190 or 491 visas. It focuses on occupations where Australia has a genuine, sustained national shortage — healthcare, engineering, construction trades, and technology roles dominate it.
Skills Assessment
Before you can even express interest, you need a positive skills assessment from the relevant Australian authority for your occupation. Engineers Australia, AHPRA, VETASSESS, and ACS are among the bodies that assess different professions. This process can take weeks or months, so starting early matters.
Points
The minimum to lodge an Expression of Interest is 65 points. In practice, that score will not get you an invitation. Recent rounds have seen invitations go to applicants with 80 to 95 points or higher, depending on occupation. For oversubscribed fields like accounting, 100+ points may still not be enough.
Health and Character
All applicants — including family members included in the application — must meet Australian health requirements through a medical examination. Police clearance certificates from every country where you have lived for 12 months or more in the past 10 years are also required.
Australia 189 Visa Process
Step 1 — Skills Assessment
Obtain a positive skills assessment from your occupation’s relevant assessing authority. Do this first. Everything else depends on it.
Step 2 — Expression of Interest (EOI)
Submit your EOI through SkillSelect, the Department of Home Affairs’ online system. This is not a visa application — it is a ranked interest registration. Your EOI stays in the pool until you receive an invitation or choose to withdraw.
Step 3 — Invitation to Apply
The Department of Home Affairs runs invitation rounds. When your points score reaches the threshold for your occupation in a given round, you receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA). You then have 60 days to lodge your full visa application.
Step 4 — Lodge the Application
Submit all documents, pay the application fee, complete health examinations, and provide police clearances. The primary applicant fee is approximately AUD 4,640 (as of mid-2025), with additional costs for family members included in the application.
How Long It Takes
Processing times vary significantly. Around half of all 189 applications are decided within four months. Applications in occupations with high demand — nursing, certain engineering roles — tend to move faster. Complex cases, or applications that require additional information, can stretch to 19 months or beyond.
Subclass 189 Vs. 190
| Feature | Subclass 189 | Subclass 190 |
|---|---|---|
| Visa type | Permanent residence | Permanent residence |
| Nomination required | No | Yes – state/territory |
| Points requirement | Min 65; competitive ~80–90+ | Min 65; +5 bonus from nomination |
| Points bonus | None | +5 points |
| Occupation list | MLTSSL only | MLTSSL + STSOL (wider) |
| Where you can live | Anywhere in Australia | Must stay in nominating state 2 years |
| Who controls invitation | Dept of Home Affairs | State govt, then Home Affairs |
| Flexibility after grant | High – no restriction | Limited – 2-year state commitment |
| Competition level | Very high | Varies by state; often easier |
| Processing pathway | EOI → Invitation → Application | State nomination → EOI → Invitation → Application |
| Work rights | Unrestricted | Unrestricted (state obligation applies) |
| Pathway to citizenship | Yes | Yes |
| Best suited for | High scorers wanting full freedom | Lower scorers or happy in a specific state |
The 189 is not the only pathway to Australian PR through the skilled migration program. The 190 visa offers state nomination, which adds five points to your score and broadens your occupation options — but requires a two-year commitment to the nominating state. The 491 is a provisional visa rather than permanent, offering a significant 15-point boost in exchange for living in a regional area for at least three years before converting to permanent residency.
For applicants who cannot reach competitive 189 scores on their own points alone, the 190 or 491 routes are often more realistic — and for many occupations not on the MLTSSL, they are the only option.
Is the 189 Right for You
If your occupation is on the MLTSSL, your points are genuinely competitive, and you want permanent residency without any strings attached, the 189 is the cleanest route available in Australia’s skilled migration system. It takes patience — scores are high, rounds are quarterly, and the pool is large. But what it offers in return is unmatched: full permanent residency, from day one, with the entire country open to you.