Subclass 189 vs 190 vs 491: which skilled visa fits?

How you get invited

You cannot apply directly for any of these visas. You submit an expression of interest (EOI) in SkillSelect and must be invited in writing. To be invited you need to meet or exceed 65 points, and Home Affairs says meeting that mark does not guarantee an invitation.

An EOI costs nothing and is not a visa application. Once invited, you have 60 days from the invitation date to submit the application online.

What you need on the day you are invited

You need a suitable skills assessment for your nominated occupation. It must still be valid on the invitation date, and no more than 3 years may have passed since the assessment date. An assessment made for a subclass 485 visa does not count.

English must be at least competent, and the English test used to show it must have been taken in the 3 years before the invitation. The main applicant must not have turned 45 when invited.

Subclass 189: permanent, with invitation rounds

The 189 is a permanent visa, which Home Affairs lists as Skilled Independent. Its travel facility lets the holder travel to and enter Australia for 5 years from the grant date. Only occupations on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List are eligible for 189 invitations (list as of 2026-03-28).

Home Affairs runs invitation rounds from time to time. The highest points score is invited first, and equal scores are separated by the date the EOI reached that score. In the 2026-06-04 round, 10,000 189 EOIs were invited, and across occupations the minimum invited scores ran from 65 to 100, most commonly 80. As of 2026-10-14 no round had been held in 2026-27.

Subclass 190: a state or territory must nominate you

A primary 190 applicant must be nominated by a State or Territory government agency, and a nomination that has not been withdrawn adds 5 points. The 190 is a permanent visa with a 5-year travel facility. State-nominated invitations can use occupations on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List or the Short-term Skilled Occupation List.

Each state or territory sets its own criteria, and Home Affairs invites you only after a nominating agency has nominated you in SkillSelect. If the nomination is withdrawn after you lodge, the application becomes invalid.

Subclass 491: temporary and regional

The 491 is a temporary visa that lets the primary holder travel to, enter and remain in Australia for 5 years from the grant date. You need either a state or territory nomination, or an eligible relative aged 18 or over as sponsor. A nomination that has not been withdrawn, or an accepted family sponsor, adds 15 points.

The family sponsor must be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, and usually lives in a designated regional area. Condition 8579 requires a 491 holder in Australia to live, work and study only in an area that was a designated regional area when the visa was granted.

To apply for the permanent 191 visa (Regional Provisional Visas stream), the primary applicant must have held a 491 or 494 for at least 3 years, and the other requirements must also be met.

Limits and rules to watch

For 2025-26 the Government allocated 12,850 places for 190 nominations and 7,500 for 491 nominations. An allocation is the number of new primary applicants a state or territory may nominate, not the number of visas granted.

The 2026-27 Budget announced that the permanent migration points test will be reformed. The budget paper does not state a start date or other details; this guide covers the rules published so far.

Separately, anyone who holds or last held a 491 or 494 visa must have held it for at least 3 years when applying for a 189 or 190, unless a specified exception applies.