Subclass 190 visa – State Sponsored Visa (Skilled Visa) for Australia
The 190 visa is a skilled (points tested and invited) visa for applicants that are sponsored by a state or territory government, intend applying for a permanent residence visa
* a holder of a 190 visa signs an undertaking to reside in the sponsoring state or territory for the first 2 years after taking up residence
KEY POINTS
- You must be invited to apply for and then approved for state sponsorship
- You must lodge an EOI
- You must be under 45 to be invited
- The Pass Mark (points Test): you need a minimum of 65 points (including state sponsorship points which adds 5 points)
Visa Type: Permanent Residence
Processing time (for the visa stage):
- 75% of applications: 6 months
- 90% of applications: 8 months
Application Details
Holders of a 190 visa can:
- stay in Australia permanently
- work and study in Australia
- enrol in Medicare, Australia’s public health care scheme
- sponsor your relatives to come to Australia
- travel to and from Australia for 5 years
- if eligible, apply for Australian citizenship
How do you apply ?
- You have to have a Nominated Occupation for Australian Skills Visa on the STSOL list AND on the specific state’s occupation list (and fully satisfy the criteria for that occupation)
- You can apply offshore or onshore (unless you have a condition on your visa prohibiting you from making an application in Australia eg. a 8503 condition)
This is a 4 step application
- You have to pass a skills assessment by a relevant skills assessment authority
- Then submit an EOI
- Then be invited to apply for state sponsorship, and when invited, apply for state sponsorship
- Then, when invited to apply (you get an immediate invite to apply from the DoHA when then state approves your sponsorship), apply for your visa within 60 days
You must satisfy other criteria such as:
Note however that many applications will realistically only receive an invite if you are able to claim high points AND meet state specific criteria