Options and Entitlements

It’s easier to lay this out as a table, summarising how requirements are changed across the visas. The most significant features that should always be double checked with DIAC or State Governments, or a good migration agent, are Occupation lists, award of points and English language skills.

	Skilled Sponsored 176	Skilled Regional Sponsored 475/487	Skilled Regional 887	Skills Matching 134
English	usually IELTS 6, trades IELTS 5	usually IELTS 6, trades IELTS 5, concession to IELTS 5.5 with sponsorship (not Qld or WA)	not tested	not tested, but defined as “good” on DIAC web site
Age	under 45	under 45	no limit	under 45
Points	120/80	100	not tested	80
Location	Metro	Regional	Regional	Negotiable
Occupation	on State SOL Victoria, NT, South Australia, West Australia, Queensland, ACT, NSW Finance, NSW ICT NSW Biotech	on State SOL Queensland, South Australia, NT, West Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, NSW	No list used	Depends on the State if own list from 176 or 475 or SOL
For PR	2/5 years in sponsoring State	2/3 years in region in sponsoring State, via Skilled Regional	Lived in region for 2 years, worked there for 1 year	Depends who sponsors

NB the table above has been compiled from many State Government and DIAC web sites and is not necessarily the most current information. Always visit the relevant State Government to get the most current lists and information.

Skilled Sponsored - permanent

The Skilled - Sponsored Visa entitles a migrant to permanent residence in Australia. A decision is made on skills, work experience and either sponsorship from a family member who is already a permanent resident of Australia OR sponsorship by an Australian State or Territory.

Successful applicants can live anywhere in Australia. That’s the good news. The bad news is the processing time for this visa is approximately 18 months.

Applicants must nominate a skilled occupation from the SOL, have a family or State Government sponsor and pass the Points Test with 100 points.

Successful applicants are given a 5 year multiple entry visa to live and work in Australia. They need only live in Australia for 2 of the 5 years to have the visa reissued for a further 5 years, or spend 4 consecutive years in Australia to be eligible for citizenship.

The visa will expire if citizenship is not obtained or a Resident Return Visa is not extended.

Nominees are selected by States/Territories in Australia to meet the skills shortages in their area. Recipients of sponsorship are expected to live in the nominated State/Territory for the first two years of life in Australia.

Each participating State/Territory maintains a list of their own occupations in demand (refer to the table above) which they will use to decide sponsorship. Sponsorship relies on the candidate’s occupation being on the right list, amongst other things.

Skilled Regional Sponsored - provisional

The Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa is a provisional, sponsored work visa that can lead to Permanent Residence (on Skilled Regional visa) after living and working in a regional area in the sponsoring State for 2 years. The provisional visa is valid for 3 years, allowing one year of grace.

Applicants must meet the Basic Requirements and nominate an occupation from the Skilled Occupation List for that State.

The success of a visa application will be based on a combination of skills, work experience and nomination by a State/Territory government.

As at 4 February 2008, only ACT does not participate in the Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa sponsorship scheme

Visa holders can apply for Permanent Residence under the Skilled - Regional (subclass 887) visa if they have lived in regional Australia for at least 2 years and have been employed (including self employed) for at least 12 months in regional Australia.

Skilled Regional - permanent

This visa is for people who have already migrated to Australia on a provisional regional visa and have been living and working there for at least two years.

To get Permanent Residence, applicants must secure sponsorship from the State/Territory where you first settled and wish to continue to live.

Another requirement is that applicants hold a positive skills assessment from an Australian assessing authority for a nominated occupation on the Skilled Occupation list for that State (refer to the table above).

Skills Matching - Patience and Hope Necessary!

This is for The clear majority of migrants are deeply appreciative of the start they are being given and highly unlikely to do anything to jeopardise their employment. Some of them may languish in the Skills Matching database for up to two years before their nomination comes through and their visa can be granted.

The Australian Skill Matching Visa was designed to help overcome regional skills shortages in Australia by encouraging migrants to settle in parts of the country where their skills and abilities are in demand.

It’s a good idea but it’s badly done, as usual because nobody knows about it. States are not usually actively trolling the list to find candidates for State sponsorship, employers almost universally know nothing about the list and hence may never look for employees there.

The one saving grace that the Skills Matching Database has is that it means the visa application is not rejected, it is still “live” - but only just.

To reinvigorate the visa application, applicants need to “get selected”. This usually means drawing an employer’s attention to the fact that a visa can be granted if the employer would only offer the work!

The question is, how do you get an employer to recruit someone off the database, and the only answer really is - you have to show them how to do it. We can help with getting their attention by marketing candidates already on the list direct to the employer.

Applicants need to prove functional English skills and a lesser recent work experience requirement; and nominate a skilled occupation from the SOL.

Applicants must have been employed in a skilled occupation for at least 6 months in the 12 months before applying for migration.

Functional English means an overall band score of 4.5 on the 4 components of the IELTS test and payment of a tuition fee to upgrade English language skills to the 'vocational English' level of IELTS 5.

If nominated by a State/Territory government their application for migration may be processed under the Skilled Sponsored visa 176.

If nominated by an employer, skills matching applicants may be eligible for an Australian visa under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) or under a Labour Agreement (not common).

State or Territory Nominated Independent (STNI)

This visa was replaced by the Skilled - Sponsored 176 visa and the Skilled - Regional 887 visa.

Skilled Independent Regional Visa (SIR)

This visa was replaced by the Skilled - Regional Sponsored in both 487 Offshore and 475 Onshore subclasses.

The tables below are worth including just to bring the right understanding of language requirements to visa mix.

English language competency definitions:

How English language scores translate into points:

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