AUSTRALIA SKILLED MIGRATION COMPARISON

Australia PR: Subclass 189 vs 190 vs 491 Compared

The three points-tested skilled visas share one entry door (SkillSelect) and one minimum score, but they differ in who puts you forward, where you must live and work, and whether the visa is permanent from day one.

The short answer

Subclass 189 (Skilled Independent), subclass 190 (Skilled Nominated) and subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional, Provisional) are all invitation-based visas. You lodge an expression of interest (EOI) in Home Affairs’ SkillSelect system, and you can only apply once you are invited. What changes between them is the “second key”:

189 needs no sponsor or nominator. It is a permanent visa, and Home Affairs describes it as letting you live and work permanently anywhere in Australia.
190 needs nomination by an Australian state or territory government agency. It is also a permanent visa.
491 needs either state or territory nomination or sponsorship by an eligible relative. It is a provisional visa valid for 5 years, tied to a designated regional area, with a later route to permanent residence through subclass 191.

No single one of these is the right fit for everyone. Which one deserves your attention first depends on your points score, your occupation and its assessing authority, whether a state or territory is inviting people in that occupation, where you are willing to live, and whether you have an eligible relative in a designated regional area. The decision framework further down turns those factors into questions you can check against your own profile.

Read this first

This page explains differences. It does not predict who will be invited or nominated. Invitations are issued by the Department of Home Affairs against the places available, nominations are decided by each state or territory, and visa decisions rest with the Department. IndoWorld does not control any of these, or quotas, invitation rounds or processing times.

The three visas side by side

The table reflects what Home Affairs publishes on each visa page. Rules, lists and processing arrangements are updated by the Department, so confirm each row on the linked official page before you rely on it.

	Subclass 189 (points-tested stream)	Subclass 190	Subclass 491 (main applicant)
Type of visa	Permanent	Permanent	Provisional, 5 years; cannot be extended
Who puts you forward	Invitation from Home Affairs through SkillSelect; no sponsor or nominator needed	Nomination by a state or territory government agency, then invitation	Nomination by a state or territory agency, or sponsorship by an eligible relative (approved by Home Affairs), then invitation
Points added for nomination or sponsorship	None	5 points, provided the nomination is not withdrawn	15 points, for either an in-effect nomination or an accepted family sponsorship
Where you live and work	Anywhere in Australia	Home Affairs lists work and study anywhere in Australia; the nominating state or territory publishes its own criteria	Designated regional area, in line with your visa conditions
Route to permanent residence	Already permanent	Already permanent	Apply for the Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa, subclass 191, if you meet its requirements
Occupation list	The relevant list for the 189 points-tested stream	The relevant list for the 190, plus the nominating state’s own occupation criteria	The combined list for subclass 491, plus state or regional criteria

Sources: Home Affairs, Skilled Independent (189); Skilled Nominated (190); Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (491).

What the three visas have in common

Home Affairs sets the same core requirements for all three at invitation stage. If you do not meet these, the subclass choice is academic.

An EOI in SkillSelect. Submitting an EOI is not a visa application and has no fee. You can be invited only after submitting one.
At least 65 points. SkillSelect shows an indicative score from your claims. Under 65, you will not be invited. Your invitation states the score you must show when the application is assessed, and that score can be higher than 65 depending on your claims.
Under 45 at invitation. If you turn 45 after submitting the EOI but before an invitation, you will not be invited. Turning 45 after the invitation does not stop you applying.
At least Competent English at invitation. Higher English levels earn additional points.
An occupation on the relevant list and a suitable skills assessment. The assessment must come from the assessing authority listed against your occupation.
60 days to apply once invited. Home Affairs states this time cannot be extended, and you must be able to evidence every claim you made in the EOI.

Health, character, Australian values statement and debt-repayment requirements also apply, and your immigration history (for example a past refusal or cancellation) is considered. The official eligibility tab on each visa page lists them in full.

Points and the expression of interest

All three visas use the same points test, with one difference: nomination or sponsorship adds points on the 190 and 491.

Item	189	190	491
Minimum score to be invited	65	65	65
Points for state or territory nomination	Not applicable	5	15
Points for accepted sponsorship by an eligible relative	Not applicable	Not applicable	15

The remaining points come from the same categories: age, English language, skilled employment (inside and outside Australia), education, and a short list of extras such as a Professional Year, regional study or partner skills. Home Affairs publishes the full tables for each visa: 189, 190 and 491. Our points calculator guide walks through how the categories are claimed and evidenced.

Why 65 is a floor, not a target

Home Affairs says that if you score enough points and there are places allocated for your occupation, it might invite you, and that places are allocated to meet the government’s migration planning levels. Reaching 65 therefore only makes you eligible to be considered. You could receive an invitation up to 2 years after submitting an EOI, and Home Affairs invites a person to apply for a visa only twice.

Two cautions from the Department matter in practice. Employment points count only for work in your nominated occupation or a closely related one, within the 10 years before invitation, and Home Affairs caps employment points at 20. And if you cannot show the points on your invitation or meet the other criteria, Home Affairs says not to apply.

Nomination, sponsorship and state involvement

State and territory nomination (190 and 491)

For the 190, Home Affairs invites you only if a state or territory has nominated you. For the 491 the same applies unless you are using the family-sponsored route. Home Affairs states that every state and territory agency has its own criteria for deciding who to nominate and tells applicants to contact the agency directly. The eight jurisdictions are the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. If the nominating agency withdraws a nomination after you apply, Home Affairs says your application becomes invalid for the 190.

Two state pages show how differently the programs work, and why one state’s rules should never be assumed to apply to another:

New South Wales says you cannot apply directly for nomination; it runs selection-based invitation rounds with no publicly announced dates, and invitation is at the NSW Government’s sole discretion. Its 190 page links nomination to a NSW Skills List, a valid skills assessment and a residency condition, and it has carried a notice that applications close when the program year’s nomination places are fully allocated. Read the NSW subclass 190 page for the current position.
South Australia describes a different pathway for the 491: an EOI in SkillSelect, followed by a Registration of Interest on its migration portal for onshore applicants, with eligibility tied to its State Skilled Occupation List and its nomination streams. See the South Australia subclass 491 page.

Our state nomination guide covers the nomination process in more depth. A state website is the authority on that state’s criteria, and nomination is never automatic even when your occupation appears on a list.

Family-sponsored 491

The 491 has a second entry point that does not involve a state or territory. Home Affairs lets you indicate in your EOI that an eligible relative will sponsor you, and the Department may then invite you in an invitation round. The sponsor must be:

18 or older;
usually resident in a designated area of Australia;
an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen; and
your eligible relative (or your partner’s, if your partner is applying too): a parent, child or step-child, sibling, aunt or uncle, nephew or niece, grandparent or first cousin, including adoptive and step relationships where Home Affairs lists them.

Home Affairs must approve the sponsorship before a visa can be granted. Check the 491 eligibility tab for the exact list of relationships.

Location and conditions

189: a permanent visa with no sponsor or nominator, and Home Affairs states it lets you live and work permanently anywhere in Australia.

190: also permanent, and Home Affairs lists the right to work and study in Australia. The nominating state or territory sets its own nomination criteria, so read the terms of your nomination alongside your visa grant conditions.

491: Home Affairs states that you and family members who hold the visa must live, work and study in a designated regional area of Australia. Your visa conditions, which you can see in your grant letter and in VEVO, define what that means for you, and a withdrawn nomination means the visa will not be granted. Home Affairs publishes the list of designated regional area postcodes, which is organised into categories for cities and major regional centres and for other regional areas, state by state.

Check the postcode of the place you plan to live and work against the Home Affairs list before you make a plan around a 491. Do not rely on a general idea of what counts as regional.

Pathway implications: permanent now, or provisional first

The 189 and 190 are permanent visas from grant. Home Affairs states that you become a permanent resident on the grant date, that the visa has a travel facility of 5 years, and that a Resident Return visa is needed to re-enter as a permanent resident after that period.

The 491 is a temporary visa. Home Affairs states you cannot extend it, and that permanent residence is sought through the subclass 191. The 191 page sets out what that step involves:

You must hold an eligible visa (a subclass 491 or 494) when you apply, and you must have held it for at least 3 years before applying.
You provide Australian Taxation Office notices of assessment for three income years out of the five years of your eligible visa. Home Affairs says there is no minimum income requirement.
You must have complied with the conditions of the eligible visa for the whole period you held it.
Health, character, Australian values statement and debt requirements apply, and your immigration history is considered.

Until a 491 holder has held the visa for 3 years, Home Affairs says they cannot make a valid application for a subclass 820 partner visa and cannot be granted visas including the 189 and 190, among others listed on the 491 page. The 189 and 190 pages also say that if you hold or last held a 491 or 494, you must have held it for at least 3 years when you apply. These are the rules to read on the official pages if you are weighing a 491 as a stepping stone. Source: Home Affairs, subclass 191 (Regional Provisional stream).

Skills assessment and occupation lists

A suitable skills assessment for your nominated occupation is part of the eligibility test for all three visas. Home Affairs says only the assessing authority listed against your occupation on the skilled occupation list can issue it, that obtaining it is your responsibility, and that each authority has its own procedures, timeframes and charges.

The assessment must have been obtained within the 3 years before the date of your invitation. If the assessment covers a shorter period, that period must not have lapsed.
Home Affairs notes that its delegates now accept a suitable assessment obtained within the 60-day invitation period, following a court decision, while reserving the Minister’s position. Do not plan around this: confirm the current position on the visa page.
The 189, 190 and 491 each use their own list of eligible occupations, and Home Affairs states it uses the 2013 version of ANZSCO for these visas. States and territories apply their own occupation criteria in addition.
Home Affairs says pending visa or nomination applications are not adversely affected if an occupation is later removed from a list. A new nomination or a change of occupation or employer could be affected.

See the Home Affairs skills assessment page and the skilled occupation list page. Our skills assessment guide explains how applicants usually choose and prepare for an assessing authority.

A decision framework, not a ranking

Each question below changes which visa deserves a closer look. None of the answers makes one subclass better than the others in general.

Question to ask	What it changes	Where to check
What is my realistic points score, backed by evidence?	Whether the 189 is workable on its own, or whether the points added by nomination (5 on the 190, 15 on the 491) matter to you	Points tables; our points calculator guide
Is my occupation on the relevant list, and who is the assessing authority?	Which visas you can use at all, and how long an assessment will take before an EOI is realistic	Home Affairs occupation list; skills assessment guide
Does any state or territory nominate my occupation, and do I meet its residence or work criteria?	Whether the 190 or the 491 nomination route is open to you	The state or territory’s own migration page
Do I have an eligible relative who is a citizen or permanent resident living in a designated regional area?	Whether a family-sponsored 491 exists as a separate route	Home Affairs 491 eligibility tab
Am I able and willing to live and work in a designated regional area for the visa period, and what happens to my family’s plans?	Whether a 491 and its conditions suit your life, including partner and children	Regional postcode list; visa conditions in VEVO
How much do I value permanent status from the first day versus a provisional step with a later application?	The weight you put on the 189 and 190 against the 491 and 191 route	Pathway section above; subclass 191 page
How do timing and processing priorities affect my plan?	Whether the date you lodge, where you are when you lodge, and your occupation sector matter	Home Affairs processing priorities and the SkillSelect invitation round notices

The timing question is real. Home Affairs states that it prioritises skilled applications under Ministerial Direction No. 122 and publishes the lodgement dates it is currently processing for each visa, and it warns that timeframes may fluctuate while it transitions. Those dates change, so read them on the official page rather than on any summary, including this one. See our processing time guide for how to read them.

Common misunderstandings

Treating 65 as the target. It is the minimum to be considered. Invitations depend on places and ranking, and a score that sits at the minimum may wait.
Assuming a state page generalises. NSW and South Australia describe different processes, and a program that is open in one year can close when places are used. Check the exact state page for the visa you intend to use.
Claiming points you cannot evidence. Home Affairs requires documents for every EOI claim at application stage. Employment references, for example, must carry specific details such as dates, duties, full-time or part-time status and salary.
Letting the skills assessment lapse. The assessment must fall within the 3 years before invitation.
Treating the 491 as a quicker 190. It is a different visa: provisional, regional, and followed by a separate 191 application with its own requirements.
Missing the age cut-off. The under-45 test applies at invitation, not at application.
Relying on an unverified source for a rule. Pass marks, lists and priorities are published by Home Affairs and the states, and they change.

What IndoWorld does, and what it does not

We assess your profile against the three routes, review how your points claims line up with the evidence you hold, explain which assessing authority applies to your occupation, and help you prepare a clear document set. If a route looks premature, we say so (see when we would recommend not applying yet) and explain what would change that. Our wider approach is set out in the Route-Fit Framework.

We do not issue invitations, nominations or visas, and we do not control quotas, invitation rounds or processing times. Home Affairs states that anyone who provides immigration assistance on an Australian visa application must be a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner or an exempt person. Before you pay anyone for help, read the official Who can help with your application page.

Related case evidence

These are representative, anonymised case studies. They show how we reason through a comparison and are not real client experiences, testimonials or predictions of an outcome. Real client work is published separately under Client Experiences.

Questions applicants ask

Is 65 points enough to get an invitation?

Not on its own. Home Affairs says you will not be invited below 65, and that it might invite you if you score enough points and places are allocated for your occupation. The invitation states the score you must show at application stage.

Do I need the skills assessment before I submit the EOI?

Home Affairs requires you to declare a suitable skills assessment at the time of invitation, and the assessment must have been obtained within the 3 years before the invitation. States and territories can set their own conditions for nomination, so confirm whether the state you are targeting wants the assessment earlier.

Does a 491 holder move to permanent residence automatically?

No. You apply for the subclass 191. You must have held the 491 for at least 3 years, provide ATO notices of assessment for three of the five income years, and have complied with the visa conditions. Home Affairs states there is no minimum income requirement.

Can a relative sponsor me for the 491 instead of a state?

Yes, if your relative meets Home Affairs’ sponsor requirements, including usually living in a designated regional area and being a citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. Home Affairs must approve the sponsorship, and sponsorship carries the same 15 points as nomination on the 491.

Does subclass 190 oblige me to stay in the nominating state?

Home Affairs does not describe a regional residence condition for the 190 in the way it does for the 491, but each state sets its own nomination criteria and terms. Read your state’s terms and your visa grant conditions before you plan around where you will live.