The General Skilled Migration program is used to fill skill gaps in the Australian economy by targeting specific occupations.

General Skilled Migration, or GSM, is the Australian government’s points tested program for skilled workers who are not sponsored by an employer. It targets specific occupations to fill skill gaps in the Australian economy.

The program covers three visas. The Skilled Independent (subclass 189) visa is permanent and requires no sponsor or nominator. The Skilled Nominated (subclass 190) visa is also permanent, but requires nomination by a State or Territory government. The Skilled Work Regional (subclass 491) visa is a five year provisional visa requiring a State or Territory government nomination or sponsorship by an eligible family member, and provides a pathway to permanent residence through the subclass 191.

All three work the same way. You need a suitable skills assessment in an eligible occupation, you must be under 45, and you must have at least competent English. You also cannot simply apply, you first lodge an Expression of Interest and wait to be invited.

The program covers a number of visas, including pathways to direct permanent residence (the Skilled Independent (Subclass 189) visa, the Skilled Nominated (Subclass 190) visa) or a staggered provisional pathway through the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (Subclass 491) visa.

Applications for each of the GSM visas are by invitation only, are points-tested and require a suitable skills assessment for your chosen occupation.

Both the Skilled Independent (Subclass 189) visa and Skilled Nominated (Subclass 190) visa are permanent visas, meaning that after you obtain this visa you can work and study anywhere in Australia, sponsor eligible relatives for permanent residence and if eligible, apply to become an Australian citizen. The main difference between these two visas is that Subclass 189 has no sponsorship requirement, while a Subclass 190 visa must be sponsored by a state or territory.

The Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (Subclass 491), on the other hand, is a State / Territory sponsored, 5 year temporary visa designed to permit individuals to live, work and study in a designated regional area of Australia. It can lead to permanent residence, if eligible, through the Skilled regional (subclass 191) visa.

Broadly speaking, the Subclass 189 visa is the “independent” visa, and the Subclass 190 visa is state-sponsored (requires a further application to be approved by the State but provides additional points and unlocks further occupations).

An Expression of Interest (EOI) is not a visa application. When you submit an EOI you are indicating that you would like to be considered for a skilled visa.

All people interested in the points based general skilled migration visa program will need to submit an EOI and receive an invitation in order to lodge a visa application.

Your EOI will be stored in SkillSelect and is valid for two years.

The points test is the Department’s innovative way of determining how you rank against other applicants applying for the same visa category.

If you are in Australia and hold a substantive visa when you lodge your general skilled migration visa application, in most cases you will be granted a Bridging Visa A (BVA). This BVA will allow you to remain in Australia during processing of your further visa.

However, bear in mind that the general skilled migration visas are usually invitation only. This means simply lodging an expression of interest is not a visa application and will not grant you a bridging visa.

Depending on your country of nationality and your travel history, you may require health examinations to process your visa. Hannan Tew will advise you of the relevant assessments once you have completed the information questionnaire.

You will need to provide police clearances for all countries in which you have resided for 12 months or more in the last 10 years.

Generally speaking the permanent residence visa is granted without conditions (apart from, in some cases, the condition to enter into Australia before a particular date).

However, bear in mind that if you have applied for a regional visa you may have Condition 8579 which provides that visa holders must live, work and study only in a part of Australia that was a designated at the time the visa was granted.

The permanent visas do not have an expiry date. However, these visas are granted with a 5 year travel facility. This means that unless you obtain citizenship, after the travel facility expiry you will require a further visa (such as a Resident Return Visa) to enter Australia.

The temporary visas are valid for 5 years.

Yes, you can include anybody who is a “Member of the Family Unit”, which generally includes your spouse/de facto partner, and certain children in your visa application. They will also receive a visa valid for the same duration as the main applicant.

There are specific requirements for children over the age of 18 to demonstrate dependency. Children 23 years or above cannot be included except in very limited circumstances.

You cannot include parents or siblings in your visa application, even if they are dependent on you.

Yes, your partner will have full work authorisation in Australia which means they can work for any employer in any capacity.

Yes. However, different States / Territories in Australia have different requirements and fees may be applicable. We strongly recommend that you explore this with the education provider directly.

Yes, applying for permanent residence gives you access to Medicare.

The Department have appointed particular panel doctors who are authorised to conduct health examinations for Australian visa purposes.

If the health examinations are not carried out by these individuals, they will need to be redone.

The Department also require specific police clearances.

Please wait for instructions from your HT advisor to ensure that you don’t unnecessarily incur any costs or loss of time.

The points test scores you against a set of criteria, and your total then determines how you rank against other candidates in your occupation. The formal minimum is 65 points, but that figure is misleading on its own. In practice, the score needed to receive an invitation is considerably higher, because invitations go to the highest ranked candidates rather than to everyone who clears the threshold.

Points are awarded for age, English proficiency, skilled employment experience in Australia and overseas, educational qualifications, Australian study, and your partner’s skills or English. State or Territory nomination for a subclass 190 adds 5 points, and nomination or eligible family sponsorship for a subclass 491 adds 15 points.

Because the practical cut-off moves with demand in your occupation, the useful question is not whether you reach 65 but whether you are competitive. That is worth assessing properly before you invest in a skills assessment and English testing.

Yes, a suitable skills assessment for your nominated occupation is a requirement for all three General Skilled Migration visas. In practice, you need it before you lodge your Expression of Interest, because the occupation you nominate and the points you claim both depend on it.

Skills assessments are carried out by the assessing authority designated for your occupation, not by the Department. Different occupations are assessed by different authorities against different criteria. Some assess qualifications only, others assess employment history as well, and the evidence required varies considerably.

Getting the occupation right before you start matters more than it might appear. A skills assessment in the wrong occupation is not simply a delay – it can put the whole application on the wrong footing, and assessments take time and money to redo.

A SkillSelect Expression of Interest is how you tell the Department you want to be considered for a General Skilled Migration visa. It is not a visa application.

You submit an EOI through SkillSelect setting out your occupation, skills assessment, English results, experience and claimed points. It is stored in SkillSelect and remains valid for two years. If you are selected, you will receive an invitation to apply, and you then have 60 days to lodge the actual visa application.

One consequence catches people out. Because an EOI is not an application, lodging one does not give you a bridging visa and any right to remain in Australia. If your current visa is approaching expiry, an EOI will not protect your status, so speak to us about your options well before it ends.

In most cases the answer is determined by your circumstances rather than chosen. Your occupation, your points score and whether a State or Territory will nominate you narrow the field before preference comes into it.

The subclass 189 is the most flexible, as it is permanent from grant and does not tie you to any particular State or employer, but it is also the most competitive and its occupation list is the narrowest.

The subclass 190 opens up additional occupations and adds 5 points, in exchange for a commitment to live and work in the nominating State or Territory.

The subclass 491 offers the widest occupation access and the lowest effective points requirement, but it is provisional rather than permanent, restricts where you can live and work, and leads to permanent residence only through the subclass 191 after three years of meeting its conditions.

A sensible sequence is to confirm your occupation and its assessing authority, get your skills assessment and English result, calculate your points honestly, and then look at which State or Territory are currently nominating your occupation. We can work through that with you before you commit to any one pathway.