With the opening of Australia Border, some States and Territories are opening their offshore state sponsorship program. Applicants from outside of Australia may be able to get a nomination for a 491 or 190 Visa.

What Visa Can I Get In State Nomination?

Depending on your occupation, you will be applying for a 491 Visa (also known as a Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa) or a 190 Visa (also called the Skilled Nominated visa).

The 491 visa allows you to:

• Live and work in regional areas of Australia.
• Bring members of your immediate family with you; and
• Apply for permanent residence after 3 years.

The 190 visa allows you to:

• Live and work in Australia.
• Stay in Australia permanently
• Sponsor your family members to come to Australia.

For more information about General skilled migration and state nomination, please read here.

South Australia State Nomination – GSM Offshore

Being the friendliest state in Australia in issuing state nomination 190 and 491, South Australia started offering offshore invitation in July 2021. It extended its offshore state sponsorship occupation list in September 2021 to cover several popular occupations, including:

• Professional occupations (Marketing Specialist, Sales manager…)
• Trade occupations (Agriculture and Construction sectors)
• Engineering occupations

To know more about the South Australia Offshore Occupation List, please click here

South Australia has been the most productive states in issuing skilled visa invitations both onshore and offshore. However, it is deemed that the selection criteria for oversea applicants is quite high to be satisfied in some professionals occupations such as Marketing Specialist, Civil Engineers. But there are a few trades occupations, Hospitality or health and medical occupations have been made easier and more reasonable for offshore applicants.

General requirements are:

• You must have 2-8 years work experience at least in your nominated occupation.
• Competent-Superior English level unless you hold an eligible passport from a country where the primary language is English (the United Kingdom, the United States of America, New Zealand, Ireland and Canada)
• You must score at least 65 to 85 points for the Skilled Work Regional visa (subclass 491) in the Department of Home Affairs' points test.
• Some Occupations are able to access Skilled Visa 190 nomination now from offshore.

Talk to our Immigration Lawyers and Registered Migration Agents who are specialised in South Australia Immigration for your best advice.

Please book appointment here >

New South Wales state nomination – GSM Offshore

Offshore candidates skilled in occupations within some ANZSCO unit groups are eligible for NSW  190 or 491 nominations from December 2021.  Other than popular occupations (e.g., Nurses, Engineers, Social Workers), New South Wales are also welcoming offshore candidates who holds valid skills assessment and have resided outside Australia since the last 3 months.

Many candidates have been waiting for this news for a long time since South Australia has made their first shot. However, up until last December, NSW has officially announced this program for offshore applicants with its NSW occupation list and additional requirements for the next invitation round.

You must have a minimum 3-year work experience in your nominated or closely related occupation for occupations within some ANZSCO unit groups.

It may sound simple based on the only 2 requirements shown by the state. However, the competitiveness is high since there are a lot of applicants in the pool and NSW government will of course choose the best one out of it.

Read more about NSW State Nomination 190 or 491

ACT state nomination – GSM Offshore

Following New South Wales and South Australia offshore migration program, Australian Capital Territory has opened their skilled migration program for Overseas applicants under Skilled Work Regional Visa 491 and Skilled Nominated Visa 190.

Offshore skilled applicants who have at least 3 years full time, post graduate work experience can now access the ACT Critical Skills List and seek nomination from ACT.

There are certain requirements from 190 and 491 nomination in ACT skilled migration program. Most of those are similar, except employment criteria.

For applicants who seek for ACT 491 nominations, they have to research the ACT labor market to prove their ACT employability after getting visa. An employment statement explaining the research undertaken and confirming that you are employable in Canberra is required.

Others who seek for ACT 190 nominations, You have a full time job offer in your nominated occupation. The position must be in Canberra and be available for at least two years. The employer:

• must be a medium to large Australian enterprise (50 plus employees) actively trading in Canberra.
• cannot be trading from a home, online or serviced office.
• must have a genuine need to employ an overseas skilled worker.
• must demonstrate that the position is relevant to the business; and cannot be filled from the local labor market.

Read more about ACT State nomination offshore !

Tasmania State nomination – GSM Offshore

Occupations from the Tasmanian Skilled Occupations List are currently open for all nomination categories, including Overseas Applicants.

There are 2 categories for Tasmania skilled migration program for offshore applicants

Overseas Applicant (TSOL) requirements: applicants who have satisfied their requirements listed in TSOL will be eligible to apply for Category 3A. Refer to the list here: 

Applicants who have a job offer in an area related to the TSOL must have a Skills Assessment in that area and should meet the additional English and registration / experience requirements listed for that occupation on the TSOL.

Both streams have a requirement of not living in other states in the last 12 months.

Victoria and West Australia remain closed to offshore applications.

Source: 

https://www.nsw.gov.au/topics/visas-and-migration/skilled-visas/nsw-skilled-occupation-lists

https://www.act.gov.au/migration/skilled-migrants/act-critical-skills-list

https://www.migration.tas.gov.au/skilled_migrants/skilled_regional

Tasmania Skilled Occupation List for Overseas applicants: 

https://www.migration.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/301167/TSOL_Tasmanian_Skilled_Occupations_List_2021-22_Aug_2021.pdf

Following New South Wales and South Australia offshore migration program, Australian Capital Territory has opened their skilled migration program for Overseas applicants under Skilled Work Regional Visa 491 and Skilled Nominated Visa 190.

Follow this link for South Australia Current Offshore requirement & New South Wales Offshore Migration overview

Let's have a look on all the eligibility guidelines for you to apply for skilled visas in ACT from overseas. 

Up to 3 years waiting to get their permanent residency approved!!

This is a true story that many of skilled migrants for General Skilled migration scheme have been waiting for ages just only to get their Permanent Residency and coming back to Australia to work.

Reporting from ABC news, Huang Yiwen has been waiting for her skilled visa 190 Approved for just over two years. As an immigration company, we are having a lot of questions from skilled migrants or Skilled workers about the processing time which is not in line with the information provided by the department of home Affairs.

"I have always taken Australia as my home" Ms Huang said. Back to the time when she was in Adelaide, South AUstralia, she was a part-time teacher for a primary school and has herself lodged application for the 190/491 skilled nominated visa. She returned to China in 2019 and is being stucked in China since then, even when the border is fully open on the 15 December 2021 for fully vaccinated temporary work visa holder. But she does not have her own temporary visa and she is waiting for her Permanent Residency approved to travel back to work in Australia.

Source: ABC

NSW STATE NOMINATION BASIC INFORMATION

NSW state nomination uses a selection-based invitation procedure so as to suitable candidates are invited by the state are satisfying the requirements of the growth in their local economy.

Please do keep in mind that Direct application is not applicable with NSW State Nomination both Offshore and onshore. In order to be nominated, you must first submit your profile in EOI Skill Select and wait for the invitation by the state to lodge.

There are different invitation rounds in NSW, with the closes date would be of January 2022 and it is held from time to time. Make sure you hit the subscribe Newsletter on our website for updates of everything in Australia Immigration. 

While held on an ongoing basis throughout the financial year, invitations rounds are not announced beforehand and don’t follow a pre-determined schedule as such.

NSW nominates candidates for the following Skilled Visa:

• Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190): For nominated skilled workers to work and live in Australia as permanent residents. 90% of the visa applications are processed within 18 months.
• Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491): For skilled workers nominated by a state/territory government to work and live in regional Australia. 90% of the visa applications are processed within 9 months.

Other Australia visa pathways are also available for skilled professionals intending to migrate to NSW, such as – Global Talent Visa (subclass 858), Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494), and Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186) and TSS 482 visa.

Good news is now you can be residing onshore or Offshore to get NSW 190 state nomination with the following requirements below

Onshore:

Be currently living in NSW and –

·       have “genuinely and continuously” lived in NSW for the past three months, OR

·       be gainfully employed in NSW (long-term capacity, in nominated or closely-related occupation, for a minimum of 20 hours/week).

NSW STATE NOMINATION - OPEN FOR OFFSHORE

NSW 190: Mandatory Minimum 3 Years Work Experience requirement for Certain Occupations:

 

You may submit an ROI for NSW nomination under Stream 3 if you reside offshore.

Covid has made immigration to Australia hard, but things are finally starting to change.  The South Australian Government has just added 70 more roles to its Skilled Occupation List, making a total of 109 occupations now open for offshore skilled migration to SA! If you are currently offshore and looking for a way to move to Australia, this could be your chance.