Two new regional visa announced

Hendro · April 2019

From 16 November 2019

Introducing two new regional skilled visas and changes to its point system.

1) Visa subclass 491:
Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (Subclass 491), a new and enhanced points-tested visa to assist regional Australia, for applicants nominated by a state or territory government agency or sponsored by an eligible family member residing in a designated regional area.

2) Visa subclass 494:
Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional)) visa (Subclass 494), a new and enhanced employer-sponsored visa to assist regional Australia, with two streams: Employer-Sponsored and Labour Agreement.

Old visa 489 & 187 superseded by these new visas.

Changes to the point system for 491 visa:

o 15 points for nomination by a State or Territory government agency or sponsorship by a family member residing in regional Australia, to live and work in regional Australia;

o 10 points for a skilled spouse or de facto partner;

o 10 points for certain Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) qualifications;

o 5 points for a spouse or de facto partner with ‘competent English’;

o 10 points for applicants without a spouse or de facto partner

For detailed report please see the link below.

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2019L00578/Explanatory Statement/Text