Western Australia 190 visa requirements

To apply for a 190 State Nominated Skilled visa you must be nominated by a State or Territory such as the Government of Western Australia (WA). To be eligible for WA nomination you must meet both the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) criteria for the nominated visa and the WA criteria for State nomination.

Please note that being nominated by the WA Government does not guarantee your visa will be approved by the Department of Home Affairs.

If you are nominated, or if your visa is approved you must:

• comply with border rules that apply at the time, if you are moving to WA from another State or Territory;
• register your arrival with WA Migration Services​​;
• have access to sufficient funds (for at least three months) to cover settlement costs and living costs;
• live and work in Western Australia for two years upon arrival; and
• complete a settlement survey every six months for this two-year period.

There are two streams under which a WA nomination can be issued: General Stream and Graduate Stream. You must check which stream you need to apply for based on your occupation, and check it against WA Occupational List, as each stream has it own set of requirements.

Common Criteria

Both applicants for General Stream and Graduate Stream need to meet the following requirements:

Live in Australia

Only applicants currently residing in Australia are eligible for Western Australian State nomination. You will need to provide one of the following documents or another relevant document, clearly showing your current Australian address:

• current lease agreement; or
• current utility bill.

If you live in Australia but are subject to a section 48 bar, you are not eligible for State nomination from Western Australia.

Meet English requirements

You must meet the English language requirements shown below in all four components in a single Department of Home Affairs approved English test.

If you have a passport from the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, the United States of America or Ireland, you don’t need to sit an English test to be eligible for Western Australian State nomination.

You need to show proficient English (Table 1) if your occupation is an ANZSCO Major Occupation Group 1 (Managers) or Group 2 (Professionals) occupation. Otherwise, you will need competent English (table 2).

Table 1 – Proficient English

Table 2 – Competent English

Demonstrate sufficient settlement funds

If you live outside of Western Australia, you must have sufficient funds to cover your settlement costs and living costs for at least three months.

The minimum amount of funds required is:

• for a single person – $20,000 (AUD);
• for a couple – $30,000 (AUD); and
• for every additional dependant – $5,000 (AUD).

You will be asked to show proof of funds through bank statements or asset valuations.

Occupations designated as Regional Western Australia only

Candidates nominating for occupations that are designated ‘regional Western Australia only’ in the General or Graduate stream must provide evidence of a job offer/contract of employment in a location defined by the Commonwealth as Regional Centres and Other Regional Areas. These include the following areas by postcodes: 6041 to 6044, 6084, 6207, 6213, 6215 to 6537, and 6560 to 6770. Visit the Occupation lists page to see if your occupation is listed as Regional WA only.

General Stream requirements

Meet work experience requirement

You must be able to claim at least 5 points for work experience in your expression of interest in SkillSelect. You must have:

• at least one year of Australian work experience in the nominated (or closely related) occupation over the last 10 years; or
• at least three years of overseas work experience in the nominated (or closely related) occupation over the last 10 years.

You can only count work experience gained after you received your qualification, in paid employment, where you have worked at least 20 hours per week.

Employment

You must have a contract of employment in your nominated (or closely related) occupation for full time employment in Western Australia, for at least 12 months from the date of your application for State nomination. Full time employment is defined as an average of at least 35 hours work per week. You are able to provide two contracts of employment to make up the 35 hours.

You will need to provide a copy of your contract as part of the State nomination application and it must be provided as one document.

Employment contracts submitted by an independent contractor or for self-employment do not meet the above requirements and are not suitable to apply for WA State nomination. Employment contracts submitted by a sole trader will be considered in the following circumstances only.

Graduate Stream

Meet Western Australian study requirements

A Western Australian qualification

You will need to have gained one of the following qualifications from an accredited educational institution in Western Australia that meets the accreditation requirements outlined below at the time of your study.

• A university or higher education qualification. This includes a PhD, Masters, Bachelor or higher degree (Bachelor Honours Degree, Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma); and/or
• A vocational education and training (VET) qualification at a Certificate III level or above.

At least two years study in Western Australia

You must have studied at an accredited Western Australian educational institution, full-time and face-to-face, for at least two years. The awarding institution must have met the accreditation requirements outlined below at the time of your studies. You can use study from different qualifications to make up the two years, including:

• university/higher education;
• VET (Certificate III level); and/or
• English language programs

The educational institute must be accredited providers to meet this requirement.

Meet the work experience or employment contract requirement

You must have at least six months Australian work experience in your nominated (or closely related) occupation or have a six month contract of employment in your nominated (or closely related) occupation in Western Australia.

Work experience

If you are using work experience to meet this requirement, you must show at least six (6) months of Australian work experience within the last five (5) years, in your nominated (or closely related) occupation. You will need to include the details of your work experience in your expression of interest in SkillSelect.

Work experience must be:

• gained post-qualification;
• in paid employment;
• for at least 20 hours per week;
• in the nominated (or closely related) occupation; and
• for tasks that correspond with the ANZSCO descriptor for the nominated (or closely related) occupation, closely related means that the occupation shares the first four digits of the ANZSCO code.

Contract of employment

If you are providing a (minimum) 6 month contract of employment in Western Australia, it must:

• have at least six months remaining from the date of your application for State nomination. If you have not yet started working, your start date must be within three months of your application;
• be in your nominated (or closely related) occupation; and
• be for full time employment (at least an average of 35 hours per week) in Western Australia. You can have two employment contracts to make up 35 hours.

Invitation Rounds

Invitations are anticipated to be issued on the third Thursday of each month. The number of invitations issued each month may vary depending on the number of applications being processed by WA Migration Services.

Ranking system

EOIs are selected based on the following ranking system.

Applicants eligible for the General stream will be ranked in accordance with the table below:

Applicants eligible for the Graduate stream will be ranked in accordance with the table below:

If you qualify for both the General and Graduate stream, you will be offered an invitation through the General stream in the first instance.

If multiple EOIs are ranked at the same level, invitations will be issued based on the EOI submission date.

If your EOI indicates you are seeking State nomination for both the subclass 190 and subclass 491 visa, you will generally be invited for the subclass 491 visa in the first instance. This is because you will generally have a higher EOI points score for this visa.