Subclass 190 Visa: Requirements, Processing Time and Conditions in 2026

The Skilled Nominated (subclass 190) visa is a permanent visa for skilled workers who are nominated by an Australian state or territory government. You can't apply for it whenever you like. You lodge an expression of interest (EOI) in SkillSelect, a state or territory nominates you, and the Department then invites you to apply. You need at least 65 points, and the nomination itself is worth 5 of them.

Below is what has to be true and when it's tested, what the visa costs from 1 July 2026, how long it's taking, and what conditions apply once it's granted. Everything comes from the current Migration Regulations and the Department of Home Affairs.

Need help with a 190 nomination or invitation now? Book a consultation.

What the 190 gives you

It's permanent residence from the day it's granted. You can live, work and study in Australia without a time limit, enrol in Medicare and, if eligible, apply for citizenship later. Travel is the part with an expiry date. You can leave and come back for 5 years from the date of grant. After that you'd need a Resident Return visa to return from a trip, and our guide to the travel facility and Resident Return visas explains.

What has to be true, and when it's tested

The common trap is a requirement met at the wrong moment. Your age and your skills assessment are tested when you're invited, not when you apply. Everything else is tested again when the Department decides.

Points are where people slip. Your invitation states a score, and the evidence you lodge has to prove at least that score. If an English test result or a period of work experience can't be supported, the score drops and the visa can be refused even though you were invited. Check your claims with our points calculator before you lodge the EOI, not after the invitation arrives.

If you're in Australia when you apply, you must hold a substantive visa or a Bridging A, B or C visa. Otherwise the application isn't valid.

How state nomination works

Each state and territory sets its own criteria and decides who it nominates. They see your completed EOI in SkillSelect, and the Department invites you only once you're nominated. Some states also ask for their own registration of interest first. For one example of how different those criteria can be, see the Tasmanian program changes for 2026-27.

Thinking about Victoria? Our guide to Victoria's 190 and 491 nomination for 2026-27 sets out its new fees and the Victorian Points Test it uses to rank applicants.

Places run out. Right now the NSW Government's 190 page says applications are closed for the current program year because all its nomination places have been allocated. Don't build your plans around a single state.

If the nominating state withdraws the nomination, you lose both the nomination requirement and the 5 nomination points. On its 190 page, the Department goes further and says an application becomes invalid if the nomination is withdrawn after you apply.

Moving from a 491 or 494

This is the rule that catches regional visa holders. If you hold a subclass 491 or subclass 494, or that was your last substantive visa, you must have held it for at least 3 years before you can apply for a 190. Only circumstances the Minister specifies in a separate instrument get around it.

Picture a nurse two years into a 491 in Hobart who receives a 190 invitation. Unless she falls within a specified exception, she can't use it yet. For most 491 holders, the planned route to permanent residence is the subclass 191, which our 491 guide walks through.

What the 190 costs from 1 July 2026

You pay the first instalment when you lodge. A second instalment applies only to adult applicants assessed as not having functional English, and the Department asks for it only if it's going to grant the visa.

Whether you get the lower rate depends on the main applicant's passport, from one of 13 Pacific countries including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Timor-Leste, and family members pay it too. Budget separately for health examinations, police certificates and biometrics. None of those are in the charge.

How long a 190 takes right now

Half of recently decided 190 applications finished in 4 months and 90% in 16 months, according to the Department's processing time guide. Plan around the longer figure.

Why the spread? It comes from the processing order. Ministerial Direction 122 sets it, and the Department publishes on its 190 visa page how far it has reached in each priority group. These are the lodgement months it's working on now. A later month in a lower group doesn't mean that group goes first; each group moves separately.

Put plainly, an offshore applicant outside the priority sectors is waiting well over a year. It also warns that dates may fluctuate while it moves to the new order. Our post on Directions 121 and 122 explains each group, and that the order affects only when a file is opened, not whether it succeeds.

Are there conditions on a 190 visa?

Very few. Only two attach to the visa itself:

• If you're outside Australia when it's granted, you must make your first entry before the date the Department specifies.
• If you're granted the visa as a family member outside Australia, condition 8515 may be imposed. That means you must not marry or enter a de facto relationship before you first enter Australia.

No visa condition requires you to live or work in the nominating state. Your obligations to the state are a separate matter, set by its own nomination program, so read the terms you agreed to when you applied for nomination. Treat those terms as seriously as the visa's own requirements.

How the 190 compares with the 189 and 491

By contrast, the subclass 189 needs no nomination but uses only the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List, and our 189 guide covers it in full. A 491 is provisional, adds 15 points for nomination or family sponsorship, and requires you to live and work in a designated regional area. So the 190 sits in between: permanent like the 189, nominated like the 491. Our post on lodging EOIs for skilled visas explains what you can and can't do in SkillSelect.

FAQ

How long does a 190 invitation take?

There is no fixed timeframe. The Department invites you only after a state or territory nominates you, and each state decides who to nominate and when, based on its own criteria and the places it has left. Some states also require a separate registration of interest before they consider your EOI.

How many points are needed for a 190 visa in Australia?

At least 65, and the state nomination itself counts for 5 of them. Your invitation states the score you must prove when the Department decides your application, and that score can be higher than 65 depending on the claims in your EOI.

What is the 190 visa processing time?

The Department's processing time guide shows half of recently decided subclass 190 applications finished in 4 months and 90% in 16 months. Under Ministerial Direction 122, priority-sector and onshore applications are processed ahead of offshore ones.

Are there conditions on a 190 visa?

Only two. If you're outside Australia at grant, you must first enter before the date the Department sets, and a family member granted outside Australia may get condition 8515. No visa condition requires you to live in the nominating state, but the state's own nomination terms still apply.

What is the difference between the 189 and 190 visa?

Both are permanent, points-tested visas. The 190 needs a state or territory nomination, which adds 5 points and allows occupations on the Short-term Skilled Occupation List. The 189 needs no nomination but only accepts occupations on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List.

What is the difference between a 191 and a 190 visa?

The 190 is a permanent visa you're invited to after a state or territory nominates you. The 191 is a permanent visa for people holding a regional provisional visa, the 491 or 494, who have complied with its conditions and can provide tax assessments for 3 income years.

How do I check my 190 visa status?

Through ImmiAccount. The Department says you can check your application's status and whether all supporting documents are provided there, and it will contact you when the application is decided. Its processing time guide is a guide only and isn't specific to your application.

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Nominated, invited, or still working out which state to target? Book a consultation and we'll check your points, your occupation and your timing before you commit to a state. You can also read about our permanent residency planning service.