End of FY2022–2023,a wave of major Australian migration announcements kept coming, and the most exciting of all was the removal of the income requirement for the Subclass 491 to PR pathway. In the past, most people’s hesitation about the 491 came from worrying they wouldn’t reach the AUD 53,900 per year income requirement in a regional area. Now the Department of Home Affairs has, with a single stroke of the pen, changed the income requirement to 0.

This means that once you hold a Subclass 491 visa, simply “sitting tight” in a regional area for 3 years can earn you permanent residency in Australia.For a full breakdown of the new policy, see:491 to 191 with zero income requirement! Can you really “sit tight” for three years and get PR? A complete guide to the 491-to-PR questions!

Drawing on the questions clients most want answered in our day-to-day 491 consultations, I’ve put together a few steps to help you decide whether the Subclass 491 visa is right for you.

Step one: are you willing to live in regional Australia?

In reality, regional Australia may not be as desolate as it sounds. In practice, apart from the city areas of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, the rest of the country is collectively classed as regional.

Outer Brisbane, just 30 minutes from the city centre, the capital Canberra, the holiday destination of the Gold Coast, Perth on the west coast, and Adelaide in South Australia, and more are all considered regional areas.

Step two:do you understand the benefits you can enjoy living in Australia on a 491?

On top of this, while you hold a Subclass 491 visa, youcan join Australia’s healthcare system and enjoy free medical care, andyour children can also attend the local public schools for free. In the past, when children came to study in Australia and a parent accompanied them, tuition fees were high and the cost of accompanying them was significant. Now the 491 not only meets a child’s need for an Australian education, but also gives the whole family a future chance at Australian permanent residency. It really is a two-birds-with-one-stone outcome.

Step three:so, with all these advantages, how exactly do you apply for the 491?

Put simply, the491 visa is a5-year provisional permanent residency visa, issued by invitation from Australia’sstate governments. Live in a regional area for3 of those5 years and you can then obtainPR.The conditions under which state governments issue invitations always come down to two things:your occupation and yourEOI points score.

Application step 1: is your skills assessment ready?

Compared with other skilled migration categories, the range of occupations invited under the 491 is the broadest. From popular fields such asaccounting, IT and engineering, through to niche occupations such as conference organiser, multimedia designer and contract administrator, all appear on the 491 invitation list. But before applying for the 491, an applicant must have their occupation assessed — this is what we call the skills assessment.

Skills assessments are carried out by designated assessing authorities, and generally have certain requirements around:qualifications and work experience. Some occupations also require an English-language result for the skills assessment.

For example,IT occupations generally require 1 year of work experience after a relevant Australian qualification, while others require 2 years of work experience.

However, forengineering occupations, the skills assessment looks mainly at the bachelor’s qualification and has no hard requirement for work experience.

Other occupations such as finance / design / marketing / HR / lecturing generally require more than 1 year of experience after a relevant bachelor’s qualification; if the qualification is not relevant, the required length of work experience will vary.

You are welcome to contact the author for a one-on-one skills-assessment consultation.

Application step 2: can you gather enough points to be invited?

Minimum points requirement:

after completing the skills assessment,your EOI score must also meet the minimum requirement of 65 points. Because being granted the 491 automatically adds 15 points,the minimum requirement is that the applicant can reach 50 points on their own.

The points categories include age, English ability, length of work experience and so on.

For example,an applicant who is 31 years old, single, with an above-bachelor’s qualification, 5 years of work experience in their home country, and an IELTS score of 6 in all four bands would have a score of 65 points.The 491 automatically adds 15 points, bringing the total to 80 points.That exceeds the baseline points requirement for the 491.You are welcome to contact the author for a one-on-one points assessment.

So can you be invited with an EOI score of 65 under the 491? Yes you can!

And there are plenty of streams to choose from.

To judge how many points are needed for an invitation, you have to look at both the occupation and the stream applied for. Overall, across multiple streams the 491 very often requires only 65–85 points to have a good chance of an invitation —that is, gathering 50–70 points on your own.

For example, the much sought-afterNew South Wales (the state where Sydney is located)

has a quota of 9,000+ 491 invitations this financial year.Real invitation data:

Public Relations Officer 50/60/65+15

Marketing Specialist 50/60/65+15

Advertising Specialist 50+15

Financial Investment Adviser 70/50+15

Insurance Agent 75+15

Project Administrator 70+15

Conference and Event Organiser 60+15

Multimedia Designer 75+15

ICT BA 60/70+15

Software Engineer 60+15

Developer Programmer 65+15

ICT Support Engineer 55+15

Mechanical Engineer 50+15

Electronics Engineer 60+15

Every occupation above received more than one invitation, and around two-thirds were overseas applicants.

Compared with the higher-scoring Subclass 189 and 190, the 491 is definitely far more friendly to applicants with lower EOI scores.

Application step 3: can you choose the right stream, or apply to several suitable streams at once?

Of course, each state sets some different pre-conditions for 491 applicants, includingtheir own occupation lists and their preferences for onshore versus offshore invitations. For example,New South Wales, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Canberra issued manyoffshore 491s in FY2022–2023.WhereasWestern Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania clearly placed greater emphasis ononshore applicants under the 491.

So when lodging a 491 application, you need to factor in the policy at the time and choose a region you are eligible to apply to.That is how you increase your chances of being invited.For your specific situation, you are also welcome to contact the author for a consultation.

1 July is the day Australia’s new financial year begins. Every state tops up its quotas, adjusts its policies and starts issuing invitations for the new financial year. 491 applicants can complete their skills assessment, get their EOI score ready, and choose the region they want to lodge in. The moment the new policy lands, apply straight away.

Typically,the preparation period for a skills assessment ranges from 2 to 4 months, andthe time to sit an English test ranges from 3 to 6 months.If you intend to apply for Australian migration, you can plan ahead and start working towards it early. You are also welcome to contact the author to obtain your own migration plan.

A few of the latest 491 success stories from June

There have been many invitations this financial year; for reasons of space we won’t show them all one by one.

An offshore Property Manager obtained a NSW 491 with 55+15 points.

An offshore Quantity Surveyor obtained a NSW 491 with 70+15 points.

An onshore Multimedia Designer obtained a QLD 491 with 75+15.

Catch up on past articles

Wrapping up an [amazing] FY2022–2023 together! Plus a quick forecast of the opportunities in the new financial year

The 491 is set to be the next migration “bestseller” — a roundup of low-score streams!

Invited on a raw score of 60–70, and want the work-and-life balance too—>Western Australia has you covered!

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491 With Such a Low Score: Zero Income, a Path to PR, Plus Medicare — Want to Grab This Chance? A One-Article Self-Check on Whether the 491 Suits You!

Wrapping up an [amazing] FY2022–2023 together! Plus a quick forecast of the opportunities in the new financial year

The 491 is set to be the next migration “bestseller” — a roundup of low-score streams!

Invited on a raw score of 60–70, and want the work-and-life balance too—>Western Australia has you covered!

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