Australian Skilled Migration Points Table — Subclass 189, 190 and 491

Age

Age is assessed on the day the Department issues your invitation, not the day you submit your EOI.

English language ability

Competent English is the baseline requirement for the points-tested skilled visas (subclasses 189, 190 and 491) and scores no points on its own; points start above that level. The scores shown are for IELTS (Academic or General Training). PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, OET and other approved tests have their own required scores, and new score standards took effect on 7 August 2025 — check the Department’s English language pages for those.

Overseas skilled employment (outside Australia)

Australian skilled employment (in Australia)

To count, employment must be in your nominated skilled occupation or a closely related skilled occupation, must have taken place in the 10 years before you are invited to apply, and must be at least 20 hours a week for remuneration. For Australian employment you must also have held a substantive visa or a Bridging A or Bridging B visa at the time and complied with its conditions. A closely related occupation is one in the same ANZSCO Unit Group, consistent with a career advancement pathway, or recognised by an assessing authority as closely related to your nominated occupation.

Educational qualifications

You receive points for your highest qualification only; they do not accumulate. Whether an overseas qualification is comparable to the relevant Australian qualification is determined by the authority carrying out your skills assessment, and that recognition must be in place at the time you are invited to apply. If you hold an overseas qualification at bachelor level or above and your assessing authority did not give an opinion on it, you can ask VETASSESS for an assessment of its comparative educational level. Doctorate points apply only to a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) — other qualifications carrying the title of Doctor (general practitioner, dentist, vet) do not qualify.

Specialist education qualification

Relevant fields are the specified disciplines within natural and physical sciences, information technology, and engineering and related technologies.

Australian study requirement

You must hold at least one degree, diploma or trade qualification from an Australian educational institution that meets the Australian study requirement.

Study in regional Australia

Study undertaken by distance education does not count.

Professional Year

The Professional Year must be in accounting, ICT/computing or engineering, in your nominated occupation or a closely related occupation, completed over a period of at least 12 months, and completed in Australia in the 48 months before you are invited to apply. It must be provided by one of the Australian Computer Society, CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, the Institute of Public Accountants, or Engineers Australia. The completion date is the date shown on your official Record of Completion.

Credentialled community language (NAATI)

You must be accredited at the paraprofessional level or above, certified at the certified provisional level or above, or hold a community language credential for interpreting or translating from the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI).

Partner skills

For the first band, your partner must be an applicant for the same visa subclass and must not be an Australian permanent resident or citizen. You need evidence that, at the time you were invited to apply, they were under 45 years old, had competent English, had nominated a skilled occupation on the same skilled occupation list as yours, and held a suitable skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority for that occupation — and that the assessment was not for a subclass 485 visa.

If your marital status changes while your visa application is being processed, the Department may not award points for this item — unlike the other factors, it is not assessed as at the time of invitation.

The minimum score set by the Department for the points-tested skilled visas is 65 points. Reaching 65 points means your EOI can enter the pool; it does not mean you will be invited.

Whether you are invited depends on how your score ranks against other intending applicants, how many invitations are available for your nominated occupation in that round, and the Department’s invitation settings at the time.

Scores that actually receive invitations are therefore usually well above 65 — applicants in popular occupations commonly need 80 points or more to be competitive. That is an observation from past invitation rounds, not a fixed standard published by the Department, and it changes from round to round.

The 11 points-scoring factors and 28 point values on this page are taken item by item from the Department of Home Affairs official subclass 189 points table (immi.homeaffairs.gov.au), verified on 12 August 2026. The official 190 and 491 points tables were compared item by item on 13 August 2026: all 28 base point values are identical to the 189 table, with one additional nomination or sponsorship factor each (5 points for the 190, 15 points for the 491). The wording has been edited for readability; no point value or band condition has been changed.

Figures are current as at the build date. Visa policy and point values can change at any time — before acting, rely on the Department’s website or advice from a registered migration agent.