But, the dilemma

Many clients who’ve reached out recently are torn, wondering: should I switch tracks to another state? How should I choose? 491 or 190? Are the policies stable? In today’s article, I’ll go through each state one by one so you can make a calm, informed decision on whether you need to “relocate”?

Basic eligibility requirements for state nomination

• Applicant under 45 years of age

• An English score of at least IELTS 4×6 (a 6 in each band) or equivalent

• A valid skills assessment

• An EOI score of at least 65 points (190 requires a base score of 60+ plus 5 points for state nomination; 491 requires a base score of 50+ plus 15 points for state nomination)

Today we won’t go through each state’s specific policy details — we’ll simply talk about which type of applicant suits each state. You can use this to make a rational assessment of which state actually suits you.

We just said state nomination isn’t invited purely by EOI score — so you might be wondering, doesn’t that mean NSW only invites high scorers?

Let’s start with how NSW’s invitation mechanism works: the state government issues invitations for the occupations it needs (the list is long, but that doesn’t mean every occupation gets an equal share), then screens applicants within those occupations. Because NSW is the most populous state, the pool of applicants there is bound to be the largest, including no shortage of high-scoring applicants — and within a limited quota, priority will always go first to those high-EOI-score applicants (because high scorers are lacking in nothing — work experience, English, all top-tier), with the remaining quota then going to other applicants. This also means, when NSW has no demand for a particular occupation, even a very high score won’t get you selected. But when that occupation is especially in demand, even if you’re not a high-EOI-score applicant, you’ll still get picked up, for example, last financial year we had a civil engineering applicant invited with a base score of 65, and an IT applicant invited with a base score of 85.

But what occupations NSW will actually need right now, in a month’s time, or in a few months’ time — they won’t say, and we don’t know either.

Currently, NSW’s 491 is the only stream that accepts applicants not living locally; basically all popular occupations — accounting, engineering, IT — are on the list, the application pathway is already open, and invitations are expected shortly (likely by next Tuesday, 7 September). The first round of invitations will run from 1-7 September; applications for it are already closed, and subsequent invitation rounds will be in October, January and March. As for exactly how invitations will be issued, we’ll have to wait and see.

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Victoria’s eligibility criteria have now been relaxed, opening up application opportunities for more occupations, occupations within the defined target sectors — IT, health, medical research, agri-food, energy, and advanced manufacturing, among others — for anyone with a job opportunity in Victoria in one of these sectors, go for it with confidence! Victoria follows through on its word — invitations have been seen in each of the last two rounds!

What’s a pleasant surprise is that just this week Victoria announced that head chef and chef are now also eligible occupations for Victorian nomination. If you’re a “master of the kitchen” who meets the eligibility criteria, feel free to get in touch with us for an assessment!

First of all, Canberra is a state with a relatively friendly migration policy that’s fairly inclusive of applicants coming from interstate. At a time when other states have shut the door on accounting, the ACT is one of the few remaining states still open to accounting graduates. And just yesterday, Canberra also added occupations such as electronics, electrical engineering, web developer, architecture and landscape design. And the Matrix system is a labour of love for the ACT government, so from what we can see, this invitation mechanism looks set to remain stable for a long time to come.

Matrix invites from highest to lowest score — as those of you familiar with the ACT Matrix scoring table will know, the more closely your job type matches your nominated occupation, and the longer your residency and work duration, the higher your score will be; bringing a spouse along also earns extra points. As long as you’ve settled well into life in Canberra and can find work there and “put down roots”, you have a good chance of being successfully invited.

Tasmania is a state with essentially no restrictions on nominated occupations — as long as the occupation is on the migration list, you’ll meet the eligibility criteria. It also doesn’t require your work in Tasmania to be related to your nominated occupation. The application threshold and requirements can genuinely be considered the lowest in the whole of Australia. But because there are far more applicants than places, with limited quotas, it will constantly test your patience. Setting a low-threshold migration policy is meant to keep applicants there for the long term, not let them leave the moment they get their status.

So applicants who decide to go to, or are already in, Tasmania need patience and the determination to see it through with Tasmania — work hard, live well, and you’ll ultimately be successfully invited too, but the process won’t be easy, so be mentally prepared.

For non-local graduates, the traditional 491 and 190 routes are almost impossible; you could consider buying a small business in regional Queensland to go via 491 — but buying and running a business is no small matter. Both the time cost and the financial cost are a significant investment, so this route still suits applicants who are willing to go into business and have reasonably solid financial means.

WA is the only state where you can get a one-step 190 invitation while living interstate. We already have quite a few engineering and IT clients who’ve received WA 190 pre-invitations, but note that after getting an EOI pre-invitation, you still need to find a highly relevant local WA job offer to successfully secure the nomination.

190 is only for local graduates; interstate graduates with a local job can apply for 491

190 is local-graduates-only; interstate graduates with a local job can apply for 491

The MINT programme accepts offshore applicants (currently the only open pathway for offshore applicants)

In summary

To sum up, the purpose of state nomination is that each state wants to attract talent and keep that talent. Populous states like NSW and Victoria aren’t short of people, and don’t question the “loyalty” of the many applicants they receive; relatively speaking, their demand for “talent” is even greater. In contrast, other states with relatively scarcer populations have a clear-eyed view of themselves — what they want is “people”, people who will actually stay, so they place much more weight on assessing an applicant’s likelihood of staying.

Finally, I’d like to say, state nomination policies see slight adjustments and changes every financial year — if you’ve made up your mind and committed to a path, try to see it through to the end, rather than losing your footing over every little ripple. Sometimes you need to tune out some of the noisy, distracting information out there, since we’ve chosen to stay in Australia, let’s keep moving forward with determination — I believe the next success story will be you!