Skilled Regional (Provisional) Visa – Subclass 489
What is Skilled Regional (Provisional) Visa?
Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa is a temporary visa designed for foreign skilled workers whose occupation is on the relevant Occupations List to work and live in Australia. The applicant needs to be either nominated by a State or Territory or sponsored by a family member who holds a relevant visa.
+ Stream 1 - Invited Pathway
This stream is for skilled workers who want to live and work in Australia and is nominated by a State or Territory government or sponsored by a family member who lives in the designated area of Australia.
+ Stream 2 - Extended Stay Pathway
This stream is for applicant who holds any 1 of the following provisional visas and have complied with all conditions of that visa for at least 2 years:
- Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (subclass 475)
- Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (subclass 487)
- Skilled Independent Regional visa (subclass 495)
- Skilled Designated Area Sponsored Provisional visa (subclass 496)
+ Stream 3 Subsequent Entry Pathway
This stream is for a member of the family unit of someone who holds a Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa – subclass 489 or any of the following visa:
- Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (subclass 475)
- Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (subclass 487)
- Skilled Independent Regional visa (subclass 495)
- Skilled Designated Area Sponsored Provisional visa (subclass 496)
What is the Application Process?
The Applicant must satisfy the following requirements:
+ Stage 1 Expression of Interest (only for Invited Pathway Stream)
All applicants must be invited in order to apply for Subclass 489 Invited pathway stream. Prior to the lodgement of an application, the visa applicant must first lodge an expression of interest (EOI) through the Department prescribed facility SkillSelect.
Within the SkillSelect EOI form, the applicant will need to complete identify and passport details for themselves and anyone whom they wish to include in their application.
Validity of the EOI and changing Points on the EOI
EOI will remain to be valid for two years (unless the applicant has been invited to apply for a visa within 2 years). Prior to invitation, the applications can always update their relevant details on the website in order to claim more points and increase their opportunities to be invited.
Once the applicant is nominated by the State, an invitation to apply for the Subclass 489 visa will be issued automatically. Visa applicant would not be able to change their scores once they have been invited to apply for a Subclass 489 visa.
+ Stage 2: Receives an Invitation (only for Invited Pathway Stream)
Visa applicant needs to be invited by the Department in order to apply for a Subclass 489 Visa – Invited Pathway stream.
Prospective visa applicants can indicate their Expression of Interests (EOI) to apply for those visas by filling in an online form in SkillSelect which contains a series of questions about the skills of the visa applicant, depending on the visa subclass one elects.
Applicant will also be assessed of one’s points at the stage of EOI and be determined whether he or she has met the minimum points tests required for certain visas. Points are awarded and allocated based on the applicant’s age, English level, past employment history, qualifications, past Australian study requirement, any specialist education qualification and other factors including regional studies, partner skill qualifications or community language.
The EOI will be automatically removed from SkillSelect System after 2 years from the date of initial submission, regardless of whether the visa applicant has withdrawn his or her previous EOI or received an invitation.
If two (2) or more applicants have the same points, they will be ranked against the date and time they have submitted all eligibility factors. The time and date will be amended every time the applicants update the Expression of Interest and their points.
There is no set invitation round for Subclass 489 as different State or Territory governments may decide to nominate at different times.
Additional information on Skills Assessment:
In order to be eligible to apply for a Subclass 489 Invited pathway stream, prospective visa applicant must decide which occupation they wish to apply.
Visa applicants are required to provide evidence that their relevant skills have been assessed to be suitable for their nominated occupations by the relevant assessing authorities and receive favourable results in relation to that particular skill assessment(s).
Depending on the occupation the visa applicants choose to apply for, skill assessments may be undertaken by different skill assessing authorities in accordance with their professional capacities and relevant professional standards.
The requirements for each skill assessment depend on visa applicants’ occupations and are determined by the respective skill assessing authority.
A positive skills assessment result will only be valid until the expiry date specified on the assessment, or for a period of three years from the date of issue, whichever occurs first.
+ Stage 3: Visa Application
All streams are required to satisfy the following requirements:
- Must not have an outstanding debt to the Australian government
- Sign the Australian values statement
- All public interest criteria are met, particularly the health and character requirement
* Health requirements:
* All persons included in the application will be required to undertake a medical examination prior to their visa being issued. * When applying, all persons included in the application must: * declare whether they have a medical condition that is likely to require ongoing support from community or government services * declare whether they have been diagnosed with Tuberculosis or any other serious diseases that might be a threat to Australian Community
- Character requirements:
- All persons included in the application will be required to obtain a police clearance certificate for all countries they have lived in for greater than twelve months in the last ten years.
- When applying, all persons included in the application must provide all requested information, declare all criminal offences, truthfully answer all questions
- Character requirements:
Additional requirements that are Stream-Specific
+ Stream 1 – Invited pathway
- All applicants need to be invited by the Department to lodge an Expression of interest (EOI) through Skill Select
- Obtain a positive nomination from the relevant State/Territory. All state and territory government agencies have their own criteria for deciding who they will nominate
- Be sponsored by an eligible relative who is:
- an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen who is above 18 years old and lived in a designated area of Australia;
- the visa applicant or the visa applicant’s partner's relative.
- Obtain a positive invitation from the Department.
- Be under 45 years old at the time of invitation;
- Nominate an occupation included on the relevant occupations list;
- Obtain a positive skills assessment;
- Pass the English language requirement (at the time of invitation to apply for the visa);
- Achieve at least 65 points pass mark in the points test
- For more information on points test, please refer to the article [insert article on points test within our website]
+ Stream 2 – Extended stay pathway
- Visa applicant must hold any 1 of the following provisional visas and have complied with all conditions of that visa for at least 2 years:
- Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (subclass 475)
- Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (subclass 487)
- Skilled Independent Regional visa (subclass 495)
- Skilled Designated Area Sponsored Provisional visa (subclass 496)
- There is no age or English requirements for this stream.
+ Stream 3 – Subsequent entry pathway
- Visa applicant must be is a member of the family unit for someone who holds any of the following visas as a primary applicant:
- Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (subclass 475)
- Skilled Regional Sponsored visa (subclass 487)
- Skilled Independent Regional visa (subclass 495)
- Skilled Designated Area Sponsored Provisional visa (subclass 496)
- There is no age requirement for this stream
What We Like About This Visa?
This Visa provides transitional pathway to visa applicant who get to:
stay in Australia for up to 4 years from the date we grant you the visa (or Until the visa that the family member holds ends)
live, work and study in a specified region of Australia
travel to and from Australia as many times as possible, while the visa is valid;
certain visa applicant may also apply for permanent residency, if eligible, through the Skilled—Regional (Residence) visa (subclass 887)
What Mistakes Do People Usually Make?
The points test (EOI Process) is an easily misunderstood part of the Skilled visa application process. We have seen a lot of visa applicants are unable to provide sufficient evidences in relation to the EOI points they have claimed in SkillSelect when being invited by the Department which result in their visa application being refused in the end.
Some of the common mistakes include but not limited to:
The applicant not correctly weighting the value of a degree awarded under an international educational system;
The applicant tends to claim more work experience in an occupation or past work experience that is not connected or associated to their nominated occupation;
The positive Skills Assessment results has expired at the time of invitation, etc.
Client Testimonials
….we call it Support Network
As navigating through the immigration law process may be difficult, our former clients have agreed to share their experiences through telephone chats, emails and meeting in person.
These are their stories…
What Questions Do Migration Agents Ask Our Accredited Specialists
Under what business structure, can a job placement company, apply to be a sponsor with the sole purpose of charging a fee to visa applicants? And is there a method which would allow the sponsor to place the visa applicant with another unrelated business?
How can employers charge a payment to the visa applicants in exchange to sponsor, without being caught under the immigration offence ‘cash for visa’?
How many types of visas (including streams), can a Temporary Activities Sponsor benefit from, in sponsoring more candidates? And are there any difference in the sponsorship obligation?
Can a visa applicant pay for costs related to the visa applicant? or must the Sponsor pay for all costs? How do I explain & educate my client, a large company who does not wish to pay for any costs for the sponsorship because the Director feels that the visa applicant has more to benefit than the company.
In what circumstances will a visa applicant lose their right to appeal a refusal?
What are the Legal Personas to Choose From?
Our lawyers are considered “book-smart”, while others are more inclined towards being labelled “street-smart”. The younger lawyers tend to be very fast & responsive, but a handful are slow (although they beg to differ, that slow & steady wins the race). The older lawyers are usually more attentive and have a reputation of customer relations. But if money is no object, you can engage a bunch of them, or all of them.
Why are there different prices for the same service?
We have a variety of legal professionals, allowing you the freedom to choose according to lawyer’s fees, speed, experience and most importantly a personality that matches yours. This way, our clients get the best of shopping around different law firms while eliminating the need to re-tell the story again and transferring of supporting documents. Naturally, junior lawyers charge lower fees and the more years of experience our lawyers gain, the higher their fees. However, it is not all always about profiting, some of our lawyers are open to pro-bono cases (free legal advice).