Points assessment
For skilled visas the applicant must meet both of the following requirements:
- their assessed score must not be less than the score stated in the invitation to apply for the visa; and
- their assessed score must not be less than the qualifying score applicable to the visa for which they were invited to apply
Related: Who can claim partner skills points?
Assessed score must not be less than the score stated in the invitation
The applicant’s assessed score must not be less than the score stated in the invitation to apply for the visa.
This is because invitations are ranked and issued on the basis of the declared skills and attributes and nominated occupations included in the intending migrant’s expression of interest (EOI). To preserve the integrity of the invitation process, applicants must demonstrate that the indicative score on which they were invited to apply is not less than their assessed score against points test factors. If the indicative score is less than the assessed score, your application may be refused.
There is no requirement for the individual points test criteria assessed for the application to be identical to those estimated by SkillSelect when issuing the invitation. The factors that contribute to the assessed score may vary, as a case officer assesses each factor before them.
This criterion acts as a disincentive to inflate claims in the EOI in order to obtain a higher-ranking position in SkillSelect and, ultimately, an invitation to apply for a Subclass 189 visa.
Errors in entering EOI information
The department has become aware of cases where persons have made inadvertent errors when entering data in SkillSelect resulting in the person being given a higher invitation score than they would otherwise have obtained.
To address this issue, consideration can be given to correcting an applicant’s invitation score if the department identifies that an applicant has made an inadvertent error in their EOI and their corrected invitation score would have been high enough for their specific occupation to still result in an invitation being made in their particular SkillSelect invitation round.
For example, if:
- an affected applicant’s invitation score was 75 and
- the lowest invitation score for their specific occupation in the round they were invited was 65
- the applicant’s corrected invitation score must be no less than 65 before the department would amend the invitation score.
Nominated skilled occupation cannot later be changed
The primary Points-tested applicant must nominate a skilled occupation in their application and this skilled occupation must be the skilled occupation that was specified in their invitation to apply for a Skilled-Independent (Permanent -Subclass 189) visa.
There are no provisions in migration legislation that enable an applicant to change their nominated skilled occupation after their visa application has been lodged.
Points-tested stream secondary applicants
Secondary applicants are those persons seeking to satisfy the secondary criteria for the grant of a 189 visa whose application is:
- combined with the application of a primary Points-tested applicant; or
- sought to be combined with the application of a primary Points-tested applicant before a decision is made in relation to that application.
Secondary applicants:
- do not need a written invitation to apply
- do not need to meet an age requirement
- do not need to nominate a skilled occupation
- may be added to an application for a Skilled-Independent 189 visa that has been made but not finalised if they meet the requirements.
Core Skills Occupations List (CSOL)
Bridging Visa R
Genuine Student (GS)
Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES)
NSW 491 Pathway 1 – Apply directly to NSW