Related: Western Australian skilled migration occupation list (WASMOL)
To apply for a 190 State Nominated Skilled visa you must be nominated by a State or Territory such as the Government of Western Australia (WA). To be eligible for WA nomination you must meet both the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) criteria for the nominated visa and the WA criteria for State nomination.
Please note that being nominated by the WA Government does not guarantee your visa will be approved by the Department of Home Affairs.
Migration WA has made significant temporary changes to its skilled state nomination program criteria, including:
- new occupations added to the eligible lists
- waiving the $200 application fee
- halving the requirement to have an employment contract from 12 months to six months
- reducing requirements for applicants to demonstrate sufficient funds
- removing additional English requirements for professional and manager
- occupations, and
- reducing work experience requirements for the 2022-23 program year to
If you are nominated, or if your visa is approved you must:
- comply with border rules that apply at the time, if you are moving to WA from another State or Territory;
- register your arrival with WA Migration Services;
- have access to sufficient funds (for at least three months) to cover settlement costs and living costs;
- live and work in Western Australia for two years upon arrival; and
- complete a settlement survey every six months for this two-year period.
There are two streams under which a WA nomination can be issued: General Stream (now divided into Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 occupations) and Graduate Stream. You must check which stream you need to apply for based on your occupation, and check it against WA Occupational List, as each stream has it own set of requirements.
Key Summaries of different streams in WA Skilled Migration Program
| General stream WASMOL Schedule 1 | General stream WASMOL Schedule 2 | Graduate stream |
Meet Department of Home Affairs eligibility requirements for the intended visa subclass | Y | Y | Y |
Nominated occupation is available on the relevant list | WA skilled migration occupation list (WASMOL) schedule 1 | WA skilled migration occupation list (WASMOL) schedule 2 | Graduate occupation list (GOL) |
Currently reside in Australia | Y | Y | Y |
Meet minimum English requirements for the nominated occupation | Y | Y | Y |
Work experience | A least one year Australian or three years overseas work experience in nominated (or closely related) occupation | N | At least six months paid Australian work experience in nominated (or closely related) occupation.
OR Full time employment contract in WA for a minimum of six months in the nominated (or closely related) occupation. |
Contract of employment* | Full time employment contract in WA* for a minimum of 12 months in the nominated (or closely related) occupation. | Full time employment contract in WA* for a minimum of 12 months in the nominated (or closely related) occupation. | |
Have a Certificate III or above qualification from an accredited WA educational institution | N | N | Y |
Meet the two years WA study requirement | N | N | Y |
Demonstrate sufficient settlement funds | Only if you are not currently living in WA | Only if you are not currently living in WA | Only if you are not currently living in WA |
Common Criteria
Both applicants for General Stream and Graduate Stream need to meet the following requirements:
Live in Australia
Only applicants currently residing in Australia are eligible for Western Australian State nomination. You will need to provide one of the following documents or another relevant document, clearly showing your current Australian address:
- current lease agreement; or
- current utility bill.
If you live in Australia but are subject to a section 48 bar, you are not eligible for State nomination from Western Australia.
Meet English requirements
You must meet the English language requirements shown below in all four components in a single Department of Home Affairs approved English test.
If you have a passport from the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, the United States of America or Ireland, you don’t need to sit an English test to be eligible for Western Australian State nomination.
You need to show proficient English (Table 1) if your occupation is an ANZSCO Major Occupation Group 1 (Managers) or Group 2 (Professionals) occupation. Otherwise, you will need competent English (table 2).
Table 1 – Proficient English
Bands | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
Test | Minimum score | |||
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Occupational English Test (OET) | B | B | B | B |
Test of English as a foreign language internet-based test (TOEFL-iBT) | 24 | 24 | 27 | 23 |
Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) |
65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
Cambridge C1 Advanced | 185 | 185 | 185 | 185 |
Table 2 – Competent English
Bands | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
Test | Minimum score | |||
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Occupational English Test (OET) | B | B | B | B |
Test of English as a foreign language internet-based test (TOEFL-iBT) | 12 | 13 | 21 | 18 |
Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) |
50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
Cambridge C1 Advanced | 169 | 169 | 169 | 169 |
Demonstrate sufficient settlement funds
If you live outside of Western Australia, you must have sufficient funds to cover your settlement costs and living costs for at least three months.
The minimum amount of funds required is:
- for a single person – $20,000 (AUD);
- for a couple – $30,000 (AUD); and
- for every additional dependant – $5,000 (AUD).
You will be asked to show proof of funds through bank statements or asset valuations.
Occupations designated as Regional Western Australia only
Candidates nominating for occupations that are designated ‘regional Western Australia only’ in the General or Graduate stream must provide evidence of a job offer/contract of employment in a location defined by the Commonwealth as Regional Centres and Other Regional Areas. These include the following areas by postcodes: 6041 to 6044, 6084, 6207, 6213, 6215 to 6537, and 6560 to 6770. Visit the Occupation lists page to see if your occupation is listed as Regional WA only.
General Stream requirements
There are 2 occupational lists in this stream:
- If your occupation is in Schedule 1: you will need to have at least 1 year experience in your nominated occupation, besides the below requirements.
- If your occupation is in Schedule 2: you will not need to have 1 year experience in your nominated occupation, but you will need a genuine job offer in WA besides the below requirements.
Meet work experience requirement – Only applied if your occupation is in Schedule 1.
Meet work experience requirement
You must be able to claim at least 5 points for work experience in your expression of interest in SkillSelect. You must have:
- at least one year of Australian work experience in the nominated (or closely related) occupation over the last 10 years; or
- at least three years of overseas work experience in the nominated (or closely related) occupation over the last 10 years.
You can only count work experience gained after you received your qualification, in paid employment, where you have worked at least 20 hours per week.
Employment
You must have a contract of employment in your nominated (or closely related) occupation for full time employment in Western Australia, for at least 12 months from the date of your application for State nomination. Full time employment is defined as an average of at least 35 hours work per week. You are able to provide two contracts of employment to make up the 35 hours.
You will need to provide a copy of your contract as part of the State nomination application and it must be provided as one document.
Employment contracts submitted by an independent contractor or for self-employment do not meet the above requirements and are not suitable to apply for WA State nomination. Employment contracts submitted by a sole trader will be considered in the following circumstances only.
Graduate Stream
Meet Western Australian study requirements
A Western Australian qualification
You will need to have gained one of the following qualifications from an accredited educational institution in Western Australia that meets the accreditation requirements outlined below at the time of your study.
- A university or higher education qualification. This includes a PhD, Masters, Bachelor or higher degree (Bachelor Honours Degree, Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma); and/or
- A vocational education and training (VET) qualification at a Certificate III level or above.
At least two years study in Western Australia
You must have studied at an accredited Western Australian educational institution, full-time and face-to-face, for at least two years. The awarding institution must have met the accreditation requirements outlined below at the time of your studies. You can use study from different qualifications to make up the two years, including:
- university/higher education;
- VET (Certificate III level); and/or
- English language programs
The educational institute must be accredited providers to meet this requirement.
Meet the work experience or employment contract requirement
You must have at least six months Australian work experience in your nominated (or closely related) occupation or have a six month contract of employment in your nominated (or closely related) occupation in Western Australia.
Work experience
If you are using work experience to meet this requirement, you must show at least six (6) months of Australian work experience within the last five (5) years, in your nominated (or closely related) occupation. You will need to include the details of your work experience in your expression of interest in SkillSelect.
Work experience must be:
- gained post-qualification;
- in paid employment;
- for at least 20 hours per week;
- in the nominated (or closely related) occupation; and
- for tasks that correspond with the ANZSCO descriptor for the nominated (or closely related) occupation, closely related means that the occupation shares the first four digits of the ANZSCO code.
Contract of employment
If you are providing a (minimum) 6 month contract of employment in Western Australia, it must:
- have at least six months remaining from the date of your application for State nomination. If you have not yet started working, your start date must be within three months of your application;
- be in your nominated (or closely related) occupation; and
- be for full time employment (at least an average of 35 hours per week) in Western Australia. You can have two employment contracts to make up 35 hours.
Invitation Rounds
Invitations are anticipated to be issued on the third Thursday of each month. The number of invitations issued each month may vary depending on the number of applications being processed by WA Migration Services.
Ranking system
EOIs are selected based on the following ranking system.
Applicants eligible for the General stream will be ranked in accordance with the table below:
General stream |
|
1 | » Currently residing in Western Australia; |
2 | » Currently residing in another Australian state or territory; |
3 | » highest EOI points score; and |
4 | » oldest EOI submission date. |
Applicants eligible for the Graduate stream will be ranked in accordance with the table below:
Graduate stream – Higher Education Graduates |
Graduate stream – VET Graduates |
» Currently residing in Western Australia; | » Currently residing in Western Australia; |
» currently residing in another Australian state or territory; | » currently residing in another Australian state or territory; |
» completed a PhD or Masters qualification in Western Australia; | » completed a VET qualification at Advanced Diploma level in Western Australia; |
» completed a Honours degree or other higher degree in Western Australia; | » completed a VET qualification at Diploma level in Western Australia; |
» completed a Bachelor degree in Western Australia; | » completed a VET qualification at Certificate IV level in Western Australia; |
» highest EOI points score; and | » completed a VET qualification at Certificate III level in Western Australia; |
» oldest EOI submission date. | » highest EOI points score; and |
| » oldest EOI submission date. |
If you qualify for both the General and Graduate stream, you will be offered an invitation through the General stream in the first instance.
If multiple EOIs are ranked at the same level, invitations will be issued based on the EOI submission date.
If your EOI indicates you are seeking State nomination for both the subclass 190 and subclass 491 visa, you will generally be invited for the subclass 491 visa in the first instance. This is because you will generally have a higher EOI points score for this visa.
Select a state below to see it’s 190 visa requirements:

Australia
State and territory requirements
Each state and territory has its own list of occupations, requirements and processes you must follow.
More information about the requirements and processes on how Australian states or territories nominate applicants is available.
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