UPDATED ON 13 SEP 2022
The Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) allows skilled migrants to live, study and work in designated regional areasfor a period of 5 years.
Basic Eligibility
To be eligible for NSW nomination, you must meet the basic criteria outlined below:
Visa- You must meet all requirements set by Home Affairs for this visa subclass.
Skills -Be skilled in an occupation that is:
- within an ANZSCO unit group identified on the NSW Skilled Work Regional Skills List; AND
- is eligible for the Skilled Work visa (subclass 491)
- Residency
You must be either currently residing in NSW or offshore, and have continuously done so for a minimum period of three months.
Work experience and point score -You must meet the minimum skilled work experience and point score for your unit group. These are identified on the NSW Skilled Nominated Skills List next to the name of your unit group.
Nomination PathwaysThere are two pathways to NSW nomination for the Skilled Work Regional visa (subclass 491):
Pathway 1 – Apply directly to an RDA office
Pathway 2 – Be invited by Investment NSW
Important information about invitation rounds
Invitation rounds occur ongoing throughout the financial year. There are no set dates, and rounds are not announced beforehand.
We cannot advise the date of upcoming NSW invitation rounds or the likelihood your SkillSelect EOI will be invited by contacting our office.
Meeting the minimum nomination outlined above in no way guarantees you will be invited to apply for NSW nomination.
Because being invited to apply is exceptionally competitive, we strongly encourage anyone seeking NSW nomination to explore all other migration pathways anddo notwait to be invited by NSW.
See ourCommon questions about skilled visaspage for answers to a full list of our most commonly received questions.
Common reasons applications are declined
Common reasons why applications are declined include where an applicant:
Wasn't eligible to claim all the points in their EOI
It is the responsibility of the EOI owner to ensure they can provide evidence for all the claims in their SkillSelect EOI. Common causes for being declined for this include:
- Claiming credentialled community language points when your qualification has expired. Your CCL certificate must be valid on the day you are invited to apply by NSW to claim these points
- Claiming professional year points when you are not eligible. Your professional year must be in your nominated (or closely related) occupation to claim these points
- Claiming points for skilled employment before the date you are deemed skilled in your occupation (see below)
Does not meet the residency requirement
You must be either currently residing in NSW or offshore and have done so for a minimum period of three months.
Over-claimed points for employment
If your skills assessment displays a date, you have been deemed skilled in your occupation, you cannot claim points for skilled employment before this date. This particularly applies to ACS and most VETASSESS assessments.
If your assessment does not display this date, you cannot claim points for skilled employment before you completed your qualification.
To ensure you are eligible to accept your NSW invitation, we strongly recommend you confirm you are eligible to claim all the points in your SkillSelect EOI, and that you have only claimed eligible skilled employment.
If you have claimed points in error, you are not eligible to accept your NSW invitation if invited. There are no exceptions for any reason.
Participating RDA offices
Important information about providing false documents
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