Skilled workers living in Queensland

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NOTE: The 2023 - 24 program opened on 5 September 2023. Migration Queensland will only consider EOIs lodged on or after 5 September 2023 - updated EOIs will not be considered.

Migration Queensland nominates skilled migrants who are living and working in Queensland under two visa subclasses:

The Skilled Nominated (Permanent) visa (subclass 190) – This visa is available for skilled workers who wish to live and work in Queensland permanently, and

The Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – This visa allows nominated skilled workers to live and work in regional Queensland for five years and is a pathway to permanent residency.

Definition of Regional Queensland - applicable regions

Regional Queensland is defined as per the Department of Home Affairs' list of designated regional area postcodes. You must live and work within one of the following post codes to be eligible for the 491 Regional visa:

4019–4022, 4025, 4037, 4074, 4076–4078, 4124–4125, 4133, 4183–4184, 4207–4275, 4280–4287, 4300–4301, 4303–4498, 4500–4512, 4514–4519, 4521, 4550–4575, 4580–4895.

Note: The above postcodes are applicable to those who have been nominated and applied for their 491 visa from 5 March 2022. Further details can be found in LIN 22/022.

If you were nominated or applied for the 491 visa prior to 5 March 2022, the applicable Queensland postcodes can be found in LIN 20/292.

If you were granted a 491 visa prior to 19 November 2019, the Gold Coast is not an eligible region.

To find other visa options that suit your circumstances, use the Department of Home Affairs Visa Finder.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for a Queensland nomination, you must meet both the Australian Department of Home Affairs criteria and Migration Queensland criteria for your chosen visa category.

Home Affairs criteria requires you to:

have a points-test result of 65 or higher, inclusive of state nomination points;
have a positive skills assessment in your nominated occupation;
be under 45 years of age;
meet the minimum English language requirement of Competent, unless a higher level is required by your assessing authority.

Migration Queensland criteria requires you to:

Requirement	Skilled Nominated (Permanent) visa (subclass 190)	Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491)
Points	Have a points test result of 75 or higher (except for Trades occupations* which require 70 or higher)	Have a points test result of 65 or higher
Occupation	Have an occupation on Home Affairs relevant list of eligible skilled occupations (LIN19/051)	Have an occupation on Home Affairs relevant list of eligible skilled occupations (LIN19/051)
English	Have Competent English or higher (except for occupations where a higher level of English is required**)	Have Competent English or higher (except for occupations where a higher level of English is required**)
Work experience	Must provide evidence that you have been living in Queensland and undertaking full-time post qualification employment (minimum of 30 hours per week), in your nominated or closely related occupation for three months immediately before EOI lodgement. You must still be employed in your nominated or closely related occupation when your EOI is assessed.	Must provide evidence that you are living and working in regional Queensland and have full-time post-qualification employment (minimum of 30 hours per week) in your nominated or closely related occupation at the time of your EOI lodgement. You must still be employed in your nominated or closely related occupation when your EOI is assessed.
Evidence of ongoing employment	Must provide evidence that you have ongoing full-time (minimum of 30 hours per week) employment for a further twelve months at time of EOI lodgement in your nominated occupation	Must provide evidence that you have ongoing full-time (minimum of 30 hours per week) employment in regional Queensland for a further six months at time of EOI lodgement in your nominated occupation
Commitment to living in Queensland	Must commit to living and working in Queensland for two years from date of visa grant	Must commit to living and working in regional Queensland for three years from date of visa grant

*A trade occupation is defined as an ANZSCO occupation grouping beginning with 3

** To be registered or licensed in certain occupations, a higher level of English is required. In these cases, it is the responsibility of the applicant to understand the language requirements of the skills assessment and registration process for their nominated occupations. Migration Queensland will not nominate anyone who has lower English language skills than is required for their occupation.

Caveats for selected occupations

Accountants (General)
- Only applicants employed in an accounting firm or a medium or larger sized business will receive an invitation. For this purpose, a medium sized business is characterised as a business that employs 20 people or more.
- must be a CPA, CA or IPA, or are studying towards becoming a CPA, CA or IPA.
Internal and External Auditors
- must have a job as an Auditor (not an Accountant).
Cooks and Chefs
- No takeaway or fast-food businesses.

Important notes:

If you have been nominated for, applied for or hold a Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491), Migration Queensland will not nominate you for the Skilled Nominated (Permanent) visa (subclass 190). This restriction also applies to the Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 489).
If you are eligible for both the 190 and the 491 visas, please submit one EOI and select both visa classes. Please do not submit multiple EOIs – if you do, we will select the first one in the queue and close the rest. You will be offered one invitation only.
Businesses must have an office in Queensland; a virtual office will not be accepted.
You will receive copies of the State Nomination Application and Settlement Funds Declaration form, if/when Migration Queensland invites you to lodge an application.
If you have more than one skills assessment, please only submit one EOI for the occupation that best meets your current employment.
Please ensure that you read the application process, document checklist and all explanatory notes (below) before submitting your application
Migration Queensland handle a high volume of applications and client enquiries; enquiries about where your application is in the queue or when you will be invited to apply will not receive a response.
Priority will not be given to invitations where documents or visas are expiring.
Labour Hire employment: if you are employed through a labour hire provider, they must be licensed to operate in Queensland. All labour hire providers operating in Queensland must be licensed under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017, including providers that are based interstate or overseas who supply workers within Queensland. You will be required to provide evidence that your labour hire provider complies with these licensing requirements.

NOTE: Please ensure that the information on your EOI is correct. If Migration Queensland nominates you and you have made a mistake or fail to lodge your visa application by the required lodgement date, Migration Queensland will not consider any further application from you until at least six months after your last nomination.

Application process

Step 1

Review your eligibility criteria, visa conditions, and document checklist on the Department of Home Affairs website and Migration Queensland website. Ensure that you meet both the Home Affairs eligibility criteria and Migration Queensland criteria and that you have all your documentation – including proof of registration, if required for your occupation – ready before you apply.

Step 2

Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) with SkillSelect. Provide all information on your EOI, including work experience. You must select 'Queensland' as your only state of interest to be considered.

Step 3

Migration Queensland considers all EOIs that meet the above criteria. If you are invited to apply for nomination, you will receive an email invitation to lodge an application and be requested to provide the documents required (see list below).

Step 4

When you have received your invitation from Migration Queensland:

upload the required documents - only upload one document per file. If you have multiple documents, merge and save them as one file, and
pay the non-refundable application fee to finalise your application. Do not pay the fee until you have been invited to apply and all your documents have been uploaded.

Migration Queensland will then assess your application and request any further information.

Note: You will be given 14 calendar days to finalise your application from the date of invitation. Applications not finalised within the time frame will be closed and you will need to submit a new EOI if you wish to seek Queensland nomination again.

Step 5

If you are nominated by Migration Queensland, you will also receive an invitation from the Department of Home Affairs to lodge your visa application. You will be given 60 days to lodge your visa application.

Required documents	Skilled workers living in Queensland
Passport bio page: a good quality colour scan of bio-page of your valid passport
VEVO statement: Visa Entitlement Verification Online allows a visa holder to check their visa conditions and validity. Please provide a copy of your recent VEVO statement
State Nomination Application form: required for all applicants. This form is only available when you receive an invitation from Migration Queensland
Skills assessment: a valid skills assessment in the applicant's nominated occupation
Evidence of address - lease, utility bill or statutory declaration: please provide a copy of your current rental lease, or a recent (issued within the last three months) utility bill with your name on it. If this cannot be provided, please provide a statutory declaration declaring your current residential adddress
Evidence of salary payments - payslips: Skilled workers in Queensland 190: at least three payslips to demonstrate the required three months of work experience Skilled workers in Queensland 491: at least one recent payslip
Settlement Funds Declaration form and bank statement(s) showing declared funds: completed form and bank statement(s) that show the declared amount of settlement funds. The amount declared in the form and the amount on the bank statement(s) must match. For more information, see 'Settlement Funds Declaration Factsheet' here
Statement of Service form: this form is to be completed by the employer/s of onshore applicants, to support the work experience declared. If you have more than one employer, each one will need to complete this form. If you are employed through a labour hire company, your statement of service must come from the placement company.	Only for subclass 190 nomination applications
Employment contract: an employment contract that demonstrates the following: Skilled workers in Queensland 190: Contract must show full-time (minimum of 30 hours per week) ongoing employment for a further twelve months at time of EOI lodgement Skilled workers in Queensland 491: Contract must show full-time (minimum of 30 hours per week) ongoing employment for a further six months at time of EOI lodgement
Evidence of superannuation contribution - My Gov income statement: this statement can be found in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) profile in your My Gov acccount	Only for subclass 190 nomination applications
Evidence that your labour hire company is registered in Queensland (if applicable)