The 189 visa is permanent, points-tested, and needs no sponsor. Registered migration agents in Brisbane help with points, skills assessment and your EOI. Book a consult.
The 189 visa is a permanent visa for skilled workers who want to live and work anywhere in Australia without a sponsor. It’s points-tested, so you’re ranked against everyone else in the pool and invited to apply only when your score is high enough. There’s no employer, no state, and no family member holding your application. That freedom is why the 189 is the most sought-after skilled visa, and also the most competitive.
Our registered migration agents in Brisbane prepare skilled independent visa applications for engineers, accountants, nurses, IT professionals and trades. Here’s how the subclass 189 works, and where we come in.
The Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) gives you permanent residency from the day it’s granted. You and your included family can live in any state or territory, work in any job, study, enrol in Medicare, and apply for citizenship once you meet the residence requirement. It doesn’t tie you to a region or an occupation after grant.
To be considered, you submit an Expression of Interest through SkillSelect, claim your points, and wait to be invited to apply. You can’t just lodge a 189 whenever you like. The invitation is the gate, and only applicants with competitive scores get through it.
The core eligibility for the 189 is stable, even though the finer numbers move around. Broadly, you need to:
Be under the maximum age at the time you’re invited.
Have an occupation on the relevant skilled occupation list for the 189.
Hold a positive skills assessment from the correct assessing authority for that occupation.
Meet the minimum English requirement with an accepted test.
Score at least the pass mark on the points test, then rank well enough to be invited.
Meet health and character requirements.
Every one of those points has detail behind it, and small errors here are what sink otherwise strong applicants. Getting the order right matters too, because your skills assessment and English result usually need to be in hand before you claim their points.
Your 189 points come from a mix of factors. This is where good advice earns its keep, because a few points in the right place can be the difference between an invitation and a long wait.
Age, with younger applicants scoring more up to a cut-off.
English language ability, scaled by your test result.
Skilled work experience, counted separately for Australian and overseas employment.
Qualifications, from a diploma through to a doctorate.
A partner’s skills, or being single, or having a partner who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
Extras such as a professional-year program in Australia, a credentialled community language, or study in a regional area.
We look at your full profile and find the legitimate ways to lift your score. That might be sitting your English test again for a higher band, adding your partner’s skills assessment, or timing your lodgement so an extra year of experience counts. We don’t invent points. We make sure you claim every one you’re genuinely entitled to, and can prove it.
Before you can claim points for your occupation, you need a positive skills assessment from the assessing authority that covers it. Each occupation has its own authority, its own document rules, and its own quirks. Engineers go through one body, accountants another, trades another again.
This step catches people out constantly, usually over reference letters that don’t meet the format, or qualifications that need extra verification. Getting it right the first time saves months. We help you prepare the assessment properly so it comes back positive and matches the occupation you’re claiming points for.
Once your skills assessment and English are sorted, we lodge your Expression of Interest in SkillSelect. Your EOI sets out your claimed points and your nominated occupation. It isn’t an application. It’s you putting your hand up and being ranked.
The department runs invitation rounds and issues invitations to the highest-ranked EOIs for each occupation. If your score is competitive, you get an invitation and then have a set window to lodge the full visa application with all your evidence. If your score is short, you sit in the pool. That’s exactly why lifting your points before you lodge the EOI is often the smartest thing you can do.
We handle the EOI, keep it accurate, and make sure that when an invitation lands, your application is ready to go so you don’t waste the window.
The 189 isn’t the only skilled route, and it isn’t always the fastest. If your score is a little short for the 189 pool, a state nomination on the 190 visa adds points and can get you invited sooner, with a commitment to live and work in that state. A 491 visa is a provisional regional pathway that adds even more points and leads to permanent residency later.
If you studied in Australia and you’re a recent graduate, a 485 visa can give you time to work, build experience, and raise your points before you go for the 189. We map these against your real situation rather than pinning your hopes on the most competitive visa and leaving it there. For the bigger picture, start with our Skilled Migration page.
The 189 carries a government application charge, with additional charges for family members you include. Processing times shift with the department’s workload, your occupation, and how complete your application is. Rather than quote figures that could be out of date by the time you read this, we’ll give you the current charge and a realistic timeframe for your circumstances at your consultation. What we can say is that a well-prepared application, lodged once an invitation is issued, is the fastest path through.
We calculate your points accurately and find the honest ways to lift them.
We guide your skills assessment so it comes back right the first time.
We prepare and lodge your SkillSelect EOI and keep it current.
We build your full application so it’s ready the moment an invitation arrives.
We respond to any requests from the department and see the case through to grant.
No. The subclass 189 is fully independent. You don’t need an employer, a state nomination, or a family sponsor. You do need an eligible occupation, a positive skills assessment, and enough points to be invited.
There’s a published minimum, but in practice you’re competing against other applicants, so the score that actually gets invited is usually well above the floor. We’ll tell you where your score sits and where the realistic ways to improve it are.
The 189 isn’t tied to any state and lets you live anywhere in Australia. The 190 is nominated by a state or territory, which gives you extra points but comes with a commitment to live and work in that state. If your 189 score is short, the 190 is often the smarter play.
Yes. The subclass 189 is a permanent visa from grant. You can live and work anywhere in Australia, access Medicare, and work toward citizenship once you meet the residence requirement.
Yes. You can usually include your partner and dependent children. There are extra charges and each person needs to meet health and character requirements, and we’ll make sure nobody is left off.
It varies with your occupation, your points, and how quickly you’re invited after lodging your EOI. The invitation round and the skills assessment are the two big variables. We’ll give you a realistic timeframe for your profile.
Your EOI sits in the SkillSelect pool, ranked by your points. When an invitation round reaches your score for your occupation, you’re invited and then have a set window to lodge the full application. Until then, lifting your points is the most useful thing you can do.
Yes. If your partner has a suitable skilled occupation and meets the requirements, you may be able to claim partner points. Being single, or having a partner who is already an Australian citizen or permanent resident, can also attract points. It’s one of the most overlooked ways to lift a score.
Not necessarily. Occupation lists change, and a related occupation or a different visa such as the 190 or 491 may still fit. Don’t assume you’re excluded before we’ve checked the current lists against your background.
