Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491)

To be considered for Victorian skilled visa nomination, you must:

• Meet all the Department of Home Affairs - Subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa requirements.
• Meet all the Victorian Government’s - Subclass 491 Skilled Nominated visa requirements.

Who can apply?

To be eligible to apply for Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) nomination, you must:

• be one of the following:
  • living offshore
  • onshore Victorian graduate living in Melbourne and holding a Student (subclass 500) or Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa. To meet the conditions of the visa you will be required to relocate to regional Victoria.
  • onshore Victorian graduate living in regional Victoria and holding a Student (subclass 500) or Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa
  • onshore and hold another temporary residence visa living and working in regional Victoria.
• be committed to living and working in regional Victoria,
• have had your Registration of Interest (ROI) selected,
• be under 45 years of age,
• have at least Competent English,
• have a valid skills assessment in an occupation on the eligible skilled occupation list for this visa,
• have achieved at least 65 points on the Australian Government’s points test for your Expression of Interest (EOI) in SkillSelect.

How to apply?

To apply for Victorian visa nomination, you must:

1. Check your eligibility

   Make sure you meet the requirements for the visa you are seeking nomination for Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491).

2. Submit your EOI

   Submit or update your Expression of Interest (EOI) to the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs using SkillSelect.

3. Submit your ROI

   Using the EOI number received from SkillSelect, create an account on the Live in Melbourne portal and submit a Registration of Interest (ROI) for Victorian visa nomination.

4. Submit your nomination application

   After you are invited, submit a nomination application in the Live in Melbourne portal.

5. Submit your visa application
   If your nomination application is successful, submit a visa application for your selected visa with the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs.
   

Commitment to regional Victoria

• You must be committed to living and working in a designated regional area of Victoria.
• State nomination cannot be transferred from one state to another.

Registration of Interest

• To be invited to apply for Victorian visa nomination, you must submit a ROI.
• Your ROI must be selected by us before you can apply for skilled visa nomination. A ROI is not an application for Victorian visa nomination. There is no guarantee that your ROI will be selected.
• View our Registration of Interest page for more information on assessment and selection considerations.

Age

• You must be under 45 years of age at the time of nomination. This is a Department of Home Affairs requirement.

English language

• You must have at least Competent English.
• When you submit your nomination application, we require that your English language test has at least 12 weeks validity remaining. This ensures we have enough time to assess your nomination application. We cannot nominate you if your English language test has expired.
• For further information, see the Department of Home Affairs English language requirements page.

Skills Assessment

• You must have a valid skills assessment in an occupation on the eligible skilled occupation list for the visa.
• Your nominated occupation in your Skills Assessment must match your Expression of Interest (EOI) with the Department of Home Affairs.
• When you submit your nomination application, we require that your Skills Assessment has at least 12 weeks validity remaining. This ensures we have enough time to assess your nomination application. We cannot nominate you if your Skills Assessment has expired.
• For Health professionals, your occupation must be consistent with your Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration.

SkillSelect EOI Points

• You must have at least 65 points on the Australian Government’s points test, including the 15 points for state and territory nomination.

To be invited to apply for Victorian skilled visa nomination, you must firstly make or update an Expression of Interest (EOI) via the Australian Government’s SkillSelect and then submit a Registration of Interest (ROI).

View our Registration of Interest page for more information on ROI assessment and selection considerations.

For information on how to calculate your estimated annual earnings, visit our Annual Earnings Estimation Guide page. Answers to frequently asked questions can be found on our Skilled Visa FAQs page.

Submit your application via the portal

You must submit your application and all documents via the Live in Melbourne portal. We will not accept any applications or documents via email.

If you are invited to apply, you or your agent (if applicable) will be notified via email.

What documents you will need

If you are invited to apply for Victorian nomination, you must submit a complete application, including all relevant evidence to support your eligibility claims.

In your Victorian nomination application, you may need to provide the following documents to show you meet the requirements:

• passport,
• evidence of Victorian residence.

During the assessment of your nomination application, we may ask for further evidence and additional documents.

Living in regional Victoria:

To prove your residence in regional Victoria, you may need to provide the following documents to show you meet the requirements:

• bank statements for a minimum of 6 months from your main transaction account showing your salary and everyday transactions,
• rental or lease agreements,
• utility bills e.g. gas, water, phone, internet,
• driver’s licence or proof of age cards.

If you included annual earnings in your ROI you will also need to provide the following in your nomination application:

• employment contract,
• Position description detailing the duration of your employment, the hours worked per week and duties performed
• payslips (at least most recent four weeks),
• superannuation statement (showing most recent contributions),
• your letter of offer.

Following submission of your nomination application, you will be notified of the outcome by email as soon as a decision has been made.

Respond within two weeks

We may ask you for more information by email.

1. You will have two weeks to provide the requested information.
2. If you do not respond within two weeks, we may refuse your application. Please check your junk mail and ensure the email address no-reply-gems@liveinmelbourne.vic.gov.au is added to your list of valid email addresses.
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Incomplete applications

You must submit a complete application, including all relevant evidence to support your eligibility claims.

Please do not ask for updates on your application

Please do not ask for an update on your application. We assess all applications in order of when they are submitted.

If you have submitted a nomination application, you or your agent (if applicable) can check the status of your application through the Live in Melbourne portal. The average processing time for skilled visa nomination applications is 20 business days. This does not include the waiting time if we require additional information for your application.

The assessment team is also responsible for responding to enquiries and we prioritise assessment of applications. Unnecessary enquiries slow down application processing times.

Withdrawal

You can only withdraw your subclass 491 nomination application before we finalise our assessment. Please Contact Us to withdraw your nomination application.

For Registrations of Interest (ROI), you must withdraw your ROI using the Live in Melbourne portal.

Once you are nominated

1. Submit your visa application to the Department of Home Affairs within 60 days. We cannot nominate you again in 2024-25 if your visa application is not submitted in this time.
2. Keep your contact details up to date so we can provide you information on important services.
3. Complete regular surveys we will send you about your experience with us and your settlement in Victoria
4. Commit to living and working in Victoria for at least two years.

Nomination refusals

Before submitting a Registration of Interest make sure you meet all the minimum eligibility requirements for the visa you are seeking nomination for.

Your nomination application will be refused for the following reasons:

• You do not meet the minimum eligibility requirements.
• You cannot provide sufficient evidence for the claims made in your Registration of Interest or Expression of Interest.
• You provide false or misleading information.
• You do not respond to our requests for further information in a timely manner.

Common reasons for refused applications include:

• Over-estimated earnings (for onshore).
• Working in a non-skilled employment (for onshore).
• Working for an employer not operating in regional Victoria (for onshore).
• Living in an Australian state and territory other than regional Victoria (for onshore)
• Incorrect partner points.
• Modification of your SkillSelect EOI after invitation.
• Integrity concerns with residence and employment claims.
• Skills assessment or English language test result expired.

If you are unable to provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate the claims you make in your EOI and ROI, your application may be refused.

If your application is refused, you will not be able to submit a new application for 6 months. This ensures our resources are allocated to processing applications that meet the requirements of the visa.

False and misleading information

If you provide false or misleading information as part of your nomination application, your application will be refused. We may also report it to the Department of Home Affairs who can conduct their own investigation.

We encourage you to submit all documents unaltered, including all PDF documents in their original form and not combined into one document.

We conduct verification checks on many of the documents you provide to ensure that your employment matches the skill level of your nominated occupation that you outline in your EOI. This includes contacting employers and institutions directly to confirm whether the documents are genuine.

If you are aware of instances, or yourself are pressured to submit an application with false and misleading information, we encourage you to report this to the Department of Home Affairs.

Review of nomination decision

If your nomination application has been refused as you did not meet the eligibility requirements, you cannot request a review of your application.

If you believe that an error was made in assessing your nomination application, you can submit a request for us to review the application.

Renomination

We do not provide renomination in the following instances:

• You do not submit your visa application within 60 days.
• Your EOI was incorrect when we nominated you, including points claimed by you or your agent.

If an applicant has been nominated for any skilled visa (either subclass 190 or 491), they cannot be nominated again in the same program year.

Declaration form

If you are nominated, you must meet the nomination obligations that you signed in the declaration form.

Surveys

If you are nominated, we will contact you at various times.

In the declaration form, you agree to complete surveys if requested by, or on behalf of the Victorian Government, including a survey upon arrival and at six monthly intervals for the three years after visa grant or arrival in Australia.

These surveys are a condition of nomination. They provide us important feedback on our client services and policy settings.

Department of Home Affairs and SkillSelect

The Department of Home Affairs is responsible for all visa matters. This includes once you have been nominated by the Victorian Government and have submitted your visa application.

Please check subclass 491 visa processing times published by the Department of Home Affairs. All SkillSelect and EOI enquiries should be directed to the Department of Home Affairs.

Can my employer or family member represent me as an agent for Victorian nomination?

No, you cannot appoint an agent to act on your behalf if there are personal, financial or other interests that could, or could be seen to, influence their representation of you.

If a conflict of interest is identified during the application assessment, the Appointment of Agent will be deemed invalid, and the application may be refused.

Nomination application fees

Victorian Registration of Interest and nomination are free of charge. When you submit your visa application with the Department of Home Affairs, you will need to pay the visa fee.

Changes to eligibility requirements

All visa nomination eligibility requirements and priorities are subject to change throughout the year without notice.

Any changes made are effective immediately, regardless of when your EOI in SkillSelect was submitted (or amended). We strongly discourage changing your circumstances to meet the visa nomination criteria.

The Victorian Government endeavours to ensure all information on the Live in Melbourne website reflects the current eligibility requirements. The Live in Melbourne website is the authoritative source for information about our program.