Annual Earnings Estimation Guide

Living in Victoria (onshore):

• If you are living in Victoria and work in skilled employment for an employer physically located in Victoria, you can provide an estimate of your annual earnings in your ROI. Virtual offices are not accepted.
• If you are living in Victoria and not working, working in non-skilled employment, or working for an employer not physically located in Victoria, you are still eligible to apply for nomination, but you are not eligible to claim earnings in your ROI. Please enter $0 for your estimated annual earnings and 0000 as your employer’s post code in your subclass 190 ROI.

Living overseas (offshore):

• If you are living overseas, you are not required to claim earnings in your ROI.

Living in regional Victoria (onshore):

• If you are living in regional Victoria, you must be working in skilled employment for an employer physically located in regional Victoria.
• You can provide an estimate of your annual earnings in your ROI.
• If you are not working, working in non-skilled employment, or working for an employer who is not physically located in regional Victoria, you are not eligible to apply for nomination.

If you are living overseas (offshore):

• If you are living overseas, you are not required to claim earnings in your ROI.

There is no minimum earnings requirement to be eligible for Victorian visa nomination. Earnings are just one of many factors used to select ROI for invitation.

Your employment does not have to be related to or the same as your nominated occupation. If you claim earnings, it must be from skilled employment from an employer physically located in Victoria for subclass 190 and regional Victoria for subclass 491. Virtual offices are not accepted.

Skilled employment includes any role that is at skill levels 1, 2 or 3 in the relevant ANZSCO classification.

Please see the ABS websiteexternal link where you can see a list of all ANZSCO occupations with corresponding skill levels.

For example, if your nominated occupation is Mechanical Engineer (ANZSCO skill level 1), but you are currently working as a Truck Driver (ANZSCO skill level 4), you cannot claim earnings from this job as it is classified as skill level 4.

However, if you are a Mechanical Engineer (ANZSCO skill level 1), but you are currently working as a Mechanical Engineering Technician (ANZSCO skill level 2), you can claim earnings from this job as it is classified as skilled level 2.

You should only include earnings from skilled employment.

Your estimated annual earnings should reflect the total compensation received as part of your employment, excluding superannuation and before income tax deductions.

In most cases you should use your base salary as your estimated annual earnings. It is important to not over-estimate your annual earnings as it could lead to your nomination application being refused.

Estimated annual earnings includes:

• wages,
• payments while on leave,
• penalties (for weekends, public holidays, or work outside regular hours) - you should not provide an hourly rate in this case,
• commissions (only accepted for sales roles), and
• amounts that are salary sacrificed (such as a novated lease for a car or a meals and entertainment arrangement).

You should use the earnings estimate provided by the calculator below in your ROI.

Estimated annual earnings does not include:

• mandatory employer superannuation contributions,
• earnings from unskilled employment, such as: administrative roles, retail roles, machine operators, drivers, labourers, cleaners, social media advertising and non-formal employment (such as selling second hand or handmade goods, food and grocery delivery),
• allowances (such as allowances for meals, car, uniform, travel),
• bonuses (such as sign-on bonuses and lump sum performance bonuses for non-sales roles),
• incentive payments (such as equity or share options),
• overtime,
• scholarships,
• reimbursements,
• non-monetary benefits,
• government benefits or payments,
• investment returns (both capital gains and dividend payments),
• gifts,
• tips or gratuities,
• gambling winnings, and
• other types at our discretion.

If invited to apply for Victorian visa nomination, and you have claimed annual earnings in your ROI, you will be required to provide evidence in your nomination application, including:

• employment contract,
• employment reference letter or 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.

You must support all your claims of earnings with documents in your application.

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

Please keep the following in mind when calculating your estimated annual earnings .

I work multiple jobs. Can I claim earnings from all my employers?

If you are employed in more than one job, you must only include the estimated earnings from your highest paying job that is eligible.

Can I claim earnings as an independent contractor?

We may accept earnings from your employment as a contract worker or independent contractor in skilled employment. If you are invited to apply for nomination, you must support all your claims of earnings with documents in your application, including:

• tax invoices,
• contractor/services agreement,
• your most recent Notice of Assessment,
• your most recent income tax return.

We may request further information during the assessment of your application.

Can I claim earnings if I am on unpaid leave?

You may be eligible if you are on unpaid leave temporarily from a skilled employment position and meet all the eligibility requirements.

If you are invited to apply for nomination, you must support all your claims of earnings with documents in your application, including:

• evidence of your unpaid leave,
• your most recent 4 weeks of payslips,
• your most recent superannuation statement,
• current employment contract that shows your base salary.

Can I claim earnings as a casual employee?

If your employment is casual, please note that the calculator will adjust of the amount for casual loading. Please use the adjusted figure provided by the calculator in your ROI.

Applicants working regular hours on a casual basis should use the casual calculator rather than the part-time calculator. Casual employees working variable hours are required to claim hours/earnings based on the most recent 8 weeks at the time of submitting your ROI. If you are invited, you must provide the 8 weeks of payslips in the nomination application.

Can I claim earnings as a part-time employee?

If your earnings are on a part-time basis, note that the calculator will adjust your earnings to reflect full-time equivalent hours. Please use the adjusted figure provided by the calculator in your ROI.

If you provide false or misleading information as part of your nomination application, you 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 outlined 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.