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Australian Skills Matching Visas

The Australian Skill Matching Visa was designed to help overcome regional skills shortages in Australia by encouraging migrants to settle in parts of the country where their skills and abilities are in demand.

Applicants have their details placed within a Skill Matching Database which is made available to State/Territory governments and employers who may then nominate an applicant for migration.

The Skill Matching Visa is not points tested. You should consider this category if you are not certain or it is unlikely you will pass the points test.

Skills Matching Online Assessment

To apply for this category you must:

• Satisfy the Basic Requirements for skill and age outlined earlier, but with functional English and a lesser recent work experience requirement; and
• Nominate a skilled occupation from the SOL.

To meet the recent work experience requirement, you must have been employed in a skilled occupation for at least 6 months in the 12 months before applying for migration. You do not need to meet this work experience requirement if you meet the 2 years study in Australia requirement.

It should also be noted if you are applying with functional English (i.e. you have achieved an overall band score of 4.5 on the 4 components of the IELTS test) and you are nominated from the Skill Matching Database by a State/Territory government, you must pay a tuition fee to upgrade your English language skills to the 'vocational English' level.

Nomination

Once the details of an applicant are within the Skill Matching Database, they may be nominated for migration by a State/Territory government or an employer.

If nominated by a State/Territory government their application for migration may be processed under the State and Territory Nominated Independent (STNI) category.

If nominated by an employer, skills matching applicants may be eligible for an Australian visa under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) or under a Labour Agreement (LA).

Skills Matching Online Assessment