Australian Capital Territory – 190, 491 visa

Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is situated between Sydney and Melbourne. It is the site of the nation’s capital city, Canberra. Canberra is home to important national institutions, such as Parliament House and the High Court of Australia. Like the other states/territory, ACT is looking for migrants to meet skills shortfalls and keep the economy growing. ACT offers Territory nomination under visa 190 (permanent) and visa 491 (provisional). Before applying for the Territory nomination, you must complete the DHA SkillSelect and claim at least 65 points. In addition to EOI, Canberra is using Canberra Matrix to select its candidates. If you want to apply for ACT Territory nomination, you have to complete Matrix and claim Matrix points. The criteria of Matrix is different from the EOI of Skill select. For example, ACT takes into account the level of qualification, i.e. 20 points for PhD, 15 points for Master…, numbers of years living in ACT, and whether you have a relatives in ACT. For more information about Canberra Matrix invitation round, please visit here. Please note that, all Matrix expire 6 months after submission date if an invitation is not issued. When applying for ACT Territory nomination, you should consider:

• how long you have been residing in Canberra
• whether your nominated occupation is on the ACT Occupation List; and
• Your work experience

When applying for ACT Territory Nomination, you must choose which visa you are going to apply for by first considering how long you have been residing in Canberra. If it is 3 months, you are only eligible to apply for visa 491. If it is at least 6 months, then you may apply for visa 190. If you are including a spouse/partner and/or children in your application, they must either living in Canberra for at least 3 or 6 months (depending which visa you are applying for), or living overseas.

The second criteria that you need to check is your nominated occupation. For visa 190, your occupation need to be ‘open’ on the ACT Occupation List at date of Matrix submission. If it is ‘caveats’, you need to meet additional requirement or else it is considered closed. Depending on occupations, the caveats can be one year ACT employment contract in nominated occupation or Australian Registration/licencing. For visa 491, you can nominate any occupation on the ACT Occupation List, including the ‘closed’ ones. However, you can’t claim Matrix points for your ‘closed’ occupation.

The third criteria is your work experience. For visa 190, you must be working fulltime (35 hours/week) for an ACT employer in Canberra for at least 6 months at date of matrix submission. If you are self-employed, your total income must be at least $1,000/week. The business must be active in the ACT for at least 12 months at date of Matrix submission. For visa 491, it is similar to visa 190 with shorter period. You must be working for at least 3 months (20 hours/week) and earn $500/week if self-employed.

Opportunity to be granted visa 190 for candidates who are holding visa 457 or 482:

If you are the primary holder of visa 457 or visa 482 sponsored by an ACT employer, and

• you have worked in Canberra for that employer for at least 6 months
• your nominated occupation is on the ACT Occupation List (either open or closed)
• there are still a minimum of 12 months at date of Matrix submission before your visa expires

Opportunity to be granted visa 190 for candidates who have been living in ACT for at least 5 years:

If you have been living in ACT for at least 5 years continuous and continue until date of invitation, you can nominate any occupation on the ACT Occupation List (either open or closed).

Opportunity for PhD:

You are eligible to apply for ACT nomination if you have:

• lived in Canberra for at least 12 months at time of invitation
• completed a PhD at an ACT university

If you are interstate resident or overseas applicant, you are eligible to apply for this category if you were awarded a PhD from an ACT university within the last 2 years.

When submitting your Matrix, you only have to register your contact details. You are not required to score Matrix points. Also, you may nominate any occupation on the DHA List as long as you have a positive skill assessment.