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Certification for Regional visas

Regional Western Australia offers a range of stunning landscapes and environments — from the beautiful outback up north to the magnificent forests down south, and the stunning coastline across the state, it's a great move!

  Current processing time is 20 working days

You can find out more about regional WA in the Moving to Western Australia section of our website

If you're planning on migrating to regional WA, the following information may be useful. 

A family camping in regional WA

Regional Certifying Body advice

The Department of Training and Workforce Development, through WA Migration Services, is an approved Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) Regional Certifying Body (RCB) for all of WA, except the Goldfields–Esperance region who apply to Regional Development Australia for RCB advice(opens in a new tab)

The Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494)(opens in a new tab) (SESR) is a Home Affairs visa that allows Australian employers in regional Australia to sponsor (nominate) skilled migrants to fill employment vacancies, where the employer cannot source an appropriately skilled Australian worker.

To nominate a skilled position through the employer sponsored stream of the SESR with Home Affairs, the employer and the nominated position must be assessed by a Regional Certifying Body (RCB). 

Assessment criteria

To be assessed by WA Migration Services, applications must demonstrate the following criteria and the certifying body must be satisfied that:

How to apply for RCB advice

To lodge an application with WA Migration Services, you need to:

Once the assessment has been completed, the nominator (employer) will receive an email with the RCB advice and a signed Form 1404 which is then used in your application to Home Affairs.

If you have any questions regarding the process, contact the WA Migration Services team

Nominating a skilled worker with Home Affairs

For information regarding the nomination process, visit the Home Affairs website(opens in a new tab)

The assessment advice must have been obtained no more than three (3) months before the date the nomination is lodged. If the assessment advice is dated more than three (3) months before the date the nomination is lodged, the Home Affairs decision maker may require a fresh RCB assessment to be obtained. This is because labour market conditions may have changed sufficiently for new advice to be warranted.

The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) (subclass 187) visa is now discontinued, and WA Migration Services no longer accepts or assess applications for this program.

Please contact WA Migration Services if you require assistance relating to a previous RSMS application.

Frequently asked questions

You need to provide evidence of at least two advertisements. Evidence must include: 

  • dates, duration and text of the advertisement;     
  • an invoice for the advertisement;
  • a scanned copy of the advertisement; or 
  • other relevant supporting documentation such as from a recruitment company.

An advertisement can be a print advertisement from a newspaper distributed across the state. Print advertisements for positions in regional Western Australia and for fly in fly out (FIFO) or drive in drive out (DIDO) positions must be advertised in Western Australian newspapers, for example The West Australian or The Sunday Times. Placement of the advertisement in the newspapers must be appropriate for the advertised position, such as the vacancies classified section.

It can also be:

  • an online job advertisement over a minimum two week period on a jobs site such as Seek or CareerOne; 
  • the employment section of the company website or Linkedln; or
  • a radio advertisement.

Social media platforms are no longer accepted as suitable evidence.

Both paid and unpaid online advertisements are acceptable.

Certification for Regional visas

You should refer to the:

Certification for Regional visas

Migration agents must include their full contact details in applications for nomination certification. WA Migration Services are unable to discuss the details of an application with agents who are not listed on an application.

An email address is not sufficient, full contact details are required.

Certification for Regional visas

No. Once the assessment is complete, WA Migration Services is unable to change the Form 1404.

Certification for Regional visas

Applications for certification advice are assessed in order of receipt.

Our standard processing time for Regional Certifying Body (RCB) applications is five working days once all documentation is received.

Certification for Regional visas

It is a state requirement that the employment contract confirms a minimum of two years.

Please provide an additional statement, confirming the employee will be employed for a minimum of two years.

Certification for Regional visas