State Nominated Migration Program

1: Nominated occupation on the relevant occupation list 

The nominated occupation identified in your skills assessment must be listed as “available” on the:

• WASMOL Schedule 1 occupation list; or
• WASMOL Schedule 2 occupation list.

You can view the eligible occupations here

2: Department of Home Affairs requirements

You must meet Home Affairs' requirements for your intended visa subclass, being:

• the Skilled nominated visa (subclass 190)(opens in a new tab); or
• the Skilled work regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491)(opens in a new tab).

3: English language requirement

You must meet the minimum score for English language requirements as shown below, in all four components (listening, reading, writing and speaking), in one of the Home Affairs approved English tests listed. 

4: Work experience requirement (not applicable to General stream WASMOL schedule 2 applicants)

You must have:

• at least one year of Australian work experience in the nominated (or closely related) occupation over the last 10 years; or
• at least one year of overseas work experience in the nominated (or closely related) occupation over the last 10 years.

You can only count work experience gained after you received your qualification, in paid employment, where you have worked at least 20 hours per week. 

Further evidence of work experience may be requested during the application process.

5: Contract of employment (not applicable to visa 491 applicants)

You must have a contract of employment in your nominated (or closely related) occupation for full time employment in Western Australia, for at least six months from the date of your application for State nomination. Full time employment is defined as an average of at least 35 hours work per week. You are able to provide two contracts of employment to make up the 35 hours. The contract must include:

• full names of both the employer and the employee;
• start and end date (if permanent, only start date is required). The start date must be within three months of your application;
• job title and related ANZSCO code;
• job description;
• terms and conditions of employment (such as salary, hours of work, leave entitlements and superannuation) which must be no less favourable than those that would apply to an Australian citizen or permanent resident doing equivalent work. If your contract does not describe your terms and conditions of employment, you can provide the enterprise agreement or industrial award for your occupation;
• location of employment;
• a statement that confirms “work specified in the employment contract must be performed by the employee and not contracted out to a third party”;
• dated signatures from the employer and the employee; and
• be drafted by the employer and not by the employee.

We will also assess whether: 

• an appropriate salary will be paid for the specified occupation, based on market salary rates;
• the business employing you is genuine and operating in the location specified; and
• as the employee, you will bear no financial risk and be provided with the relevant tools and equipment to successfully undertake the tasks required.

Independent contractors, self employment and sole traders

Employment contracts submitted by an independent contractor or for self-employment do not meet the above requirements and are not suitable to apply for WA State nomination. Employment contracts submitted by a sole trader will be considered in the following circumstances only:

• the sole trader is not the stated applicant of the State nomination application; and
• the employment contract meets all the above requirements.

View the Employment contracts(opens in a new tab) and Independent contractors(opens in a new tab) information available on the Fair Work Ombudsman or Austrade website(opens in a new tab).

1: Nominated occupation on the relevant occupation list 

The nominated occupation identified in your skills assessment must be listed as “available” on the Graduate stream occupation list related to your stream.

You can view the eligible occupations here

2: Department of Home Affairs requirements

You must meet Home Affairs' requirements for your intended visa subclass, being:

• the Skilled nominated visa (subclass 190)(opens in a new tab); or
• the Skilled work regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491)(opens in a new tab).

3: English language requirement

You must meet the minimum score for English language requirements as shown below, in all four components (listening, reading, writing and speaking), in one of the Home Affairs approved English tests listed. 

4: WA study requirements

You will need to have gained one of the following qualifications from an accredited educational institution in WA that meets the accreditation requirements outlined below at the time of your study.

• A university or higher education qualification. This includes a PhD, Masters, Bachelor or higher degree (Bachelor Honours Degree, Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma); and/or
• a vocational education and training (VET) qualification at a Certificate III level or above.

You also must have studied at an accredited WA educational institution, full time and face to face, for at least two years (the educational institution determines whether a course is full time or part time). You can use study from different qualifications to make up the two years, including:

• university/higher education. 
• VET (Certificate III level or above); and/or 
• English language programs. 

The onus is on the applicant to provide evidence to show two years of living and studying in WA. Additionally, the awarding institution must have met the accreditation requirements.

Evidence required 

You will need to provide the following evidence:

• award certificate/s;
• a record of your results, such as transcript/s or a statement of attainment showing two years full time study in WA; and
• a letter from your education provider confirming your study duration and study load, start and completion date. If you studied at multiple institutions, to fulfil the two year study requirement, a letter must be provided from each education provider. 

If you were studying under an Australian student visa, you will also need to provide:

• confirmation of enrolment/s (COEs) and/or student visa grant notice for the duration of your two years of WA study; and
• if any study from your full time course was completed at a reduced study load, evidence demonstrating this was approved by your awarding education provider.

To meet the WA study requirement for the State nominated graduate stream, you must have completed your studies at an accredited educational institution (or institutions) in WA. The institution must have been accredited at the time of your relevant WA studies. To be considered accredited, the educational institution (including providers of English language programs) must be: 

• registered with the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS)(opens in a new tab); and
• have a campus in WA where students study full time, on campus, through face-to-face delivery. 

In addition: 

• a university or higher education institution must also be registered as an Australian higher education provider with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)(opens in a new tab) to be considered an accredited educational institution; and
• a vocational education and training (VET) institution must also be registered with the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) or the WA Training Accreditation Council (TAC)(opens in a new tab) to be considered accredited. You can check if your institution is registered on the training.gov.au website(opens in a new tab).

The institution types may be as follows.

• English language program provider (ELP)
• Vocational education and training (VET)
• Higher education (HE)
• University (U)

If your institution is not listed below, you can search on the training.gov.au website(opens in a new tab) or TEQSA website(opens in a new tab) to see if it was accredited at the time of your studies.

Listed below are the current WA accredited educational institutions with a WA campus, and whether they are accredited as an English language program provider (ELP); or for vocational education and training (VET); higher education (HE); or university (U).

SkillSelect is an online platform by Home Affairs that enables skilled workers who are interested in migrating to Australia to record their details to be considered for a skilled visa through an EOI. Lodging an expression of interest (EOI) through SkillSelect is the first step. Your EOI must include the following details.

• Whether you are seeking nomination from:
  • Western Australia; or 
  • another Australian state or territory.
• Indicate that you are younger than 45 years of age.
• A score of at least 65 points in the Home Affairs points test(opens in a new tab). 
• Evidence of a skills assessment suitable for migration in your nominated occupation. See the Home Affairs website for more information(opens in a new tab) on skills assessments and skills assessing authorities. 
• Nomination of an occupation that is available for your intended visa subclass on the WA Skilled migration occupation list (WASMOL) Schedule 1 or 2 for the general stream; or the Graduate occupation list (GOL) for the graduate stream.
• If you are using the graduate stream, the details of your WA study, including the address and postcode of the WA campus of the educational institution, must be included in your EOI. View our Graduate stream requirements for more information.
• Show that you meet the English language requirements. If you have a passport from the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, the United States of America or Ireland, you are not required to sit an English exam to be eligible for WA State nomination.  

Please check the accuracy of the information entered in your EOI on SkillSelect. If you provide false or misleading information as part of your State nomination application, your application may be declined. Read the Terms and conditions for more information. 

If your EOI is amended during the application process, resulting in a reduction of your points score, evidence must be provided to substantiate the points claimed in your EOI.

You will need to provide documents with your EOI, to show you meet the WA State nomination criteria.

Documents must be valid at the time of lodgement. Read the Terms and conditions for more information.

Any documents you submit should be high quality copies of the original.

Once the assessment of your application begins, you may be asked to provide further information by email.

WA Migration Services reviews EOIs that have been submitted through SkillSelect, and invites eligible applicants to apply for State nomination based on the WA State nomination criteria(PDF document - opens in a new tab)[PDF 309 KB]. 

If you are eligible for an invitation through multiple streams, you will receive an invitation for each stream you are eligible for. However, you will only be able to lodge one application for State nomination through your chosen stream. If multiple EOIs are ranked at the same level, invitations will be issued based on the EOI submission date.

If your EOI indicates you are seeking State nomination for both the subclass 190 and subclass 491 visa, you will generally be invited for the subclass 491 visa in the first instance. This is because you will generally have a higher EOI points score for this visa. 

Read more about our invitation rounds

If you are invited by WA Migration Services to apply for State nomination, you will receive an email with a link to the application form. 

To submit your application, you must read and agree to the terms and conditions.

You have 28 days to complete your application.

To be approved, your application must meet the WA State nomination criteria, which includes additional requirements depending on your intended stream. You will be notified of the outcome of your application via email.

View the criteria for WA State nomination here

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

If your State nomination application is approved, WA Migration Services will nominate you in SkillSelect and you will then receive an invitation from Home Affairs to lodge an application for your intended visa.

Please note that State nomination does not guarantee your visa application will be granted.

If you are invited to apply for your intended visa, you can lodge your application through Home Affairs' online service IMMI.

Find out more about IMMI here(opens in a new tab)

You have 60 days to complete your visa application.

Home Affairs will assess your visa application against specific requirements.

Your visa application will only be granted if all requirements are met.

If your visa is granted, you will then be required to meet your long term commitments to living and working in WA. For people not yet residing in WA, this includes:

• moving to WA within three months of receiving your visa, and complying with applicable border rules at the time;
• registering your arrival with WA Migration Services;
• living and working in WA for two years upon arrival; and
• completing surveys upon request, for this two year period.

For people already residing in WA, this includes:

• registering your visa grant date with WA Migration Services;
• living and working in WA for two years following your visa grant; and 
• completing surveys upon request, for this two year period.
   

 Register your arrival or visa approval(opens in a new tab)

Applicants have the opportunity to request a review of their WA State nomination outcome.

To request a review, please complete the Request for Review of Decision​​ form below and email it to migration@dtwd.wa.gov.au

All review requests must be submitted to WA Migration Services within 14 calendar days of the date of the email advising your WA State nomination outcome.

  Download the Request a review of decision form here(PDF document - opens in a new tab)[PDF 233 KB]