Australia · Subclass 189
Australia's Skilled Independent Visa (Subclass 189)
Permanent residency on your own merits, decided by a points score and an invitation you cannot hurry.
The 189 is the one Australian visa nobody has to give you. No employer, no state government, no family sponsor. You score yourself against a points table, put your name in a pool, and wait to be picked. That last part is where most people get surprised.
Skilled Independent Visa (subclass 189)
Permanent visa for highly skilled workers without employer sponsorship.
- Government cost
- $4,640
- Processing time
- ~90 days
- Timeline
- Permanent residency
- Difficulty
- Moderate
Key requirements
- Occupation on skilled occupation list
- Points test (age, English, qualifications, experience)
- Health and character checks
About that data card
Two numbers above are out of date and we would rather say so than let you plan around them. The government charge is now 6,135 Australian dollars, about $4,385, not $4,640. The 90 day figure is well short of reality: Home Affairs is finalizing half of these applications in about seven months and nine in ten inside eight months. We've asked for both to be fixed.
The points test
65 points gets you in the pool, not on the plane
Every 189 applicant is scored out of a possible 130 points. You need 65 to file an Expression of Interest. That is the floor; treating it as the target is the single most common mistake Americans make with this visa.
What actually got invited
In the round held on June 4 2026, Australia issued 10,000 invitations. Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, bricklayers and tilers went at 65 points, the legal minimum. Secondary school teachers at 75. Most nursing and allied health roles between 75 and 80. Telecoms engineers and microbiologists needed 95. The highest recorded was 100, for urologists. Your occupation matters more than your total.
Doing the math on yourself
Here's a profile with nothing Australian in it. You're 33, hold a bachelor's degree, have eight years in your nominated occupation, you sat an English test and scored Superior, and you're single. That's 25 points for age, 15 for the degree, 15 for the experience, 20 for English and 10 for the partner factor. Eighty-five points, and you never set foot in Australia to get there.
- Age is scored the day you're invited, not the day you file. The 25 to 32 bracket is worth 30 points, 33 to 39 is worth 25, and 40 to 44 drops to 15.
- Only your highest qualification counts. A PhD is 20 points and a bachelor's is 15. Holding both does not get you 35.
- Overseas and Australian work experience are capped at 20 points combined, however long you have been at it.
- Five points each for a NAATI language credential or an Australian Professional Year, which most U.S. applicants will never have.
The 189 by the numbers
$4,385
Government charge, one adult
6,135 Australian dollars, billed by Home Affairs
65
Minimum points to file an EOI
invited scores ran 65 to 100 in June
21,090
Places for 2026-27
up from 16,900 the year before
7 months
Median time to decide, once lodged
nine in ten inside eight months
How it works
Five things have to happen, in this order
None of this starts with a job offer, nor does it start with the visa application. The order matters, because each step feeds the next one.
Get assessed, then tested
First, an assessing authority has to agree you are what you say you are. Engineers Australia, the Australian Computer Society, ANMAC for nurses, AITSL for teachers, VETASSESS for a long list of others. Budget four to twelve weeks, and note that an assessment generally goes stale after three years. Then sit an English test, even if English is the only language you speak.
File, wait, then move fast
The Expression of Interest is free. It lives in a system called SkillSelect and isn't a visa application. It stays active for two years and you can update it any time, though changing it resets your place among everyone tied on your score. If an invitation comes, you have 60 days to lodge. That deadline can't be extended, so have your police certificates and medicals ready to go.
Your passport clears the bar and scores you nothing
A U.S. passport is accepted on its own as proof of Competent English, so you can skip the test and still qualify. The trap is that Competent English is worth zero points. The 10 for Proficient and the 20 for Superior come only from a test result, whatever your nationality. Skipping the exam throws away up to 20 points on an exam you're unusually well-placed to pass.
Here's the catch
Applying from the States puts you at the back of the line
Since July 2026, a rule called Ministerial Direction 119 tells Home Affairs what order to work through the pile. Five tiers. Police and defence first. Then healthcare, teaching and construction, but only for people already in Australia. Then everyone else onshore. Then everyone else offshore. An American filing from the States in a non-priority occupation sits in that last tier, and the rule applies to files already in the queue.
The program numbers say it out loud. Of 185,000 permanent places in 2026, 129,590 are reserved for people already living in Australia and 55,110 for everyone applying from overseas.
One more thing before you spend money. The May 2026 budget confirmed the government intends to rewrite the points test to favor younger, better educated applicants. Nothing is law yet. Draft legislation is expected in December 2026, while the new test is pencilled in for July 2027.
What you get the day it is granted
Live anywhere
No state to report to, no regional postcode to stay inside, no employer you are tied to.
Medicare
Permanent residents enrol in the public health system. The US has no reciprocal deal, so this starts at PR.
Your family, included
Your partner and dependent children are on the same application and get the same permanent status.
Five years of travel
You can come and go for five years, then renew with a Resident Return visa.
A citizenship clock
Four years of lawful residence, the final year as a permanent resident, then you can apply.
Sponsorship rights
Permanent residents can sponsor eligible relatives for their own permanent visas.
Plan B
If your score is not competitive, it is not over
Most people who end up in Australia did not get there on a 189. If your occupation clears 90 points every round and you are sitting on 75, spend your energy elsewhere.
A state nomination on the subclass 190 adds 5 points and the same permanent residency, in exchange for committing to live in the nominating state. The regional subclass 491 adds 15 points, which is enormous, but it is provisional and you spend three years in a designated regional area first. An employer can skip the points test for you entirely: the Employer Nomination Scheme 186 is permanent residency from day one, with no points table anywhere in it. Our work visa hub compares these routes across countries. You can hold Expressions of Interest for the 189, 190 and 491 at once, at no extra cost.
Questions people actually ask
How many points do I need for the 189 visa?
Sixty-five is the legal minimum to file an Expression of Interest, and nowhere near the practical bar in most occupations. In the 4 June 2026 round, trades were invited at 65 while engineering and some medical specialties needed 95 to 100. Aim for 85, then check what your own occupation cleared.
How long does the whole thing take?
Once you lodge, Home Affairs decides half of these in about seven months and nine in ten within eight. The unpredictable part comes earlier: nothing is published about how long you sit in the pool waiting for an invitation, and some people never get one.
Does my US passport get me out of the English test?
It gets you out of having to take one. A US passport is accepted as proof of Competent English. But Competent English scores zero points, and the 10 or 20 points for Proficient and Superior English are only awarded on a test result. For most American applicants the test is the cheapest points on the board.
Do I need a job offer or a sponsor for a 189?
No. That is the whole point of it. No employer, no state or territory nomination, no family sponsor. You are scored on your own record, and once the visa is granted you can work for anyone, anywhere in Australia, or not work at all.
Is the points test about to change?
It is flagged, not law. The May 2026 budget confirmed the government will rewrite the test to favour younger, better educated applicants. Consultation closed in August 2026, draft legislation is expected in December 2026 and the new test is proposed for 1 July 2027. Until then the 65 point minimum and the current table stand, and invitations already issued will be honoured.
What does a subclass 189 cost?
About $4,385 for the main applicant, which Home Affairs bills as 6,135 Australian dollars. Add roughly $2,200 for a partner and $1,100 per child under 18, so a couple pays around $6,580. We used about 71 US cents to the Australian dollar in September 2026, so run the rate again on the day you pay. Skills assessment, English test, medicals and police checks sit on top.
Am I too old for the 189?
You have to be under 45 on the day you are invited, not the day you apply. Points fall away well before that: 30 points from 25 to 32, 25 from 33 to 39, then 15 from 40 to 44. At 41 you are giving up 15 points against a 30 year old with the same resume, which is often the whole gap.
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