Skilled Regional Provisional Visa Subclass 489

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    VISA SUBCLASS 489 (SKILLED REGIONAL PROVISIONAL VISA)

    On 16 November 2019, Australia repealed one of the most popular visas in the immigrants - the Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 489). The visa was replaced by the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) which aimed to address genuine skill shortages in the country.

    489 visa for Australia is the Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa. It means that it is meant for the skilled workers who want to live and work in regional areas or low-population metropolitan areas of Australia for up to four years. This Australian visa allows you to take your family to your destination country. There are pathways that lead from 489 visa to PR (permanent residency) as it may make you eligible to apply for visa 887 (which is meant for skilled workers who want to stay and work in regional areas of Australia permanently).

    There are three pathways to apply for visa 489:

    Invited Pathway

    If you are planning to apply for the Australia visa subclass 489 under the invited pathway, you need to be sponsored by a family member or nominated by the state or territory government of Australia. You should be less than 45 years old, have a suitable skills assessment for one of the relevant skilled occupations for this visa subclass, and also score at least 65 points on the points test.

    You should also have Competent English, meet the Australian health and character requirements, have no debt towards the Australian government. To prove that you have competent English, you need to have a band score of at least 6 in all the four components of the IELTS test.

    Extended Pathway

    Skilled workers who already hold visa 475, 487, 495 or 496 can apply for visa 489 to extend their stay in Australia by four years. They can then live, work and study in the specified regional areas of Australia until their visa remains valid.

    There is no age limit to apply for this visa. It is imperative that you were never refused a visa or had your visa cancelled while you were in Australia to be granted the extension of your stay.

    Subsequent Entry Pathway

    If you already have a family member who holds visa 475, 487, 489, 495 or 496, you can apply for the subclass 489 visa as a subsequent entrant. If you are in Australia and are on a substantive visa or any of the bridging visas (A, B or C), then also you can apply for this visa.

    You will also need to meet the health and character requirements of the Australian authorities and you and your family members need to have at least Functional English to be considered eligible for this visa. To meet the functional English requirement, you need to have a band score of at least 4.5 on all the four components of the IELTS test.

    Processing Time

    Very few people apply for visa 489 and hence, it is not possible to state a definite time period within which the visa might get processed. However, V2I visa experts state that typically any visa meant for skilled workers does not take more than 12 months to get processed.

    Most common reasons that may delay your Australia visa subclass 489 approval include submission of incomplete admission form, not submitting the complete set of documents, delay in sharing of information by the external agencies (such as police department or the hospital where you get your health assessments done), and delay at the end of the applicants in responding to the requests made by the Australian immigration and visa authorities.

    We, at Visa2Immigration, can help expedite your visa processing time by making sure that your papers and form are complete.

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    Fee & Cost

    You need to pay only AUD 335 if you already have a visa 475, 487, 495 or 496 and are applying for a provisional Skilled Regional visa through the extended stay pathway. However, if you are applying for the invited pathway where you need to be nominated by the government or sponsored by a relative or the subsequent entry pathway where you apply as a family member of someone who already holds an Australian visa, then you have to pay AUD 3,755.

    There might be additional fee applicable from the case-to-case basis. You may have to pay more if you add family members to your application. In case, one of your family members is 18 years or older and does not meet the functional English requirements, you may also have to pay a fee called Second Instalment or VAC2.

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    Rules and Conditions

    Once you are granted the skilled regional provisional visa or Australia subclass 489 visa, you will have to abide by the rules and conditions attached to it. It means that you can only live, study and work either in designated areas or specified areas of Australia as defined in your visa conditions.

    This visa also has a condition which says that the visa holder must not marry or enter into a de facto relationship before entering Australia for the first time.

    However, if you are nominated by the state or territory government of Australia or are granted visa on the basis of family nomination, then the condition of not marrying before entering Australia might not apply to you.

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    Requirements and checklist

    To apply for visa 489, you need to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) via Skillselect through your Immi Australia account. You also need to gather documents, such as:

    • ID proof (pages of your current passport which show your photo, personal details, and issuance and expiry dates of your passport; national identity card; and proof of change of your name (if required)),
    • Documents that show your marital status,
    • character certificates issued by police of your home country as well as all the countries you have resided in the last ten years (for a period of one year or more),
    • A copy of your skill assessment documents,
    • Documents to prove that all the claims you made in your EOI are correct and true,
    • Any sponsorship or nomination documents you have,
    • Documents related to your family members (partner, dependents under 18, dependents over 18, as well as non-migrating family members.
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    Points Required and Point Calculator

    You need 65 or more points to be eligible for 489 subclass visa. Here is how you are allotted points:

    • You are awarded 0-30 points for your age. You get maximum points of 30 if you are 25-32 years old when you apply for 489 visa.
    • You can get 10 to 20 points for being proficient in English.
    • You can get a maximum of 15 points if you have relevant work experience outside Australia and a maximum of 20 points if you have worked in a relevant field in Australia.
    • You are awarded a maximum of 20 points depending on your educational attainment.
    • You may also get an additional 5 points if you meet the Australian study requirement.
    • You also get 10 points for the nomination or the sponsorship you have to work in the designated or specified areas of Australia.

    To know exactly how you can increase your point score, contact our V2I visa experts.

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