The Skilled Independent (Permanent) (Class SI) Subclass 189 visa is a permanent resident visa for invited workers and New Zealand citizens who want to work and live in Australia.

Highlights

• You may be in or outside Australia to lodge a valid visa application.
• This visa allows you to work, study and live in Australia.
• There are 3 different visa streams: Points-tested, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
• This is a Permanent resident visa and allows you to stay in Australia indefinitely.

Key Eligibility requirements

POINTS-TESTED STREAM

• You must be under 45 years of age.
• You must have a skilled occupation on the relevant Medium and Long Term Strategic Skilled List (MLTSSL).
• You must be able to demonstrate ‘Competent English’.
• You must have a positive skills assessment from the relevant skills assessing authority in relation to your nominated occupation.
• You must obtain the minimum score on the Points Test at the time of invitation to apply for the visa.
• You must obtain an invitation to apply for the visa. To be invited you will need to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) in SkillSelect and meet the required points test on a competitive basis.
• You must satisfy certain Public Interest criteria and Special Return criteria.
• You must meet health and character requirements.

NEW ZEALAND STREAM

• You must hold a Subclass 444 (Special Category) visa.
• You must have been a usual resident in Australia for a continuous period of at least 5 years immediately before the date of the application. This continuous period of usual residence must have started on or before 19 February 2016.
• Unless you are exempt, you must demonstrate that for 3 completed income years within the last 5, your taxable income is not less than the minimum amount prescribed by the Minister. One of the income years must be the one that ended most recently before the date of application.
• You must satisfy certain Public Interest criteria and Special Return criteria.
• You must meet health and character requirements.

HONG KONG STREAM

• You must apply on or after 5 March 2022.
• You must hold a Hong Kong passport or a British National (Overseas) passport.
• You must hold an eligible Subclass 457 (Temporary Work (Skilled)) visa, or a Subclass 482 (Temporary Skill Shortage) visa or a Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa. You must have held this visa for at least 4 years.
• You must have been a usual resident in Australia for a continuous period of at least 4 years immediately before the date of the application.
• You must satisfy certain Public Interest criteria and Special Return criteria.
• You must meet health and character requirements.

Please note that the above is not an exhaustive list of requirements. This content is for general information purposes only, it is not immigration advice and must not be construed as such.

While due care has been taken to ensure that the content is kept up-to-date and correct, the currency and thus accuracy of the information cannot be guarantee due to the frequent changes in migration law.