State Nomination Finder

How nomination works

Invitation-only. You lodge an Expression of Interest (EOI) in SkillSelect nominating NSW; NSW's own page states plainly that you cannot apply for NSW nomination directly — it selects and invites from the EOI pool.

Onshore / offshore

Accepts both. For the 190, NSW accepts three routes: reside in NSW for a continuous 6 months, reside offshore for a continuous 6 months, or work at least 20 hours a week in your nominated (or a closely related) occupation for a NSW-based employer. Both onshore and offshore candidates are eligible — NSW does not require you to already live there.

Work experience

No fixed minimum is published as an eligibility gate. NSW's own page lists total years of skilled work experience as one factor considered when deciding who to invite, alongside age, English and points score — so more experience helps your chances without being a hard cut-off.

Occupation list

Publishes its own: NSW Skills List.

What makes it different

A discretionary, invitation-only selection against the NSW Skills List rather than a first-come, first-served queue. NSW has publicly leaned its recent rounds toward priority sectors — care and support (health, aged care, disability, education), construction, digital/cyber and net-zero/energy — but which occupations are actually open changes every round.

Confirmed directly from nsw.gov.au on 15 Sep 2026. NSW's page itself warns that rounds close once places for a category are allocated and reopen with fresh settings for the new program year — treat anything here as a starting point, not a guarantee a round is even open.

How nomination works

Two steps. First an EOI in SkillSelect nominating Victoria, then a separate Registration of Interest (ROI) through the Live in Melbourne site. Victoria selects and invites from the ROI pool — an EOI alone does not put you in front of Victoria.

Onshore / offshore

Accepts both. Victoria's published eligibility runs off the same ROI process for onshore and offshore applicants — there is no stated requirement that you already live in Victoria to register interest, though onshore applicants with a Victorian job or study history are more visible in practice.

Work experience

Victoria's page does not publish a fixed minimum months/years figure for general eligibility; a valid skills assessment in an occupation on the relevant Commonwealth skilled occupation list is the hard requirement, with experience assessed as part of ranking.

Occupation list

Doesn't run a separate list — uses the Commonwealth's skilled occupation list directly.

What makes it different

Victoria does not run its own separate occupation list — all occupations on the Department of Home Affairs skilled occupation lists are eligible for Victorian nomination, which is unusual among the larger states. It instead names priority sectors (health and social services, education, construction, new energy and advanced manufacturing) that its ROI selection leans toward. The 491 nomination is specifically for designated regional Victoria — outside metropolitan Melbourne — with a stated 3-year regional-work pathway to the subclass 191.

This network could not fetch liveinmelbourne.vic.gov.au directly; the quotes above come from search-engine results that attribute the wording to that official page. Re-confirm on the page itself before relying on the no-separate-occupation-list claim, since it is the kind of settings change a state can make without much notice.

How nomination works

Invitation-based, with separate pathways for onshore and offshore candidates. Onshore applicants register through Migration Queensland; offshore applicants use a dedicated 'skilled workers living offshore' pathway on the same site.

Onshore / offshore

Accepts both. Queensland explicitly supports both. Onshore eligibility is tied to recent Queensland employment; offshore applicants apply through their own stream with different requirements (a completed qualification and Queensland's offshore work-experience settings), confirmed on Migration Queensland's own 'skilled workers living offshore' page.

Work experience

For onshore applicants: at least 9 months living and working in Queensland in an occupation sharing the nominated occupation's first 3 ANZSCO digits, at 20+ hours a week, for the 190; at least 6 months on the same basis for the 491. Casual and combined part-time roles count, and genuine work-from-home is accepted if the employer has a physical Queensland presence. Offshore work-experience settings are published separately and were not independently confirmed this session.

Occupation list

Publishes its own: Queensland Skilled Occupation Lists (onshore and offshore, published separately).

What makes it different

Queensland runs genuinely different criteria for onshore versus offshore candidates rather than one shared test — an onshore Queensland work history is close to a precondition for the 190/491 streams aimed at people already in the state, while the offshore route is a separate, occupation-list-gated pathway.

The onshore work-experience figures above are drawn from Migration Queensland's own published detail via search synthesis; the offshore stream's specific experience threshold could not be independently confirmed this session — check the 'skilled workers living offshore' page directly.

How nomination works

An EOI in SkillSelect nominating South Australia is the base requirement. Onshore applicants must also submit a Registration of Interest (ROI) through the Skilled & Business Migration portal; South Australia's own FAQ states that offshore applicants do not need to submit an ROI at all and may be invited directly from their EOI.

Onshore / offshore

Accepts both. Both are accepted, and the process genuinely differs by where you are: onshore needs the extra ROI step, offshore does not.

Work experience

South Australia's page does not publish a single fixed minimum months figure for general eligibility; being skilled or qualified in an occupation on South Australia's State Skilled Occupations List and meeting the Commonwealth points test are the stated gates, with a specific nomination stream (of several) then applying its own conditions.

Occupation list

Publishes its own: South Australian State Skilled Occupations List.

What makes it different

South Australia runs multiple named nomination streams rather than one test (for example, streams tied to a job offer, graduate status, or being in a priority occupation), and the onshore/offshore split in the application process itself — not just the eligibility criteria — is unusual among the states.

Quoted via search synthesis of migration.sa.gov.au; the specific stream you'd actually apply under (and that stream's own experience and residency rules) is not covered here and needs to be read from the official page for your occupation.

How nomination works

Invitation rounds. Western Australia does not accept direct nomination applications outside its published invitation rounds, run through Migration WA.

Onshore / offshore

Accepts both. Migration WA's program covers both people already in WA and offshore applicants, but this session could not confirm the exact onshore/offshore split of requirements from the primary page — treat this as unconfirmed and check the official page before assuming either pathway is open.

Work experience

Not confirmed — no fixed figure is published; check the official page.

Occupation list

Publishes its own: Western Australian Skilled Migration Occupation List (WASMOL) — Schedule 1 (general) and Schedule 2 (graduates and WA-based workers).

What makes it different

WASMOL's split between a general Schedule 1 and a Schedule 2 specifically for WA graduates and people already working in WA is the notable feature — it structurally rewards an existing WA connection even within a single occupation list, rather than relying purely on a points ranking.

Migration WA's own site was reachable this session but the fetched content covered invitation-round timing rather than the residency and work-experience detail; those two fields above should be read as not independently confirmed and checked directly on migration.wa.gov.au.

How nomination works

Registrations of Interest open on a set date each program year (17 August 2026 for 2026-27, per third-party reporting), with weekly invitations to apply for nomination following.

Onshore / offshore

Onshore-focused. The Tasmanian Skilled Employment (TSE) pathway for the 190 is built around genuine Tasmanian employment, not an offshore application. Reported sources state Tasmania will not be issuing 2026-27 invitations under its 491 overseas (offshore) skilled-occupation pathway at all — meaning the state's current settings favour people already working, studying or with strong ties in Tasmania over an application made from outside Australia. You said you’re outside Australia — this state’s current settings don’t favour that.

Work experience

Reported (not independently confirmed on migration.tas.gov.au this session): at least 9 months of qualifying Tasmanian employment for the TSE subclass 190 pathway, reduced to 6 months for health, allied health, and school teaching occupations.

Occupation list

Publishes its own: Tasmanian Skilled Employment (TSE) Priority Occupations List.

What makes it different

Tasmania's defining feature for 2026-27 is what it has switched off, not on: reported sources agree the state is not running its overseas 491 pathway this program year, which is a significant change from Tasmania's historical reputation (visible elsewhere on this site) as one of the more offshore-accessible regional states.

migration.tas.gov.au returned HTTP 403 to this network on 15 Sep 2026 and could not be read directly. Everything above is compiled from several independent migration-agency summaries that agree with each other, most explicitly on the 491 offshore pathway being closed for 2026-27 — but none of it has been seen on Tasmania's own page this session. If you are relying on a Tasmanian pathway, check migration.tas.gov.au yourself before acting.

How nomination works

The Canberra Matrix. You register interest by submitting a scored Matrix application; the ACT ranks all current Matrix entries and invites from the top down. There is no guarantee of an invitation even if you meet every eligibility criterion — the ACT's own page says so directly.

Onshore / offshore

Accepts both. The ACT runs genuinely separate eligibility criteria for 'overseas applicant' and 'Canberra resident' Matrix submissions, confirmed on the ACT Government's own nomination-criteria pages. Both pathways exist for both the 190 and the 491.

Work experience

Confirmed from act.gov.au: for the 190, overseas applicants need at least 3 years' full-time, post-graduate work experience in the nominated occupation within the last 5 years; Canberra residents instead need to have worked at least 30 hours a week in at least 26 of the 30 weeks before submitting their Matrix. For the 491, overseas applicants need at least 1 year of the same post-graduate experience; Canberra residents need at least 3 months' Canberra residency and at least 13 weeks worked, at the date of submission.

Occupation list

Publishes its own: ACT Nominated Migration Program Occupation List.

What makes it different

The Canberra Matrix is the one genuinely points-ranked state system on this list — it scores skilled employment, English, qualifications, ACT residence or study, business activity, investment and close family ties, and invites top-down, rather than working through a simple eligible/not-eligible queue. Being nominated commits you to living and working in Canberra for at least two years after grant.

act.gov.au returned HTTP 403 to a direct fetch from this network on 15 Sep 2026; the quotes above come from search-engine synthesis that names the ACT Government's own nomination-criteria pages as its source, not from reading the pages directly in this session. The Matrix's point weightings themselves — the numbers behind each criterion — were not able to be confirmed and are not reproduced here for that reason.

How nomination works

Nomination against NT Government criteria assessed alongside the Commonwealth EOI; multiple named streams exist (including Priority Occupation, Job Offer and Family streams) with different rules per stream.

Onshore / offshore

Accepts both. Both pathways exist, but reported sources are consistent that the NT leans its program toward the 491 for offshore candidates, treating 190 nomination for people outside Australia as the exception rather than the rule.

Work experience

Reported, not independently confirmed on the NT's own page this session: commonly cited as roughly 1–2 years' relevant post-qualification experience within the last 5 years for offshore Priority Occupation applicants, with figures varying between third-party sources — treat any specific number here as indicative only.

Occupation list

Publishes its own: NT Offshore Migration Occupation List (for the offshore Priority Occupation stream only — the Job Offer and Family streams instead use the Commonwealth's skilled occupation list).

What makes it different

The NT is one of the few programs where the occupation list you're tested against depends on which stream you apply through — Priority Occupation applicants are gated by the NT Offshore Migration Occupation List, while Job Offer and Family stream applicants are not.

Both nt.gov.au and theterritory.com.au returned HTTP 403 to this network on 15 Sep 2026. The NT Government's public-facing migration content appears to now live at australiasnorthernterritory.com.au, which search results describe as official, but this session could not independently fetch and read it. The work-experience figures in particular disagree slightly between third-party sources — check the official page before relying on any number here.