South Australia
Migration Policy

To apply for this visa you must have a nomination from the Government of South Australia and meet all nomination requirements, as well as the Department of Home Affairs eligibility criteria.

To qualify for a South Australian state nomination, there are some key requirements that you must meet.

1. Residency Requirement

   1.1 State nomination is provided to skilled migrants who are intending to live and work in South Australia with a view to long-term settlement. This is very important to South Australian Case officer is to check your genuinity of settling down.

   1.2 If you are located offshore, there are 2 pathways for you through Highly Skilled and Talented stream and Offshore stream.

2. Age

   You must be under age of 45 at time of nomination

3. Occupation

   You must have an occupation on South Australia’s Skilled Occupation list and meet the eligibility requirement to each occupation. Occupations are not determined by a particular title of your job, it can be varied and you have more than one options for state nomination submission.

4. Skill Assessment

   you MUST have a valid and positive Skill Assessment from the relevant authority within 3 years from the application date and Skill Assessment must be for your nominated occupation. Each occupation has their own skill assessing authority, please refer to Department of Home Affair website for more information on Skill Assessments.

5. Work Experience

   5.1 Each Occupation has their own employment requirement, please refer to South Australia’s Skilled Occupation List for specific requirement of your occupation.

   Generally, skilled work experience must be undertaken post-course completion and is defined as a minimum of 20 hours per week or 40 hours per fortnight of paid employment in your nominated or closely related occupation (But if you apply 190 visa through SA graduate stream, long-term resident SA stream and outer regional SA stream, you must have 30 hours per week or 60 hours per fortnight.).

   5.2 For South Australian work experience, the employer must have a demonstrable presence in South Australia. Where the employer is located outside of South Australia, applicants must apply though the Talent and Innovator program. Work experience performed at a residential address or shared office space for a company located outside of South Australia will be assessed on a case by case basis. 

6. English

   Each occupation or each skilled migration stream will require different English level from the minimum requirement at Competent English (IELTS 6.0 all band and Overall or Equivalent) up to Superior English (IELTS 8.0 or equivalent).

   In general, if you are working in South Australia, you are required to have at least Competent English unless further requirements in your particular occupation.

   – Please be careful with English requirement specified in each occupation