For applicants who are qualified or have sufficient experience in an eligible occupation. See the Direct Entry Stream tab for specific requirements.
Transition Stream
For 457 visa or 482 TSS Visa holders who have worked for their nominating employer for a minimum of two or three years. See the Transition Stream tab for specific requirements.
Agreement Stream
For applicants who are sponsored by an employer under a labour agreement.
186 Visa holders can:
work in Australia indefinitely
study in Australia
travel to and from Australia for 5 years
enrol in Medicare (Australia’s public healthcare system)
sponsor your relatives to come to Australia
apply for Australian citizenship, if eligible
186 Visa General Eligibility
You might be eligible to apply for the 186 Permanent Visa if you have an Australian employer who is willing to sponsor you and meet the following requirements:
Sponsor
You must be nominated by a business in Australia before lodging your visa.
Experience
Applicants must have at least 3 years of work experience in the nominated occupation. Part-time work may be considered. Casual work will not be considered.
Age
The age limit is 45, unless exempt. See exemptions in specific stream tabs.
Employer Nomination
Applicants must be nominated by an Australian employer before applying for this visa and must apply within 6 months of the nomination being approved if the applications aren’t lodged together.
The visa cannot be granted if:
the nomination is withdrawn, or
the position is no longer available
Length of stay
This is a permanent visa, however, the 186 visa has a travel component that expires 5 years after the date of visa grant. After this time, applicants can apply for one of the below:
Australian Citizenship
Resident Return Visa
Speak to one of our registered migration agents to find out whether you may be eligible to apply for the Subclass 186 Visa.
You may be able to apply for Permanent Residency through the Direct Entry Stream if you meet the following requirements:
Experience
You must have at least 3 years of relevant work experience.
English
The primary applicant for the 186 Visa must have Competent English. You will need to take an English test unless one of the following applies:
you are a passport holder from Canada, Ireland, UK, USA or NZ
If you need to take an English test, you can take one of the below tests:
TEST
Required results
IELTS
Overall band score of at least 5.0 with a score of at least 4.5 in each of the test components.
OET
Score of at least 'B' in each of the four components.
TOEFL iBT
iBT total score of at least 35 with a score of at least 3 for each of the test components of listening and reading, and a score of at least 12 for each of the test components of speaking and writing.
PTE Academic
Academic overall test score of at least 36 with a score of at least 30 in each of the test components.
Cambridge
Overall test score of at least 154 with a score of at least 147 in each of the test components.
Don’t meet this requirement? Click here to increase your English score.
Age
You must be under 45 years of age when you apply for this visa.
You may be older than 45 years if you are:
nominated as an academic by an Australian University
nominated as a scientist, researcher or technical specialist by a Scientific Government Agency
You hold a New Zealand Subclass 444 or 461 Visa and have been working for your nominated employer for two years.
Health & Character
Meet the health and character requirements (Unless you are exempt). This requires police and medical checks.
Nomination
You must be nominated by an Australian employer and apply for the 186 visa within 6 months of the nomination being approved (If the visa and nomination applications were not lodged at the same time).
The visa will not be granted if the nomination is withdrawn. The Department does not link new nominations to existing visa applications.
You may be able to apply for Permanent Residency through the Transition Stream if you meet the following requirements:
Current Visa
You must hold one of the below visas to apply for the 186 Visa through the Transition Stream:
457 Visa
482 Visa
Experience
You must have been working full-time for your employer on your subclass 457 or subclass 482 visa for at least 3 years. Unless you held (or had applied for) a subclass 457 visa on 18 April 2017, then you only need to have been working for your employer for at least 2 years.
English
The primary applicant for the 186 Visa must have Competent English. You will need to take an English test unless you are a passport holder from Canada, Ireland, UK, USA or NZ.
TEST
Required results
IELTS
Overall band score of at least 5.0 with a score of at least 4.5 in each of the test components.
OET
Score of at least 'B' in each of the four components.
TOEFL iBT
iBT total score of at least 35 with a score of at least 3 for each of the test components of listening and reading, and a score of at least 12 for each of the test components of speaking and writing.
PTE Academic
Academic overall test score of at least 36 with a score of at least 30 in each of the test components.
Cambridge
Overall test score of at least 154 with a score of at least 147 in each of the test components.
Note: There is no longer a School English exemption for the 186 visa.
Age
You must be under 45 years of age when you apply for this visa. You may be older than 45 years if you:
held (or had applied for) a subclass 457 visa on 18 April 2017 — in this case, you can apply up to 50 years of age
are nominated as an academic by an Australian University
are nominated as a scientist, researcher or technical specialist by a Scientific Government Agency
are a medical practitioner who has worked in your position for at least 3 years as a 457 or 482 visa holder, and 2 of those years were in a regional area
have been working for your employer for 3 years on a 457 or 482 visa and you were earning at least the Fair Work High Income Threshold for each year of that period
Health & Character
Meet the health and character requirements (Unless you are exempt). This requires police and medical checks.
Nomination
You must be nominated by an Australian employer and apply for the 186 visa within 6 months of the nomination being approved.
Include your family in your 186 Visa
186 visa allows holders to include the below family members in their application:
Dependent children / step-children
Partner’s dependent child or children
Partner
Partners
Your married or de facto partner can be the same or opposite sex. Applicants must prove:
the relationship is genuine and continuing
you live together, or do not live separately on a permanent basis
your partner is at least 18 years of age when the application is lodged (there are some exceptions)
you are not related by family (if you are in a de facto relationship)
you and your partner have a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of all others
Children
To be eligible to be included or added to a 186 visa, a child must:
be your child or a stepchild from a current or a previous relationship (in certain circumstances)
not be married, engaged to be married, or have a de facto partner
be under 18 years of age, OR over 18 but not yet 23 and dependent on you or your partner, OR over 23 and unable to earn a living due to physical or cognitive limitations and dependent on you or your partner
English
Applicants over 18 must demonstrate Functional English. However, you can choose to pay an additional application fee to the department for family members who have less than functional English.
Age
Children 23 years and over cannot be included in your application (Unless there are exceptional circumstances).
Health & Character
All family members must meet the health and character requirements. All applicants over 16 must provide police clearances.
If you already hold a permanent 186 (ENS) Visa and you would like to bring your family to Australia, you will need to apply for one of the family visas.
Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme Visa Estimated Cost
Visa application fee estimator
This fee estimator will calculate your visa and nomination application charges. Professional fee not included.
Contact us for a personalised quote — the live calculator from the original PHP site has not been ported in this static rewrite.
