Western Australia State Nomination Program

Western Australian government has announced its migration planning levels for the year 2024-2025. The state has 3,000 allocations reserved for the Skilled Nominated (SC 190) visa and 2,000 allocations for Skilled Work Regional (SC 491) visa. Making the total number of allocations 5,000 for the year 2024-2025. Invitation rounds will be held the first week of each month starting from the first week of August.

If you want to migrate to a Western Australia (WA) through the state nomination program you need to be invited by the Western Australian government. To get invited to the state, you should have initially made an Expression of Interest (EOI) which has to be accepted by the Western Australian government.

Western Australia invites applicants who are eligible on the basis of set standards and criteria apart from the general eligibility criteria set out by the Department of Home Affairs. The WA government will also continue to waive the AUD 200 for the nomination application.

The points system is designed to assess the eligibility of the applicants who are applying for the state nomination program. The respective states and territories use this system to ensure that the skilled migrants that they invite would contribute effectively to the particular state’s economy. Among many factors, points generally will be awarded for the applicant’s age, English language proficiency, skilled employment experience and educational qualifications. The department of Home Affairs has a table of criteria for which points are awarded. You can access it here.

The minimum points required to be eligible for an Expression of Interest (EOI) is 65. Since the migration program is competitive, its recommended to upskill and improve your points to increase the chances of receiving an invitation. One of the benefits of applying through the state nomination program than the skilled independent visa is that, additional points are awarded by the Western Australian state government depending on the visa subclass that you have applied to.

• Skilled Nominated visa (SC 190 ) will receive an extra 5 points

• Skilled Work Regional (SC 491) will receive an extra 15 points

These points can be crucial and can increase the chances of you being invited to migrate.

The Western Australia has stream specific requirements. And its updated for each migration year. There are three streams and they are

1. General stream WASMOL Schedule 1

2. General stream WASMOL Schedule 2

3. Graduate stream

If you fulfill the criteria below you will be eligible under this stream:

• Have an occupation in the WASMOL Schedule 1 occupation list

• Have a positive skill assessment

• Fulfill the eligibility requirements set out by the department of home affairs

• Have competent English with at least 6.0 for each band for IELTS or any equivalent recognized tests

• Have at least 1 year of experience in the nominated (or closely related) occupation in or outside of Australia.

• Have a contract of employment for full time employment for at least 6 months from the date of application.

Things to consider

• If you have a passport from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, USA or Republic of Ireland then the English requirement is not necessary

• Your work experience must be experience that you gained after your qualification and you must have at least worked 20 hours a week.

• Contract of employment requirement is not a requirement for SC 491 visa applying through the General stream WASMOL Schedule 1

If you fulfill the criteria below you will be eligible under this stream:

• Have an occupation in the WASMOL Schedule 2 occupation list

• Have a positive skill assessment

• Fulfill the eligibility requirements set out by the department of home affairs

• Have competent English with at least 6.0 for each band for IELTS or any equivalent recognized tests

• Have a contract of employment for full-time employment for at least 6 months from the date of application.

Things to consider

• If you have a passport from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, USA or Republic of Ireland then the English requirement is not necessary

• Contract of employment is not a requirement for SC 491 applicants and for WA building and construction industry sector applicants.

If you fulfill the criteria below you will be eligible under the Graduate stream:

• Have an occupation in the Graduate stream occupation list

• Have a positive skill assessment

• Fulfill the eligibility requirements set out by the department of home affairs

• Have competent English with at least 6.0 for each band for IELTS or any equivalent recognized tests

• Meet the WA study requirements

Things to consider

• If the you have a passport from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, USA or Republic of Ireland then the English requirement is not necessary

• The WA study requirement has 5 components

  • Qualification: You must have at least 1 qualification, this can be a university and higher education qualification or a vocational education and training (VET) qualification at cert level III or above

  • Educational Institution: The educational institutions that you undertook your studies must be accredited during your studies.

  • Full time study: You will be considered to have full time studied depending on the modules a student undertakes for a semester.

  • Face to face: The mode of study must be on campus through face to face. You cannot have undertaken your studies online unless covid exemptions apply.

  • Two years of academic study: You must have studied for at least 2 years in completing one or more of the qualifications

The streams are distinct based on the eligibility criteria. Here is a summary of their distinction

• Work experience is not a requirement found in any other stream except the General stream WASMOL Schedule 1 where the requirement is that the applicant must have a year of experience in their nominated occupation.

• Having a fulltime employment contract in WA for a minimum of 6 months, is mandatory for the SC 190 visa applied through the General stream WASMOL Schedule 1 and General stream WASMOL Schedule 2. The employment contract is not essential for the Graduate stream.

• Meeting the Australian study requirement will get you 5 points, but its not mandatory to fulfill it. But fulfilling the WA study requirement is not mandatory for any of the streams except the Graduate stream.

Some states require applicants to fulfill residency requirements, but WA doesn’t have a residency requirement. WA accepts applicants in WA, interstate applicants as well as off shore applicants. WA like some other states have its own occupation list which is drafted based on the industries that are in priority and in demand. WA is one of the few states that has received higher number of allocations for the year 2024-25.

The CVSP is a program that supports Western Australian construction businesses to fill in occupational demands with a skilled workforce. This program will provide up to AUD 10,000 to support the skilled migration visa pathway by covering costs related to migration agent, visa application and relocation. This is available for employer sponsored visas, state nomination program visas and also the independent skilled migration visas.

Western Australia has been allocated 5,000 spots for the migration year 2024-2025. WA is one of the states with the highest number of allocations for the year 2024-2025. Western Australia is currently the fastest growing economy in Australia and has experienced significant labour shortages. WA is in a unique position when compared to other states as mentioned by the Premier of WA. In response to this , the WA government has brokered a deal to have extra 5,000 allocations for the Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMA) program. Bringing the total number of allocations for WA to 10,000. Considering that WA has extra allocation and the highest among all the states you will have a higher chances in getting PR.