This visa is a three year provisional visa for overseas students and certain visa holders who are unable to meet the criteria for a permanent skilled visa. The applicant will have the opportunity to apply for permanent residency after living in Australia for 2 years and working in a Specified Regional Area of Australia for 12 months.
This visas uses a points based test to select applicants with characteristics needed in the Australian labour market.
This visa requires applicants to be either sponsored by an eligible relative living in a designated are of Australia or nominated by a participating State or Territory government agency.
Eligibility
There are a number of requirements that must be satisfied in order to be granted a Skilled Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa (subclass 487)
Applicants must hold one of the following visas when they apply:
- A student visa
- A Skilled - Recognised Graduate Visa (subclass 476)
- A Skilled - Graduate visa (subclass 485)
- A Working Holiday visa (subclass 417)
- An Occupational Trainee visa (subclass 422)
- A Trade Skills Training visa (subclass 417)
Applicants must:
- be under 45 years of age
- have good English language skills
- have the skills and qualifications that meet the Australian standard for an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) and your nominated occupation is classified as either:
- A 60 point occupation or
- A 50 point occupation
Other requirements are as follows:
- The applicant must have met the two year requirement in the last 6 months with Australian qualifications that are directly connected to their chosen occupation; or
- If the applicant holds a Skilled - Graduate (subclass 284) visa or a Skilled - Recognised Graduate (subclass 476) visa, the selected occupation must be directly linked to the study used to obtain that visa; or
- If the applicant holds a Trade Skills Training (subclass 471) visa, the apprenticeship for which the visa was granted must be completed and directly related to the nominated occupation.
- If the applicant holds a Working Holiday visa (subclass 417), the applicant must have held that visa for at least 6 months.
- Applicants must also have an appropriate skills assessment in the chosen occupation and meet the points based threshold of 100 points. In addition, they must satisfy all health and character requirements.
