The SkillSelect Expression of Interest: how to lodge it and how not to lose the visa with it

MARN 1576536

What the EOI is

SkillSelect is the Department's online system for the points-tested visas. An Expression of Interest is your entry in it: your occupation, your claimed points and the visas and states you are interested in. It is not an application, it costs nothing, and it has no legal effect until an invitation is issued on the strength of it. After that, everything in it becomes a claim you have to prove. The Department invites from it for the 189, and states and territories nominate from it for the 190 and 491.

Before you lodge

• A positive skills assessment for the occupation you will nominate, from the assessing authority for that occupation, valid at the date of invitation. The EOI asks for its reference number. Which authority, what it costs and how long it takes is on the skills assessment page.
• An English test result at the level you are claiming, with the test reference, or a passport that satisfies the requirement at the competent level. Claiming proficient or superior English without the result is claiming points you do not have.
• The facts for every other point: dates of birth, qualifications and the institution, employment start and end dates with the duties that match the occupation, a partner's skills assessment and English if those points are claimed, Australian study, a professional year, NAATI accreditation, regional study.
• A score worked out honestly first, with the points calculator, and an answer to whether it is competitive for your occupation from the rounds data.

What it asks

Identity and passport details; the visas you are interested in and, for the 190 and 491, the states; your nominated occupation and skills assessment; English; qualifications; employment history inside and outside Australia, with each role marked as at the required skill level or not; partner details and their claims; other points claims. It produces a points total and a date for each visa. You can save it part-finished and return, and you can edit it at any time before invitation. Every edit that changes the score resets the date of effect for that score, which matters in a tie.

Claiming points you can prove

The rule is simple and the breaches are common: claim only what you can evidence on the day of invitation. Employment counts only at the required skill level for your occupation, only after the date your assessing authority deems you skilled where it sets one, and only with references that match the dates and duties. A degree counts at the level the assessing authority or the Department recognises it, not the level the university calls it. A partner's points need their own assessment and English. An EOI that claims 85 and proves 75 is not granted at 75; it is refused, because the invitation was issued on a claim that was not true, and the charge is not refunded. Where the claim was knowingly wrong, PIC 4020 and its three-year exclusion follow.

One EOI or several

A single EOI can nominate the 189, the 190 and the 491 together and list any states. Many applicants also run separate EOIs: one per occupation where two assessments exist, or one per state where a state prefers to be the only one selected. Separate EOIs are permitted as long as each is true. What changes between them is strategy, not facts. States read the EOI as part of their own assessment, and an EOI that lists every state for a 190 reads differently to one that lists the state the person actually lives and works in.

Invitation rounds

For the 189 the Department runs rounds, now typically a few times a year, and invites the highest-ranked EOIs in each occupation down to a cut-off set by the places available. Ranking is by points, then by the date of effect, so an EOI that reached 85 points in March is invited before one that reached 85 in June. The number of invitations per round and the cut-off by occupation move, and the only way to know what is competitive is the published results, which are collected on the invitation rounds page. The minimum to be ranked is 65; the score that is invited is usually well above it.

State nomination

For the 190 and 491 the EOI is read by the state or territory you selected, but most states also require a registration of interest on their own portal, with their own criteria: occupation on their list, residence or a job offer in the state, minimum experience, sometimes a commitment to live there. Nomination adds 5 points for the 190 and 15 for the 491 and triggers the invitation. Each program's rules and current status are on the state nomination page; the EOI needs to match what you told the state.

After the invitation

An invitation gives you 60 days to lodge the visa application, with the charge, against the claims in the EOI as they stood at invitation. The EOI is frozen at that point; you cannot improve it. The application is where every claim is evidenced: the assessment, the English result, employment references, qualifications, the partner's documents, identity, health and character. If something cannot be evidenced the choice is to let the invitation lapse and correct the EOI, or to lodge and be refused. The invitation lapses after 60 days and the EOI returns to the pool, usually with the points corrected downward.

Keeping it current

An EOI lasts two years from lodgement and must be kept true throughout. A birthday that moves you into a lower age bracket, a new English result, a further year of experience, a partner's new assessment, a change of state: each is updated in the EOI, and each changes the date of effect for the new score. The Department does not update it for you, and an invitation issued on a score you no longer have is a refusal in waiting. A diary note at each date that changes a point is the simplest protection.

The mistakes

• Claiming employment that the assessing authority will not recognise as skilled, or that predates the date you were deemed skilled.
• Claiming English at a level the test result does not show in every component.
• Nominating an occupation that does not match the skills assessment held.
• Leaving an EOI unchanged after a birthday.
• Letting a skills assessment or English result expire before the invitation arrives.
• Lodging the visa inside the 60 days with evidence that does not match the EOI, rather than letting the invitation lapse.

Book a consultation — $330 inc. GST, credited

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Points and invitation rules are set by the Department of Home Affairs and change; the rounds page is dated. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.