Turning 45 and the skilled visa age limit: when age is measured, the exemptions, and the visas with no limit

MARN 1576536

One number, different moments

Since 1 July 2017 the general skilled and employer-sponsored permanent visas have required the applicant to be under 45, and the criterion is written into each visa with its own time of assessment. The 189, 190 and 491 assess it at the time of invitation, because the applicant cannot lodge without one. The 186 and 494 assess it at the time of application, because there is no invitation. Each permits the applicant to be 45 or older by the time the visa is decided, which can be years later. A person planning around a forty-fifth birthday therefore asks one question for each visa: which date does the birthday have to fall after, and how do I bring that date forward.

The points-tested visas: at invitation

An applicant for the 189, 190 or 491 must be under 45 at the time the invitation to apply is issued. The expression of interest can be submitted at any age; an invitation is issued in a round for the 189 or on a state's nomination for the 190 and 491; and the visa application follows within sixty days of the invitation. An applicant invited on the day before their birthday lodges the application after it and meets the criterion. An applicant whose birthday arrives with the expression of interest uninvited cannot be invited, and the expression is no longer valid for those visas. The timing of rounds and of state nominations is outside the applicant's control, which is why the last months are planned with the state programmes' calendars in view. The SkillSelect guide covers the mechanics.

The points that fall away

The age points are at their highest from 25 to 32, lower from 33 to 39, lower again from 40 to 44, and zero from 45. An applicant who turns 40 loses points that often decide an invitation, and an applicant who turns 45 loses the rest and the eligibility with it. The points are assessed at invitation, so a birthday before the invitation reduces the score the invitation is based on. A person at 44 with a score that was competitive at 39 is often no longer invited at all, and the question becomes a state nomination or an employer rather than the 189. The points calculator shows the bands.

The employer-sponsored permanent visas: at application

An applicant for the 186, in any stream, or for the 494, must be under 45 when the visa application is made, unless an exemption applies. The employer's nomination is a separate application and lodging it does not fix the applicant's age; the visa application, which can be lodged with or after the nomination, is the one that must precede the birthday. An applicant whose employer is slow to nominate, or whose nomination is lodged but not yet decided, lodges the visa application before the birthday and lets the nomination catch up, which the regulations permit. A 482 holder in the transition stream counts the two years with the sponsor against the birthday from the day the 482 was granted, and the ones who miss the date by months are the ones who started late.

The exemptions

• High income. For the 186 transition stream, an applicant whose earnings with the nominating employer were at or above the Fair Work high income threshold for each of the qualifying years. The threshold is indexed each July and is well above ordinary professional salaries.
• Academics. An applicant nominated for an academic position at an Australian university, at the levels the instrument specifies, under the direct entry or transition streams.
• Scientists, researchers and technical specialists nominated by Australian government scientific agencies.
• Regional medical practitioners. A medical practitioner who has worked in regional Australia for the qualifying period and is nominated in a regional position.
• Certain long-term 482 and legacy 457 holders, under transitional arrangements that applied to people who held or applied for a 457 before the 2017 changes, now largely exhausted.
• Subclass 444 and 461 holders who have worked for the nominating employer for the qualifying period, under the transition stream.

Each exemption has conditions in a legislative instrument, and the instrument is read before relying on one. The exemptions are for the employer-sponsored visas; there is no exemption from the age limit for the points-tested visas.

The last months before 45

1. Put the birthday against each visa's measuring date and work out which routes are still possible in the time.
2. For the points route, lodge or update the expression of interest for every subclass and every state at once, claim every point that can be evidenced, and apply directly to the states whose programmes are open, because a state nomination produces an invitation outside the rounds.
3. For the employer route, have the nomination lodged and lodge the visa application before the birthday, whether or not the nomination is decided; if the employer will not move in time, the route is the 482 first.
4. Check the exemptions honestly; most people do not meet one.
5. Do not let the English or the skills assessment expire while waiting, because an invitation that cannot be acted on is worse than none.

The visas with no age limit

• The 482 Skills in Demand, which has no age criterion in any stream, and which can be held and renewed past 45 and lead to the 186 where an exemption or a DAMA applies.
• The 191, which follows three years on a 491 or 494 with no age test, so that a person who obtained the 491 at 44 reaches permanent residence at 47 or 48.
• The partner, parent and child visas, which are family visas with no age criterion.
• The National Innovation visa, for people of exceptional achievement, with no age limit and a very high bar.
• Designated Area Migration Agreements, under which many regions allow the 482 and the 186 to applicants up to 50 or 55 in listed occupations, with the employer party to the agreement.
• The 407 and 408 and other temporary visas, which have no age limit but lead nowhere permanent.

After 45: the routes that remain

A person over 45 with an occupation in demand is on an employer route or a family route. The employer route is the 482, with the 186 at the end under an exemption or a DAMA, or the 494 only where an exemption applies; the planning is which exemption or which agreement, and whether the salary or the region fits. The family route is a partner visa where the relationship exists. The points route is closed, and no state, score or occupation reopens it. The honest position for most applicants over 45 is that permanent residence is available through a regional employer under a DAMA, or through a high salary, or not at all, and the consultation says which. The over-45 guide sets out each route, and the DAMA guide the agreements and their concessions.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. The age criteria of subclasses 189, 190, 491, 186 and 494 in Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994, the age points in Schedule 6D, and the legislative instruments specifying the age exemptions for the employer-sponsored visas and the Designated Area Migration Agreements, as in force at the date above. 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.