What it is
The points test decides how applicants are ranked against each other inside SkillSelect for three visas: the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), the Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) and the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491). Its legal home is Schedule 6D of the Migration Regulations 1994, applied through regulation 2.26AC. Schedule 6D sets out fourteen Parts, one per factor: age, English, overseas employment, Australian employment, an aggregation rule for employment, professional year, educational qualifications, specialist education, Australian study, community language, regional study, partner qualifications, State or Territory nomination, and designated regional area nomination or sponsorship. Every point claimed has to trace back to one of these Parts.
How it works in practice
Age rewards the middle of a working career most: the top band sits in the mid twenties to early thirties, with lower bands either side and nothing from the mid forties on. English has only two scoring bands. The higher band, superior English, is worth double the band below it, proficient English. The base level needed to be eligible at all earns no points here, because eligibility and scoring are separate questions.
Skilled employment is split into overseas experience and Australian experience, each scored in its own Part across ascending time bands. Applicants often assume the two simply add together. They do not. Part 6D.5 caps the combined total, so once the two figures would exceed that cap, the Minister applies the capped figure instead of the sum. Only one number counts for employment, not two stacked ones.
Educational qualifications scale by level: doctorate above bachelor degree, above diploma or trade qualification, with a smaller allowance for a specialist qualification, for meeting the Australian study requirement, for a credentialled community language qualification (the NAATI pathway), and for study at a designated regional campus.
Partner qualifications are where the framework surprises people. An applicant with no partner, or whose partner already holds Australian permanent residence or citizenship, scores the same as an applicant whose partner is independently skilled, English proficient and holds a suitable skills assessment. A partner who clears only the English threshold, and nothing else, scores lower than either of those two positions. Adding a partner’s occupation to a case is not automatically worth pursuing for points alone.
Nomination brings state and territory governments into the score itself: a subclass 190 nomination adds a fixed bonus, and a regional nomination or family sponsorship attached to a subclass 491 adds a larger one, on top of the other Parts.
Regulation 2.26AC also carries a rule that is easy to miss. Within a single Part, the Minister gives points for the highest scoring qualification met, not for every qualification that happens to be true at once. Meeting two criteria in the same Part is not two lots of points.
Pass mark vs invitation reality
Two different numbers get confused constantly. The first is a minimum threshold needed before an Expression of Interest can even be submitted, set under the framework and published on the current Home Affairs points calculator. It is not restated here as a fixed figure because settings of this kind are reviewed and can change. The second is what actually happens inside SkillSelect: applicants are ranked against others who have nominated the same occupation, and invitations are issued in rounds up to ceilings set independently of the points test itself. Clearing the minimum threshold is the entry requirement for the process, not a description of where invitations land in a given round. A Registered Migration Agent checks the current threshold and the current state of invitation activity for the relevant occupation before forming a view of where a client’s score sits, because both move over time.
How an agent approaches it
The questions a Registered Migration Agent works through when the points test is in play: Which Part does each piece of claimed evidence actually belong to, and is it already the highest scoring item available in that Part? Is the employment being claimed overseas, Australian, or a mix that will be capped once combined? Does the assessing authority’s own definition of a closely related occupation match what is being claimed, rather than a looser reading of a job title? If a partner is being added to the application, does the marginal points gain justify the extra assessment and evidence burden, given that having no partner scores the same as a fully qualifying one? Are the English test results, skills assessment and any nomination still current at the point that matters under the regulation, which is the time of invitation, not the time the Expression of Interest was first submitted? And is a regional or state pathway being chosen for the points bonus alone, without weighing the separate residence or work obligations that come attached to it?
What typically goes wrong
The most common miscount is adding overseas and Australian employment together without applying the combined cap in Part 6D.5. Close behind it is claiming two qualifications inside one Part, a diploma and a degree, for example, expecting both to score, when only the higher one is counted. A third pattern is treating “closely related occupation” generously, when the relevant assessing authority applies its own narrower test. A fourth is assuming a partner always adds points, without checking whether the gain over the no partner position is worth the extra assessment. The last, and often the most costly, is letting evidence go stale: an English test, a skills assessment or a nomination that was current at Expression of Interest stage but has lapsed by the time an invitation arrives, at which point it is measured against the schedule as it stands then, not as it stood at lodgement.
Common questions
Does meeting the minimum points score mean an Expression of Interest will be invited?
No. The minimum score is the threshold to submit an Expression of Interest under the framework in Schedule 6D of the Migration Regulations 1994. Invitations are issued separately, ranked against other applicants in the same occupation and subject to ceilings that operate independently of the points test itself.
Can overseas and Australian work experience points be added together without limit?
No. Regulation 2.26AC and Part 6D.5 of Schedule 6D cap the combined score for overseas and Australian skilled employment experience. Once the two figures would add to more than the cap, the capped figure applies instead of the sum.
Does adding a partner to an application always increase the total score?
Not necessarily. Under Part 6D.11, an applicant with no partner, or a partner who already holds Australian permanent residence or citizenship, scores the same as an applicant with a fully skilled and English proficient partner. A partner who meets only the English requirement scores less than either of those positions.
Do all qualifications inside one category add extra points?
No. Regulation 2.26AC provides that within a single Part of Schedule 6D, only the highest scoring qualification an applicant meets is counted. Meeting more than one criterion in the same Part does not multiply the points awarded.
Sources
- Federal Register of Legislation: Migration Regulations 1994 (compilation)
- Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 6D text (PDF, Compilation No. 278)
- Migration Regulations 1994, regulation 2.26AC and Part 1 definitions (PDF, Compilation No. 278)
- Home Affairs: Points table for Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189)