How to Fill Out and Submit a SkillSelect Expression of Interest (EOI)

To submit a SkillSelect Expression of Interest, create a free account at the SkillSelect portal, choose which points-tested skilled visa subclasses you want to be considered for, and fill in your personal, skills assessment, English test, education, and employment details exactly as they appear in your supporting documents. The EOI itself costs nothing and is used for three visas: the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), the Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190), and the Skilled Work Regional visa (subclass 491). You need at least 65 points on the migration points test to be eligible for an invitation, though competitive rounds routinely select well above that floor.¹

What to Have Ready Before You Open the Portal

SkillSelect does not accept document uploads. It only collects data. But every entry has to match a document you can produce later, so gather the underlying paperwork first and enter from it, not from memory.

Confirm Your Occupation Is on the Right List

Your occupation must appear on the skilled occupation list that matches the subclass you want. The Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List covers the 189, 190, and 491. The Short-term Skilled Occupation List and the Regional Occupation List cover only the 190 and 491. The combined list on the Department of Home Affairs website is searchable by title or ANZSCO code and shows which list each occupation falls under.² You will need the exact ANZSCO code for both your skills assessment and the EOI form.

A Valid Skills Assessment

Every EOI requires a completed skills assessment from the authority designated for your occupation — the Australian Computer Society for IT roles, Engineers Australia for engineering, and other bodies for trades, healthcare, accounting, teaching, and so on. The Department of Home Affairs website lists the designated authority for each ANZSCO code.³

A skills assessment is generally valid for three years from the date of issue. If the assessment document shows a shorter validity period, that shorter period applies; a longer stated period is still capped at three years for migration purposes.³ Because an EOI can sit in the pool for two years, timing matters: an assessment obtained too early may expire while you are still waiting for an invitation.

A Valid English Test Result

You also need a current English test result before you submit. IELTS (Academic or General Training) and PTE Academic are the most commonly used, though several others are accepted. Your test score maps to a points band:

Competent English is the minimum threshold for most skilled visas and is worth 0 points. For IELTS, that is at least 6 in each component.
Proficient English is worth 10 points. IELTS requires at least 7 in each component; PTE requires at least 58 (listening), 59 (reading), 69 (writing), and 76 (speaking).⁴
Superior English is worth 20 points and requires at least 8 in each IELTS component.

The result has to be within its validity window when you actually apply for the visa, not just when you submit the EOI. For tests taken on or after 7 August 2025, check the subclass-specific rules; results from tests taken before that date may remain valid until 6 August 2028 depending on the subclass.⁵

The Data You’ll Type In

Have the following in front of you when you start the form:

Passport number, country of issue, and expiry date.
Skills assessment reference number, assessed occupation, ANZSCO code, and date of issue.
English test report form number and each individual component score.
Degree certificates and transcripts for every post-secondary qualification (institution, level, field of study, dates).
Employment records: job title, employer name, whether the role was in your nominated occupation, and exact start and end dates for each position. Reference letters on company letterhead detailing duties, along with pay slips or tax records, are what you will need to back these entries up later.

Where Your Points Come From

The portal calculates your score automatically as you enter data. Because 65 is the floor rather than the competitive line, it helps to know which categories are doing the heavy lifting before you submit.

Age is the largest single block. Applicants aged 25 to 32 get 30 points. Those aged 18 to 24 or 33 to 39 get 25. Applicants aged 40 to 44 get 15. At 45, you are ineligible for the points-tested stream entirely.⁶

Work experience points count only time spent in your nominated occupation (or a closely related one) within the last ten years. Overseas experience is worth up to 15 points for eight or more years; Australian experience is worth up to 20 for eight or more years. There is a combined cap of 20 across both — you cannot stack them past that ceiling.⁶

Qualifications add points too: 20 for a doctorate, 15 for a bachelor’s degree. Australian study, specialist education, professional year completion, credentialled community language skills, and partner skills each add smaller amounts. State or territory nomination adds 5 points for a 190 and 15 for a 491, which is often enough to move a borderline score above the competitive cutoff.

Filling Out the Form

Go to the SkillSelect portal at skillselect.gov.au and create an account using a valid email address and a secure password. Once logged in, select the visa subclasses you want to be considered for. You can choose more than one in a single EOI if your occupation and circumstances qualify for each.

The form moves through screens, each covering a category of information:

Personal details: name, date of birth, citizenship, passport information.
Skills assessment: reference number, assessed occupation, ANZSCO code, and date of issue.
English language: test type, test report form number, date taken, and component scores.
Education: institution, qualification level, field of study, and dates attended.
Employment history: job title, employer, whether the role was in your nominated occupation, and exact start and end dates for each position.

Watch the points total as it updates in real time. If it looks lower than you expected, go back and check employment dates or qualification details before moving on. You can navigate freely between sections until you submit.

Submitting

Review the summary page carefully. Every field is editable up to the moment you submit, so fix anything wrong now. Once you submit, the portal generates your EOI identification number and sends a confirmation email to your registered address.¹ Keep that EOI ID; it is your reference for all future correspondence and portal access.

Submitting does not commit you to applying for a visa and does not cost anything. Your profile enters the selection pool and stays active for two years from the date of submission.⁷

If You Chose the 190 or 491, You Also Need State Nomination

An EOI alone is not enough for the subclass 190 or 491. You also need a nomination from an Australian state or territory government. Agencies can see completed EOIs in SkillSelect and may contact you, or you can apply directly to a state through its separate nomination process. Each state runs its own program with its own criteria, occupation lists, and application forms.⁸ If a nominating state or territory later withdraws the nomination after you have applied for the visa, that visa application becomes invalid.

What Happens After You Submit

The Department of Home Affairs runs invitation rounds periodically throughout the program year for the 189 and the family-sponsored stream of the 491. Subclass 190 invitations are issued when a state or territory nominates you and do not go through the general SkillSelect rounds.⁹ In each round, active EOIs are ranked by points score and selected from the top down until the available places are filled. Ties are broken by submission or last-update date, earliest first. Previous round results — minimum scores selected and invitations issued per occupation — are published on the department’s website and are the best guide to where the competitive line sits for your occupation.

If you are selected, you receive an Invitation to Apply and have 60 days to lodge a complete visa application online.¹ Miss that deadline and the invitation lapses; your EOI returns to the pool and can be selected again in a future round, assuming it has not expired.

Keep Your EOI Current

You can update your EOI at any time before receiving an invitation, and the system recalculates your points.⁷ The dangerous changes are the automatic ones. Crossing an age threshold — turning 33, for example — drops your age points from 30 to 25 without any action on your part. If your skills assessment or English test expires while your EOI is in the pool, the EOI is effectively ineligible for selection. The system does not send reminders, so track those expiry dates yourself.

If two years pass without an invitation, the EOI expires and you can submit a new one. There is no limit on resubmissions, but each new EOI carries a new submission date for tie-breaking purposes.

Enter Everything Accurately — PIC 4020

Public Interest Criterion 4020 applies to all points-tested skilled visas. If the Department of Home Affairs finds that you or a family member included in your application provided false or misleading information or bogus documents, the visa can be refused and you face a three-year ban from being granted any visa that includes PIC 4020 as a criterion, which covers nearly all skilled and family subclasses.¹⁰

If the department cannot be satisfied of your identity — because of a false passport or fundamentally inconsistent identity documents, for example — the ban period is ten years, with no discretionary waiver available.¹⁰ A case officer at the visa stage will compare your application documents against the data in your EOI. Overstated experience, inflated duties, or doctored reference letters caught at that comparison can carry consequences that reach years into the future. Enter your EOI data exactly as it appears in the documents you can actually produce.

1
Department of Home Affairs. SkillSelect Expression of Interest
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Department of Home Affairs. Skilled Occupation List
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Department of Home Affairs. Skills Assessment
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Department of Home Affairs. Proficient English
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Department of Home Affairs. English Language Visa Requirements
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Department of Home Affairs. Points Table for Skilled Independent Visa (Subclass 189)
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Department of Home Affairs. After You Submit Your Expression of Interest
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Department of Home Affairs. Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated Visa
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Department of Home Affairs. Invitation Rounds
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Department of Home Affairs. Providing Accurate Information