Please note that the information provided for skilled visas may be subject to change due to the Federal Budget announcements.
The Skilled Regional visa (subclass 887) is part of Australia’s General Skilled Migration (GSM) program.
What is the 887 Skilled Regional Visa?
The subclass 887 visa is designed to enable provisional GSM visa holders who have met certain residence and work requirement to apply for a permanent visa.
To stimulate settlement in regional or low growth metropolitan areas of Australia, subclass 887 visa applicants must have complied with a condition that they live and work or study in a specified regional area, while holding their provisional GSM visa.
The main features of this program are:
- It is an onshore application
- It is a permanent visa
- It has a low application fees (from $415)
- There is no minimum threshold of income to meet
- No nomination or sponsorship requirements
- No points requirements
- No age requirements
What are the eligibility requirements for the 887 visa?
The main eligibility requirement for the Skilled Regional visa (subclass 887) are:
- Applicants must be in Australia
- Applicants must hold one of the following visas at the time a subclass 887 visa application is made:
- subclass 489, 495, 496, 475 or 487 visa or
- Bridging visa A or Bridging visa B, after having made a valid application for a subclass 489, 495 or 487 visa
- Applicants must meet residence requirement:
- At the time of subclass 887 visa application an applicant has lived for a total of at least 2 years, as the holder of one of the above-mentioned visas, in:
- a regional or low-population growth metropolitan area if you are nominated by state, or
- a designated area of Australia if you are sponsored by your family
- At the time of subclass 887 visa application an applicant has lived for a total of at least 2 years, as the holder of one of the above-mentioned visas, in:
- Applicants must meet work requirement:
- At the time of visa application, an applicant must have worked full-time* for at least 12 months as the holder of one of the above-mentioned visas in regional or designated area of Australia
- Applicants must have functional English, IELTS average band score of at least 4.5, PTE Academic overall band score of at least 30
- Applicants must meet health requirement
- Applicants must meet character requirement
What is the processing time for the 887 visa?
Processing time for the Skilled Regional visa (subclass 887) ranges between 21 to 22 months. Information on current processing times can be found here.
