Immigrating to Australia: Here Is a List of Documents Required for the Australian Working Visa

If you're immigrating to Australia for work, the documents you need fall into two groups: documents commonly required across skilled visa applications, and evidence specific to your particular visa subclass. The core list can include your passport, English-language evidence, employment and education records, and health and character documents. Depending on the visa and occupation, you may also need a skills assessment.

Below is the full breakdown for the three most common skilled work pathways to Australia, including subclass 482, 189, and 190, so you know exactly what to gather before you start.

1. If you already have a job offer, you're likely looking at the 482.
2. If you're applying independently based on your own skills and points, it's 189 or 190. The difference between those two usually comes down to whether you need (or want) a state to nominate you.

The document lists overlap a lot across all three, but there are real differences, covered below.

These form the core of almost every Australian skilled visa application, regardless of subclass.

What's Different for the Subclass 482 (Employer-Sponsored)

Because the Skills in Demand visa is employer-sponsored, your application is linked to an employer's sponsorship and nomination. Depending on the stream and situation, the application may involve evidence relating to:

• the nominated occupation,
• position,
• employer,
• qualifications,
• skills, and
• relevant work experience. 

Some 482 applicants must also complete a mandatory skills assessment, depending on their occupation and circumstances. Where a skills assessment is not mandatory, you may still need other evidence showing that you have the relevant skills, qualifications and employment background.

What's Different for the Subclass 189 and 190 (Points-Tested)

These are self-driven applications, so along with the documents above, you'll need evidence to support your points claims:

• Copy of your submitted Expression of Interest (EOI) from SkillSelect
• Invitation to Apply (ITA) letter from the Department of Home Affairs - you'll have 60 days from this point to lodge your full application
• Proof of age, since applicants must generally be under 45 at the time of invitation
• Evidence for any additional points claims - Australian study requirement documents, regional study evidence, a partner's skills assessment and English results (if claiming partner points), a single applicant declaration (if claiming points for not having a partner), or NAATI credentials for community language points

The 190 additionally requires:

State or territory nomination approval, since this visa can't be lodged without it

Family Member Documents

If you're including a spouse, de facto partner, or dependent children in your application:

• Passport and birth certificate for each family member
• Marriage certificate, or evidence of a de facto relationship - joint bank statements, a joint lease, statutory declarations, shared address history
• Evidence of functional English for an adult dependent partner, where required, or evidence relating to any applicable additional visa charge.
• Health examinations for every included family member
• Police clearances for family members aged 16 and over
• For dependent children aged 18–23, additional evidence of financial dependency

• Weak or vague reference letters. A letter that doesn't specify dates, duties, and hours worked gives an assessor nothing to verify your points claim against.
• Expired skills assessments. Check the validity period before you lodge. The applicable validity rules depend on the visa, occupation and assessing authority.
• Missing police clearances. Applicants often provide a clearance from their home country and forget one from a place they lived and worked for over a year.
• Inconsistent dates. If your EOI states you worked somewhere from January to December, your reference letter needs to match exactly. Mismatches between documents are a common reason for scrutiny or refusal.
• Assuming the visa subclasses share identical requirements. They overlap, but a 482 application built like a 189 application, or vice versa, will be missing pieces specific to that pathway.

This varies enormously depending on your situation, but the slowest-moving pieces are usually:

• Skills assessments, which can take different amounts of time depending on the assessing authority and occupation
• Police clearances from countries you've since left, which sometimes require mailing physical documents internationally
• Employer reference letters, especially from past employers who are slow to respond or no longer easy to reach

Start with these three first. Passport scans and photographs can wait until the end.

Getting the wrong document, or the right document with a small gap in it, is enough to stall an Australian visa application for months. Globeia helps applicants build a complete, consistent file before lodging.

We can help you:

• Identify the right visa subclass for your situation
• Organize and check your skills assessment, employment evidence, and education documents
• Arrange certified translations where required
• Coordinate police clearances across multiple countries
• Prepare a decision-ready application file

Contact Globeia to get your Australian work visa documents in order.