How to Migrate to Australia from India

Australia accepts more than 190,000 migrants on permanent visas each year, and India is consistently among the top two or three source countries. Unlike the US, Australian permanent residency has no per-country annual cap — an Indian applicant with a strong points score competes in the same pool as everyone else. The trade-off is that the process is technical: the wrong occupation list, a weak skills assessment, or a single mistranslated document can delay an application by 6–18 months. This guide covers every major skilled migration pathway, how the points system works, and how to build a competitive profile before you lodge.

The main visa pathways for Indian applicants

Skilled migration to Australia runs through several distinct streams. Most Indian applicants will use one of these:

• Subclass 189 (Skilled Independent): Permanent residence from day one, with no employer or state sponsorship required. Your occupation must appear on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL), and you submit a competitive Expression of Interest (EOI) via SkillSelect. This is the most competitive route — only the highest-scoring candidates in each occupation pool receive invitations.
• Subclass 190 (Skilled Nominated): Permanent residence backed by a state or territory nomination. Adds 5 points to your score, which is enough to bridge the gap for many Indian applicants whose 189 score falls short of current cut-offs. Each state maintains its own occupation list and nomination criteria.
• Subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional, Provisional): Targets regional Australia and adds 15 points to your score — the most powerful points boost available short of having an employer offer. This is a temporary visa (5 years) with a direct pathway to permanent residence through the Subclass 191 after 3 years of living and working in a designated regional area.
• Employer-sponsored pathways: The Temporary Skill Shortage visa (Subclass 482) lets an Australian employer bring you over without relying on your personal points score. After 2–3 years, you may transition to the Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186) for permanent residence.
• Student-to-PR pathway: Completing a degree in Australia and gaining local work experience builds the skills assessment, Australian work history, and English scores needed for a competitive 189 or 190 EOI. Many Indian professionals who could not get an invitation offshore achieve it after 2–3 years of Australian study and work.

How the points test works — and what Indians typically score

The minimum to lodge an EOI is 65 points, but in competitive occupations — software engineering, accounting, civil engineering — recent SkillSelect rounds have invited candidates with 85–95+ points. Most Indian applicants with a postgraduate degree, solid English, and 5+ years of experience score in the 70–85 range:

• Age (maximum 30 points): You earn the full 30 points between ages 25 and 32. Points taper for those aged 33–44 and drop sharply over 45. Age is the one factor you cannot improve — if you are in your early 30s and seriously considering Australia, timing matters more than most people realise.
• English (maximum 20 points): Competent English (IELTS 6.0 in each band) is the minimum to lodge — it earns zero additional points. Proficient English (IELTS 7.0 in each band) earns 10 points. Superior English (IELTS 8.0 in each band) earns 20 points. Many Indian applicants score 7.0 overall but not 7.0 in every individual band — retaking IELTS or switching to PTE Academic to secure 7.0 or 8.0 across all four bands independently is often the highest-return action available.
• Skilled employment overseas (maximum 15 points): 5 points for 3–4 years, 10 points for 5–7 years, and 15 points for 8 or more years of experience in your nominated occupation. Work history must align precisely with your assessed ANZSCO code — vague job titles or roles that span multiple functions are scrutinised by assessors.
• Skilled employment in Australia (maximum 20 points): Even 1–2 years of Australian work experience earns 5–10 points — a meaningful reason many applicants use student or employer-sponsored visas to build local history before applying for PR.
• Education (maximum 20 points): A doctorate from an Australian institution earns 20 points. A bachelor's or master's degree earns 15 points whether from India or Australia, provided it is relevant to your assessed occupation. A postgraduate STEM qualification from an Australian institution earns an additional 10 specialty points on top.
• Other factors: A state or territory nomination adds 5 points (190) or 15 points (491). A credentialled community language (including many Indian languages) adds 5 points. Having a skilled partner also adds 5–10 points. These stack — a 491 nomination plus a skilled partner can add 20 points to an otherwise borderline profile.

Skills assessment — the step most Indian applicants underestimate

Before you can enter the SkillSelect pool, your skills must be assessed positively by the relevant assessing body for your occupation. The body, and what they require, depends on your field:

• IT professionals (ACS — Australian Computer Society): Requires degree transcripts, employment evidence, and a skills assessment against a specific ANZSCO code. You cannot apply as a generic "software engineer" — your role must match one precise code (e.g., 261313 Software Engineer vs. 261311 Analyst Programmer). Mismatches between your job description and the nominated code are the most common reason Indian IT applicants receive a non-positive outcome.
• Engineers (Engineers Australia): Uses the Migration Skills Assessment (MSA) pathway. Engineers Australia evaluates whether your degree and experience meet Australian engineering competencies. Indian engineering degrees from recognised universities are generally well regarded, but employment evidence must describe technical duties in detail.
• Accountants (CPA Australia, CAANZ, or IPA): The most straightforward route for Indian CA and MBA Finance holders. Transcripts must be certified copies, and employment evidence must specify accounting tasks rather than general business duties.
• Healthcare professionals (AHPRA, AMC): Doctors require AMC examinations for full registration, making the employer-sponsored pathway more practical initially. Nurses are assessed by AHPRA and often qualify for 190/491 nomination through state health departments, which actively recruit.
• All other occupations (VETASSESS or specialist bodies): Covers hundreds of roles from marketing managers to chefs to social workers. VETASSESS typically requires both a relevant qualification at AQF5 or above and at least one year of post-qualification employment in the nominated occupation within the past five years.

Skills assessments take 4–16 weeks depending on the body and the completeness of your submission. Incomplete applications — missing pay slips, imprecise duty descriptions, transcripts without certified translations — are returned for more information and add months of delay. Start this step 3–4 months before you intend to lodge an EOI.

State nomination — your route if your points need a boost

Each state and territory nominates candidates under the 190 and 491 programs using their own occupation lists and criteria. Applying to multiple states simultaneously, in parallel with your SkillSelect EOI, is standard practice:

• Victoria and New South Wales: Large, broad occupation lists covering tech, healthcare, engineering, trades, and hospitality. High applicant volumes mean expressions of interest queue for weeks to months before invitations are sent.
• South Australia and Tasmania: Smaller programs, often with faster processing, less competitive queues, and occasional targeted occupational draws. South Australia has specific streams for business owners and self-employed professionals.
• ACT and Northern Territory: Actively recruit for regional shortages, sometimes with lower cut-offs for in-demand occupations. Some NT streams are accessible to applicants who could not secure a 190 from larger states.
• Connection requirement: Most states require you to demonstrate genuine intent to live and work in that state — having lived, studied, or worked there, or having a job offer from a local employer. Victoria and NSW accept offshore applicants without a prior connection, but they are also the most competitive.

English test requirements for Australian migration

Unlike Canada, which accepts IELTS General Training for most immigration programs, Australia requires IELTS Academic — or equivalent academic-level tests including PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, or Cambridge C1 Advanced — for most skills assessments and visa applications. Test results must typically be less than 3 years old at the time of visa lodgement. The three benchmarks that determine both eligibility and points:

1. Competent English (IELTS 6.0 in each individual band): The baseline to lodge a skilled visa. This earns zero additional points — it is simply the floor. Many applicants have an IELTS overall band of 7.0 or 7.5 but one sub-band (writing or reading) at 6.5, which means they are at Competent, not Proficient level. Each band is scored independently.
2. Proficient English (IELTS 7.0 in each individual band): Earns 10 additional points. This is the most impactful single improvement most Indian applicants can make. The difference between 6.5 and 7.0 in the writing or reading band determines whether you earn 10 extra points — which can be the difference between waiting years and receiving an invitation in months.
3. Superior English (IELTS 8.0 in each individual band): Earns 20 additional points. Achievable for many Indian professionals who work and communicate in English daily but requires deliberate preparation. PTE Academic is often more predictable to score at this level — its algorithmic scoring is less variable than IELTS examiner marking.

When to hire a registered migration agent

In Australia, only MARA-registered migration agents (identifiable by a 7-digit MARA number) and Australian lawyers are legally permitted to give immigration advice for payment. Using unregistered agents is illegal and leaves you with no recourse if your application is mishandled. A registered agent adds genuine value in these situations:

• Your employment history is complex — multiple employers, gaps, self-employment, or roles that span more than one ANZSCO code and require a judgment call about which to nominate.
• Your skills assessment came back non-positive and you are preparing a review submission or re-lodgement with strengthened evidence.
• You have a prior visa refusal, a period of overstay, or a health condition that may require a waiver or additional medical evidence.
• You are weighing multiple visa pathways — 189 vs. 190 vs. 491 vs. 482-to-186 — and want a realistic assessment of your actual probability in each based on current invitation rounds.
• You are building a state nomination strategy across multiple states and need to understand which streams are realistically open to your occupation, location, and connection to that state.

A full-service registered migration agent for skilled visa work typically costs Rs 80,000–1,50,000 depending on complexity. For a decision that determines where you live for the next decade, hiring the right professional is not where to economise if your situation has any complexity.