190.215A in 2026: 491/494 Three-Year Holding Period for 190 Applications

If you hold — or your last substantive visa was — a Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) or a Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494), you must have held that visa for at least three years at the time you apply for the Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190). That is the requirement behind criterion 190.215A in Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994, and it is restated in plain terms on the Australian Department of Home Affairs page "Skilled Nominated visa (Subclass 190)", checked on 13 July 2026.

The rest of this article unpacks the two words in that sentence that decide most cases: who the clause catches, and when the three years is tested. It is general information about how the criterion is framed, not an assessment of any individual situation — state and territory nomination policies change, and the current Home Affairs page and the current legislative text remain the authority you should rely on.

Who does 190.215A actually apply to?

The official wording has two limbs, and you only need to fall into one of them:

You currently hold a subclass 491 or subclass 494 visa; or
Your last substantive visa held was a subclass 491 or subclass 494 visa.

The second limb is the one that surprises people. The Home Affairs page does not define "substantive visa"; it simply lists a substantive visa separately from Bridging visas A, B and C (subclasses 010, 020 and 030) for people who are in Australia at the time they apply, so the statutory definition must be checked in the Migration Act 1958 rather than assumed here. So if your 494 ceased and you now hold a bridging visa while something else is processed, your last substantive visa was still the 494 — the three-year rule still applies to you.

Assume an applicant whose 491 was granted on 1 March 2024 and ceases, and who moves onto a Bridging visa A while a separate matter is decided. Even though they are no longer "a 491 holder" on paper, the "last substantive visa held" limb keeps them inside 190.215A. This is a hypothetical used only to show how the clause is structured.

What exactly has to add up to three years?

The clause is written about that visa — you must have held the 491 or the 494 for at least three years. Read literally, it counts time spent holding the regional provisional visa itself, not the total time you have lived or worked in a regional area, and not time spent on other visa types before or after it.

One point is genuinely unclear on the face of the official wording: where a person has held a 491 and then a 494, the page refers to "that visa" without saying whether the two periods can be added together or must be three years on a single one of them. If that is your situation, treat it as a question to confirm against the current regulation text and the department's policy guidance rather than an assumption.

Why "at the time you apply" is the whole point of this rule

Most subclass 190 criteria are pinned to a specific moment, and 190.215A is one of the few pinned to lodgement. The Home Affairs page sets the three-year test at "the time you apply".

That timing choice has a practical consequence. Being invited to apply does not by itself satisfy the criterion: if you are invited at, say, two years and ten months into your 491, you still have to be at the three-year mark on the day the 190 application is lodged. The official page refers to a 60-day invitation period (in the context of skills assessments), and the department's PAM3-based procedure summary states that the application must be lodged within 60 days of the written invitation. If the remaining shortfall cannot be cleared inside that window, an invitation issued too early does not help.

The contrast is clearer when the criteria are lined up side by side:

Requirement	Point in time it is tested	What the official page says
Three-year holding of 491/494 (190.215A)	At the time you apply	"You must have held that visa for at least 3 years at the time you apply."
Age under 45	At invitation	You can still apply if you turn 45 after invitation; turning 45 after the EOI but before invitation means no invitation
Competent English	At invitation	At least competent English at the time of invitation
Suitable skills assessment	Around invitation	Declared at the time of invitation; obtained in the 3 years before the invitation date, with delegates now accepting one obtained within the 60-day invitation period following Thapa
Points score	EOI and then assessment	EOI needs an indicative 65 or more; the invitation states the score the application must meet
Nomination not withdrawn (190.215)	Ongoing after lodgement	If the nominating agency withdraws after you apply, the application becomes invalid
Onshore visa status	At the time you apply	A substantive visa, or Bridging visa A, B or C

So the sequence that matters is: EOI → state or territory nomination → invitation → lodgement. The three-year clock is read at the last of those steps, while age, English and the skills assessment are read earlier, at invitation.

Does 190.215A replace what the states require?

No — they are separate layers. The three-year holding period is a Commonwealth visa criterion attached to the 190 application itself. On top of it, you must be nominated by an Australian state or territory government agency, and the Home Affairs page states plainly that every agency has its own criteria for deciding who it will nominate.

That distinction matters for planning. Clearing 190.215A does not mean a state will nominate you, and a state nomination does not override 190.215A. The Home Affairs page also warns that if the nominating agency withdraws your nomination after you have applied, the application becomes invalid — so the nomination has to survive the whole assessment, not just the invitation stage.

Is there an exemption to the three-year rule?

The Home Affairs page states the requirement without listing any exemption. Clause 190.215A of the Migration Regulations 1994 is framed as applying unless specific exceptions are met, but neither the Department's subclass 190 page nor the clause as reproduced sets out what those exceptions are. Because this is a regulation-level detail that the official visa page does not spell out, treat any claimed exemption as unverified until you can point to the current clause in the legislative text or current departmental policy.

A related caution: do not read the 491/494 to 190 route as the only option, or as one that is always open. This article covers only what the subclass 190 page says about 190.215A; other regional pathways and their own criteria are outside its scope, and regional provisional visas have their own permanent-residence arrangements that are not described on this page.

Frequently asked questions

Does the three-year rule still apply if I am no longer on a 491 or 494?

Yes, if your last substantive visa was one of them. The official wording covers both current holders and people whose most recent substantive visa was a 491 or 494, so moving onto a bridging visa does not take you outside the rule.

When exactly must I reach the three-year mark?

At the time you lodge the subclass 190 application. The Home Affairs page ties the requirement to the moment of application, not to the date you submitted your EOI or the date you were invited.

Does time spent on a bridging visa count toward the three years?

Not according to the way the clause is written. It requires you to have held the 491 or 494 visa itself for at least three years, and a bridging visa is listed separately from substantive visas on the same page.

Can I be invited to apply before I reach three years?

Nothing on the official page says an invitation is blocked before that point, but an invitation does not satisfy the criterion on its own. If the remaining shortfall runs past the lodgement deadline, an early invitation does not solve the problem.

Are there any exemptions to 190.215A?

The Home Affairs page states the requirement without listing exemptions, while clause 190.215A of the Migration Regulations 1994 refers to specific exceptions that are not set out on the visa page. Until an exemption appears in the current legislative text or current departmental policy, assume the three-year requirement applies.

Is the three-year period the same as a state nomination requirement?

No. The three-year holding period is a visa criterion for the 190 application, while state and territory agencies each set their own nomination criteria. You need both, and a nomination can still be withdrawn after lodgement, which would make the application invalid.