190 Visa Invitation Rounds 2026: How State Nomination Rounds Work and What to Track

There's no single "190 visa invitation round." The federal SkillSelect portal issues invitations for the 189 visa on a quarterly schedule with published cutoff scores and dates. The 190 visa does not work this way.

State governments — not the Department of Home Affairs — control when 190 nominations are issued and to whom. Each state runs its own process, on its own timeline, with its own selection criteria. Understanding this is essential because the wait times, competitive thresholds, and tracking methods are completely different from state to state.

How Each State Issues 190 Invitations

New South Wales

NSW does not run invitation rounds in the traditional sense. State officials actively search the SkillSelect database on an ongoing basis and issue invitations directly to candidates whose profiles match current priorities. There is no fixed schedule, no announced cutoff score, and no public data on how many invitations were issued in a given period.

NSW applicants cannot know where they stand in any queue — because there is no queue. The practical implication is that applicants can sit in SkillSelect targeting NSW for 6, 12, or 18+ months without receiving an invitation. The state's selection logic is opaque by design. IT and accounting professionals with point scores in the 75–85 range have documented waits exceeding a year without any invitation, while candidates in shortage occupations may receive invitations faster.

Victoria

Victoria previously ran rolling ROI assessments and issued nominations on a continuous basis. However, the 2025–26 program exhausted its 2,700 places and closed to new ROIs on 28 April 2026. Victoria effectively ran its entire annual program within the first 10 months of the 2025–26 year.

The practical takeaway: when the Victorian program opens for 2026–27 (typically late July or early August), it should be treated as a competitive sprint. The program will likely close again within months. ROIs submitted in the first weeks after opening are assessed before ROIs submitted in March.

Queensland

Queensland implemented a new merit-based ROI system for 2025–26 and selects candidates in periodic intake rounds rather than continuously. The state does not publish a fixed round schedule, but Migration Queensland releases program updates when significant quota decisions are made or when rounds close.

Queensland's building and construction fast-track pathway (three months of onshore experience for 46 eligible ANZSCO codes) operates more continuously than the standard pathway, which requires nine months of residency and employment.

Western Australia

WA runs invitation rounds multiple times per year and publishes data on the last invited EOI by occupation. This is the most transparent state process — WA's published tables show which ANZSCO codes were invited in the most recent round and what points score the last-invited candidate held. This data is available on the Migration WA website and updated after each round.

For WA, tracking the published round results is the most reliable way to assess your competitive position. If your occupation has been invited in recent rounds at a points level you match or exceed, your candidacy is competitive. If your occupation hasn't appeared in recent rounds, that signals either saturation or that WA is not prioritizing that field in the current period.

South Australia, Tasmania, and ACT

SA and Tasmania run periodic intake rounds tied to their program calendars. SA's program typically opens in August each year; Tasmania's in July or August. Both states publish program opening announcements.

The ACT issues Canberra Matrix invitations in distinct rounds and publishes the minimum Matrix score required for each occupation group after each round. This data — while retrospective — gives ACT applicants the clearest picture of where thresholds actually sit in practice rather than in theory.

What Triggers a Nomination

State nominations are not triggered by time spent in the pool. They're triggered by one of the following:

1. Your profile matching a state's active selection priorities in a given round (NSW passive search, WA round)
2. Your ROI being assessed after submission with a sufficient priority score (Victoria's earnings-based system, Tasmania's Gold/Green/Orange tiering)
3. You meeting specific pathway criteria at the point of program opening (Queensland's nine-month threshold, SA's stream requirements)

Passively waiting for an invitation without actively managing the factors you can control — ensuring your EOI is current, updating it if your points change, ensuring your documents remain valid — is the most common reason applicants wait longer than necessary.

Document Validity During the Wait

One of the highest-risk elements of waiting for a state nomination is document expiry. Skills assessments, English language test results, and health clearances all have finite validity periods.

Most skills assessments are valid for three years from the date of issue. IELTS and PTE Academic scores are valid for three years. NSW adds a specific five-day margin requirement after visa lodgement.

If your skills assessment was completed two and a half years ago and you're still waiting for a NSW invitation, plan ahead. A skills assessment renewal is expensive and time-consuming. Letting one expire because you assumed the invitation would come before the deadline is a preventable mistake.

How to Maximize Your Invitation Probability

Run multiple state strategies simultaneously. There is no federal restriction on holding multiple active EOIs targeting different states. Lodge one EOI for NSW (if eligible), a separate ROI-linked EOI for Victoria, and a separate EOI for WA — running all three in parallel. If any state's program closes or your application is deprioritized, you have other active pathways.

Keep your EOI updated. SkillSelect gives you a "date of effect" on your EOI — the date your current points score was established. If you complete a new English test, gain additional work experience, or have other changes that affect your score, update your EOI immediately. Many states prioritize candidates based on their EOI date of effect as a tiebreaker.

Target the right state for your occupation. The most important variable is choosing states where your specific occupation is genuinely in demand, rather than defaulting to Victoria or NSW because they're large and well-known. A construction engineer targeting Tasmania or the NT may receive a nomination in months. The same engineer targeting NSW may wait years.

The Australia Skilled Nominated Visa (190) Guide provides the state-by-state invitation mechanics, what WA's published round data actually tells you, and the occupation-level analysis you need to identify which states are realistically offering invitations in your field right now.