SkillSelect Date of Effect and How to Lodge Your EOI for the 189 Visa

When two applicants hold identical point scores in SkillSelect, the system has to pick one. It does this using the "Date of Effect" — the exact timestamp when your Expression of Interest (EOI) reached its current point total. Earlier is better. A candidate who hit 90 points in January will be invited before a candidate who hit 90 points in April, all else being equal.

This mechanism sounds simple, but it has concrete consequences for how and when you should lodge your EOI, and when (or whether) you should update it. Getting this wrong — by submitting a speculative EOI early, then updating it when your real score is confirmed — means you forfeit months of queue position at your higher score.

What Is an Expression of Interest?

The EOI is not a visa application. It is a claim submitted through the Department of Home Affairs' SkillSelect system, asserting that you meet the eligibility criteria for one or more skilled visa subclasses (189, 190, 491). The system calculates an indicative points total based on what you report about your age, qualifications, work experience, English proficiency, and supplementary factors.

Submitting an EOI is free. It requires no document uploads at this stage. The EOI stays active in the pool for 24 months, after which it expires and must be resubmitted.

You are not applying for a visa when you lodge an EOI. No bridging visa is issued. Your visa status (if you are onshore) is unaffected.

How to Lodge an EOI in SkillSelect

1. Create an ImmiAccount at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au. This is the same account you will later use to lodge the actual visa application.

2. Access SkillSelect via your ImmiAccount. Select "Submit a new Expression of Interest."

3. Enter your details accurately. The system prompts for:

   • Personal information (passport, date of birth)
   • Nominated ANZSCO occupation code
   • English language test results (IELTS, PTE, TOEFL, OET, Cambridge C1)
   • Educational qualifications
   • Work experience — overseas and Australian, period by period
   • Skills assessment details (authority, assessment number, outcome date)
   • Supplementary point claims (NAATI, Professional Year, regional study, partner status)

4. Select which visa subclasses you are nominating for. You can tick 189, 190, and 491 on the same EOI, or lodge separate EOIs. Separate EOIs are generally advisable if you want to tailor different claims (e.g., willingness to live regionally for a 491 application) without creating conflicting signals on your 189 EOI.

5. Submit. Your EOI is assigned a reference number and enters the pool. The Date of Effect is set at this moment.

What the Date of Effect Is (and Is Not)

The Date of Effect is the date and time when your EOI achieved its current point score. It is not simply the date you first submitted your EOI.

If you submitted your EOI on 1 January with 80 points, then updated it on 1 March to reflect a new NAATI CCL result (adding 5 points to reach 85), your Date of Effect for 85 points is 1 March — not 1 January.

You moved to the back of the 85-point queue. All other applicants in your occupation who already held 85 points before 1 March are ahead of you.

What Resets Your Date of Effect

Any change that increases your point total resets the Date of Effect to the moment you make the update. Specific triggers:

• Uploading a new English test result with a higher score (e.g., moving from Proficient to Superior)
• Passing and entering a NAATI CCL result
• Completing a Professional Year and claiming those 5 points
• Crossing a new work experience threshold (e.g., reaching 8 years Australian experience for 20 points)
• Updating your age bracket (which reduces points — more on this below)
• Adding a partner skills claim you previously didn't include

If your points decrease — for example, you turn 33 and drop from 30 age points to 25 — SkillSelect resets your Date of Effect to the moment of the age reduction. You are now at the back of the 85-point (or wherever your new total sits) queue.

What Does NOT Reset Your Date of Effect

Updates that do not change your total points do not affect the Date of Effect:

• Correcting a passport number or name spelling
• Updating a phone number or email address
• Changing your employer name or ABN (while keeping the same employment dates and hours)
• Updating your residential address
• Changing the subclasses you are nominating for (189, 190, 491 selection)

These administrative changes are safe to make at any time.

The Strategic Implication: Submit Once, Correctly

The most common costly mistake is lodging an EOI before all point claims are provable, then updating it once the skills assessment arrives or the English test is sat.

If you submit at 75 points with a placeholder English score, then update to 85 points when your real IELTS result arrives two months later, you have lost two months of queue position at 85 points. For occupations where the cut-off fluctuates near 85, that two months can be the difference between receiving an invitation in a quarterly round and missing it.

The optimal sequence:

1. Get your skills assessment first — including waiting for any result letter that specifies the Skill Level Met Date (critical for ACS assessments)
2. Sit your English test and confirm you have reached the tier you are targeting (Superior if possible)
3. Confirm all other point claims are accurate and provable
4. Lodge your EOI once — with complete, accurate, defensible information

Submit at the highest point total you can genuinely prove, not the highest total you hope to achieve.

The 24-Month Expiry and Resubmission

EOIs expire after 24 months. If you have not received an invitation within that window — which is a real possibility for Tier 4 occupations at scores below 100 points — you will need to resubmit. The new EOI receives a new Date of Effect at the date of resubmission, which means further queue delay.

This underscores why applicants in Tier 4 occupations who cannot realistically reach 95+ points should seriously consider the 190 or 491 pathways concurrently, rather than cycling through expired 189 EOIs.

After You Lodge

Once your EOI is in the pool, you wait for a quarterly invitation round. Rounds are run approximately in February, May, August, and November. You will receive an email if invited. The invitation initiates a strict 60-calendar-day window to formally lodge the visa application — no extensions are possible under any circumstances.

For a full breakdown of points optimization, EOI timing strategy, and how to prepare the application documents so you don't get a Section 56 request after receiving your invitation, see the Australia Skilled Independent Visa (189) Guide.