Tasmania’s skilled migration program reopened for new Registrations of Interest on 17 August 2026, with weekly invitation rounds starting 20 August. The state has 2,050 nomination places this year — 1,250 for the Tasmania 190 visa (permanent) and 800 for subclass 491 (provisional, regional) — but the priority scoring behind those places has changed meaningfully, including a tougher Gold pass standard and a large points boost for mid-tenure applicants.
If you’re planning a Tasmania 190 visa 2026 application, timing and strategy both matter more than usual this year.
Tasmania 190 Visa 2026: What Actually Reopened, and When
Migration Tasmania confirmed the Registration of Interest (ROI) Gateway reopened on 17 August 2026, with the first weekly invitation round following on 20 August 2026. Tasmania has been allocated 2,050 nomination places for the 2026–27 program year — 1,250 for the Tasmania 190 visa and 800 for subclass 491 — up from 1,850 places the year before.
The nomination application fee has also risen this year, to $387 ($425.70 including GST) — a real cost to factor into any Tasmania 190 visa 2026 budget.
But the bigger story for anyone already planning a Tasmania 190 visa 2026 application is what’s changed underneath the hood. Tasmania has rebuilt its priority attribute scoring system for 2026–27, and some of the changes are significant enough that a strategy built around last year’s rules could now fall short.
The Gold Pass Just Got Harder to Earn
Under the old settings, Tasmanian Skilled Employment (TSE) applicants could reach the top-priority Gold pass after nine months of qualifying employment and salary. From 2026–27, Gold now also requires genuine, consistent full-time work — at least 30 hours a week in a single job, every week, for the last six months. Hours from multiple part-time or casual jobs can no longer be combined to reach this threshold.
If your Gold-pass plan relied on stacking two part-time roles, it’s worth speaking to a migration professional about your options under the new settings.
A Welcome Change for Mid-Tenure Applicants
It’s not all tougher. If you’ve worked in a matching Tasmanian role for 9–12 months, your score under this band has jumped from 6 points to 25 points — a genuinely large increase that makes mid-tenure TSE applicants far more competitive than before.
New Points for Graduates in Study-Related (Not Just Study-Matching) Roles
Tasmanian Skilled Graduate applicants working in a role connected to — but not an exact match for — their qualification can now claim brand-new Orange-plus points worth up to 100 points, depending on how long they’ve worked in that role. This closes a gap that previously left many graduates in adjacent, related roles scoring lower than they arguably should have.
New Recognition for Tasmania-Only Residents
Anyone who has lived, studied and worked only in Tasmania — with no time spent living elsewhere in Australia — can now claim an extra 15 points across both the Skilled Graduate and Established Resident pathways.
Two Occupations to Watch: Massage Therapists and Motor Mechanics
From 1 December 2026, employment as a massage therapist will only count toward a matching skills assessment if it’s performed in a health, allied health, or aged/disability care setting. Similarly, motor mechanic and service technician roles will only be recognised where the employer’s main business is vehicle repair, with specific conditions for dealership and manufacturer-authorised roles.
If this applies to you as part of a Tasmania 190 visa 2026 plan, it’s worth reviewing your current employment setting well before December.
Tasmania 491 Nomination: The Overseas Invitation-Only Pathway Is Closed for the Whole Year
If you’re currently living overseas and were hoping for an invitation under Tasmania’s Overseas Skilled Occupation Profiles pathway, note that Migration Tasmania has confirmed no invitations will be issued in this pathway at all during 2026–27, reflecting a national shift toward prioritising onshore applicants.
Overseas health and education professionals with a genuine Tasmanian job offer can still apply through the separate Tasmania 190 visa 2026 overseas pathway, which remains open.
How to Actually Prepare a Competitive Tasmania 190 Visa 2026 Application
Meeting the minimum requirements gets your Registration of Interest into the pool — it doesn’t get you an invitation. With the priority scoring rebuilt this year, a competitive Tasmania 190 visa 2026 strategy generally means checking a few things before you submit, not after:
- Confirm your employment hours are structured correctly for the Tasmania 190 visa 2026 Gold pass. If you’re relying on the Gold pass, make sure your 30+ hours a week is coming from a single job, not combined across roles, and that you can evidence six full months of it.
- Recalculate your score under the new bands. The jump from 6 to 25 points for 9–12 month tenure, and the new Orange-plus points for related (not just matching) graduate roles, can meaningfully change where you sit compared to last year — even if nothing about your actual job has changed.
- Check your occupation against current settings, particularly if you work as a massage therapist or motor mechanic, given the tightened recognition rules taking effect from 1 December 2026.
- Don’t submit and forget. Because Tasmania issues invitations weekly and progressively across the year, timing your ROI submission relative to when places are likely to be available can matter as much as your raw score.
How Tasmania 190 Visa 2026 Fits Into the Wider Skilled Migration Picture
Tasmania is one of several state and territory nomination pathways operating alongside the national skilled migration system, and it’s worth remembering that a Tasmania 190 visa 2026 nomination isn’t assessed in isolation from that broader framework. The points test itself, English requirements, and skills assessment obligations all sit under the same national rules that apply regardless of which state nominates you — what changes state to state is the nomination criteria, occupation lists, and, as this year shows clearly, the priority scoring behind who actually gets invited.
For applicants who aren’t a strong fit for Tasmania’s specific priorities this year — perhaps because your occupation isn’t on its current lists, or your circumstances don’t align with the new scoring bands — it’s worth comparing against other state nomination programs or the non-nominated Subclass 189 pathway before committing time to a Tasmania-specific strategy.
What This Means for Your Tasmania 190 Visa 2026 Strategy
Meeting Tasmania’s published minimum requirements is the starting point, not a guarantee — nomination is competitive and allocation-limited, and Migration Tasmania makes the final call based on your overall priority score. If you registered interest under last year’s settings, it’s worth reviewing whether your application is still positioned as strongly as it could be under the new scoring, since the changes above could shift your competitiveness in either direction.
If you’re not sure how the 2026–27 changes affect your specific situation, a registered migration agent or immigration lawyer can help you work out where you stand and how to build the strongest possible application. You can also read our broader guide to Australia’s skilled migration points test for how state nomination fits into the wider picture.
For the current official figures, always check directly with Migration Tasmania before acting on any numbers in this article, since points values, fees, and allocations are reviewed periodically.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Tasmania’s 2026–27 skilled migration program open? The Registration of Interest Gateway reopened on 17 August 2026, with the first weekly invitation round on 20 August 2026.
How many nomination places does Tasmania have for 2026–27? 2,050 total — 1,250 for the Tasmania 190 visa and 800 for subclass 491.
Has anything changed about the Gold pass for skilled workers? Yes — from 2026–27, the Gold pass for the Tasmanian Skilled Employment pathway requires at least 30 hours per week of work in a single job, not combined across multiple jobs, for the past six months.
Can I still apply for a Tasmania 190 visa 2026 nomination from overseas? The invitation-only Overseas Skilled Occupation Profiles pathway is closed for all of 2026–27. Overseas applicants with a genuine Tasmanian job offer in health, allied health, or education may still be eligible under the separate overseas job-offer pathway.
If I meet the minimum requirements, am I guaranteed nomination? No. Meeting minimum requirements only allows you to register interest — nomination is competitive and based on your priority attribute score against the places available.
