Skill Select is a three-stage process that involves:
1. lodging EOI,
2. receiving an invitation to apply, and
3. Lodging a visa application.
The GSM visa program uses a point test system. Once you submit the EOI form, the system ranks your position according to your score and the date of effect. You can see a point summary after submitting the EOI, but you won’t be able to see your ranking position, as it changes all the time. Once you have submitted your EOI, it will be stored in the system and remain valid for two years unless you withdraw it or miss two invitations. Immigration Department will also remove your EOI if you are granted a permanent or provisional visa.
You won’t have a bridging visa for submitting an EOI, as it is not a visa application. So it is important to note that if you are onshore and have not received the invitation before your visa expires, you should try either to lodge a new visa application or depart Australia to avoid become unlawful.
You must meet the pass mark (currently 60 points) to be eligible to be invited to apply for a visa. Meeting the pass mark does not guarantee you an invitation to apply for a visa, as invitations are issued to the applicants with the highest points. Since July 2017, no invitation was issued to a candidate less than 65 points.
Immigration Department publishes the invitation results regularly on its website. It shows the number of invitations issued in a particular round and the lowest scoring points test mark that was invited for each visa subclass and certain highly competitive occupation such as Accountants, ICT Business and Systems Analyst and Software and Applications Programmers. This result will give you an indication of your prospect of receiving an invitation in future rounds. Please note this result does not include invitations issued for State and Territory Government nominated visa subclasses.
Currently, invitations for visa subclasses 189 (Independent Permanent), and 489 (Family Sponsored Provisional) are issued twice per month. State or territory governments can also issue an invitation if the applicant has been approved by the relevant state or territory nomination.
If a prospective GSM applicant is interested in making themselves available for state or territory nomination, they need to indicate this in their EOIs. The potential applicant can show their preference for a particular or any state and territory. An applicant can lodge the visa immediately after receiving the invitation.