Permanent visa for skilled workers nominated by an Australian employer
Direct Entry is the most common path under the 186 for skilled workers who haven't previously worked in Australia on a sponsored temporary visa. It's open to offshore applicants, and to onshore applicants who don't meet the TRT 2-year work-history rule.
Eligibility turns on five tests. The nominated occupation has to be on the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). You need a positive skills assessment. You need at least 3 years of relevant work experience. You have to be under 45 when the application is lodged (with limited exemptions). And you have to demonstrate Competent English.
The sponsoring employer has to be an Australian business actively and lawfully operating in Australia. The visa application has to be lodged within 6 months of the nomination being approved. Miss that window and the nomination can't be linked to a new application.
These are the published requirements for the 186. Check each one applies to your situation.
The Department of Home Affairs consolidated the earlier occupation lists into one: the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL). The CSOL is what Direct Entry runs on now.
A lot of online guidance still references the older names: the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) or the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL). Those refer to the previous regime. Older migration-agent articles, forum threads, and pre-reform official material can all sound authoritative while quoting lists that no longer apply.
The list that applies to your nomination is the CSOL version in effect on the day the sponsor lodges the nomination. If you're reading any guide that still talks about MLTSSL or STSOL, treat it as legacy content.
Both exemption frameworks exist for the 186, but they only partly overlap. It's a common trap.
Academics at Academic Level A are exempt from the skills assessment, but they are NOT exempt from the under-45 age cap. The academic age exemption only starts at Level B.
Scientists nominated by an Australian government scientific agency are exempt from the skills assessment whatever their ANZSCO level. For the age exemption, they have to specifically be at ANZSCO skill level 1 or 2, AND nominated by a Federal, State, or Territory science agency or an Australian university.
Subclass 444 and 461 visa holders who have worked for the same employer for the right period are exempt from both rules. But the exact wording of the carve-out is slightly different in each rule.
If you're relying on an exemption, check the specific wording for each rule. Don't assume that being exempt from one carries through to the other.
Older versions of the 186 TRT stream let some applicants skip the Competent English test. A high enough salary or certain occupations meant you didn't have to sit one.
That changed on 16 November 2019. The exemption was removed.
From that date, every TRT applicant has to demonstrate Competent English on an approved test, or qualify as a passport holder from a country whose nationals are exempt.
A 482 holder who has worked in Australia for years and built a life here can't skip this on the basis of tenure or salary. The test is required. Build it into your timeline early, because the slot at a centre-based test can take weeks to book.
For Direct Entry and TRT, the visa application has to be lodged within 6 months of the day the employer's nomination is approved.
If 6 months elapse and you haven't lodged the visa, the nomination is no longer linkable to a new application. IMMI can't link a fresh nomination to an existing visa application either.
So if anything changes during that window (a new role, a new sponsor, a new occupation), the usual fix is to withdraw the existing application and start over with a new nomination.
The cleanest way to avoid this trap is to time the nomination and the visa application close together. Many applicants lodge them at the same time, which is allowed for Direct Entry and TRT.
