Does subclass 887 need employer sponsorship, state nomination or a skills assessment in 2026?

No — subclass 887 turns on three facts: your eligible visa, two years' regional residence and 12 months' full-time regional work.

Published: 10 October 2026

No. The Skilled Regional visa (subclass 887) requires none of the three: no employer sponsorship, no state or territory nomination, and no skills assessment. According to the Department of Home Affairs' official Skilled Regional visa (subclass 887) page, as at the October 2026 official page, the criteria that decide a subclass 887 application are three factual tests — which eligible visa you held, where you lived, and the full-time work you did — together with the standard health, character and related checks. What follows is general information about how those criteria operate and is not advice on an individual case; the official page and the Migration Regulations 1994 are the authority, and anyone whose history is unusual should have their circumstances checked against the current legislation or by a registered professional.

What does the subclass 887 test, if not sponsorship or points?

The subclass 887 is a permanent visa for people who have already served out a regional provisional visa. It is retrospective: it asks what actually happened during the two years you held an eligible visa, not what an employer or a state government is willing to offer you now.

There is no points test, no Expression of Interest, no invitation round and no occupation ceiling applied at the 887 stage. Clause 887.228 of the Migration Regulations 1994 does cap grants at a maximum number for the financial year set by ministerial written instrument, which is a queueing constraint rather than an eligibility criterion — it affects when a qualifying application can be granted, not whether it qualifies.

Test	Position for subclass 887
Employer sponsorship	Not required
State or territory nomination	Not required
Skills assessment	Not required
Points test	Not applied
Occupation	Any occupation counts, including work outside your nominated occupation
What is required	An eligible visa, 2 years' residence, and 12 months' full-time work in a specified regional area

Does the 887 require employer sponsorship?

No. The subclass 887 sits in a different family from the employer-nominated visas. The Department's page lists no sponsor, no approved nomination and no labour market testing.

The work test is a historical test about work you have already performed. The official page states that you must have worked full-time for at least 12 months, as the holder of one or more eligible visas, in the relevant regional area — and that you can work in your nominated occupation or any other occupation. The Department's Procedures Advice Manual 3 (PAM3) puts this in plain terms: there is no designated occupation restriction, and the employer's registered or head-office location does not determine where you worked. The usual place of work does.

One practical caveat: a job that is nominally based in a regional area but rarely performed there is a facts question, not a paperwork question. Department policy guidance (PAM3) indicates that decision-makers look at the reason for and frequency of travel away from the region — regular attendance at a Sydney head office for meetings or short training can still be consistent with working in the region, whereas work physically performed elsewhere generally is not.

Does the 887 require state or territory nomination?

No. Nomination matters only to the extent that it already happened, years earlier, on the provisional visa you held.

The official page draws the distinction this way:

if a state or territory government nominated you for your eligible visa, your residence and work must fall in a regional or low-population growth metropolitan area;
if a family member sponsored you for your eligible visa, your residence and work must fall in a designated area of Australia.

Which definition applies therefore depends on the basis on which your 489, 495, 496, 475 or 487 visa was granted. It is not a fresh choice, and you cannot switch between the two maps to make your history fit. Department policy guidance (PAM3) ties these definitions to the conditions attached to the provisional visa — condition 8539 pointing to the Schedule 6A item 6A1001 areas, and condition 8549 to the Schedule 6 item 6701 designated areas — with the applicable instrument being the one in force when the provisional visa was granted.

Does the 887 require a skills assessment?

No. A skills assessment is an upstream requirement for most points-tested and some employer-sponsored visas. The subclass 887 criteria contain no skills-assessing authority, no assessing body and no occupation-matching exercise.

This is the reason the 887 is often described as the least vocational of the skilled permanent visas: it rewards presence and work rather than occupational credentials. Consistent with that, the official page confirms that work in your nominated occupation or any other occupation satisfies the requirement. So a subclass 489 holder nominated as, say, an accountant can qualify for the 887 on the strength of full-time work in logistics, hospitality or any other lawful job, provided the hours and the location requirements are met.

Do you hold — or did you hold — an eligible visa?

This is the gateway test, and it is where most confusion with the 189 and 190 begins. The Department's page defines an eligible visa as:

a subclass 489, 495, 496, 475 or 487 visa, or
a Bridging visa A or Bridging visa B, after having made a valid application for a subclass 489, 495 or 487 visa.

The concession rules also extend this, for offshore lodgement during the concession period, to an eligible visa that expired during that period while the holder was outside Australia.

The person who must satisfy the primary criteria — the same person who must meet the work and residence requirements — must also have held a subclass 489, 495, 496, 475 or 487 visa for a total of two years before the 887 application is made, and must have been granted it either on the basis of satisfying the primary criteria or as the spouse or de facto partner of the person who did.

A subclass 491 is not an eligible visa for the 887.

Have you lived in the specified regional area for two years?

At the time you apply, you must have lived for a total of at least two years as the holder of one or more eligible visas in the relevant regional area.

The requirement is a total, not a continuous block. Accumulated periods count, and ordinary breaks for holidays or travel do not reset the clock provided the absence is consistent with continuing to live in the region. What matters is evidence: leases or property records, utility accounts, bank statements showing local spending, school or medical records, and a coherent address history covering the two years.

Have you worked full-time in the specified regional area for 12 months?

At the time you apply, you must have worked full-time for at least 12 months as the holder of one or more eligible visas, in the relevant regional area.

The official page defines full-time work as 35 hours per week and expressly allows you to combine work in concurrent part-time employment to reach it. Department policy guidance (PAM3) adds a policy floor — work of fewer than 30 hours a week is not treated as full time — but the 35-hour definition on the Department's page is the one to plan against.

The usual evidence pack is ATO records or income statements, superannuation records, payslips, contracts and an employer letter confirming hours, dates and work location. Where two jobs are combined, both employers' records are needed and the periods must overlap in a way that genuinely produces full-time hours.

What else is checked before a decision is made?

Three further groups of criteria operate alongside the residence and work tests.

Compliance with your eligible visa conditions. You, and any family member who held an eligible visa, must have complied with the conditions attached to your eligible visa when in Australia, and this requirement applies for the whole period you hold the visa(s). Clause 887.221 requires substantial compliance, and conditions 8539 and 8549 — the regional residence, work and study conditions — are the ones most often in issue. Working or living outside the applicable area without authority is a common way to fail this test even where the raw residence and work totals look sufficient.

Standard public interest criteria. You must have functional English at the time of decision, or have already paid the second instalment of the visa application charge on your eligible visa, or pay it when asked. You and any family members applying with you must meet the health requirement; because you were examined for the provisional visa, a further examination is usually unnecessary. You, and family members aged 16 years and over who apply for the visa with you, must meet the character requirement, and family members not accompanying you to Australia must also meet it. Applicants aged 18 or over must sign the Australian Values Statement. Any debt owed to the Australian Government by you or your family members, including those not applying, must be repaid or arrangements made.

Immigration history and location. The Department considers your immigration history, and a cancelled visa or a refused application can affect eligibility. Ordinarily you must be in Australia when you apply and when the visa is granted.

Where do the COVID-19 concessions change the numbers?

The Department's page sets out concessions for eligible subclass 887 applicants who lodge during the concession period, which is defined on the Department's visa concessions page.

Where you lodge during the concession period	Work required	Residence required
Inside Australia	9 months full-time	2 years
Outside Australia	9 months full-time	18 months

The table reflects the Department's own summary: the employment concession takes three months off the 12-month requirement for both groups, and the residence concession takes six months off the two-year requirement only for offshore lodgement. Both figures are expressed as a minimum, and for offshore lodgement a shorter period may apply if the Minister specifies one in a legislative instrument. Because the concession period is a defined window rather than a standing rule, check the Department's current concessions page before relying on either figure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a job offer to apply for the subclass 887?

No. The subclass 887 has no sponsorship, nomination or job-offer requirement. It is assessed on the full-time work you have already done in a specified regional area while holding an eligible visa.

Do I have to work in the occupation I nominated for my 489 or 487 visa?

No. The Department's official page states you can work in your nominated occupation or any other occupation. The test is about the hours, the duration and the location of the work, not its occupational classification.

Can two part-time jobs count towards the 12-month full-time requirement?

Yes, where the employment is concurrent. The official page defines full-time as 35 hours a week and allows you to combine work in concurrent part-time employment, so overlapping jobs that together reach 35 hours a week can qualify.

Why do people confuse the 887 with the 189 and 190?

Because all three are permanent skilled visas, but they test different things. The 189 and 190 involve an Expression of Interest, a points test and, for the 190, state nomination; the 887 involves none of these and instead tests an eligible visa, regional residence and regional work.

My employer is based in Sydney but I work in a regional town. Does that count?

The location of the employer is not determinative. Department policy guidance (PAM3) indicates that the usual place of work governs, and regular but secondary travel to a metropolitan office for meetings or short training does not by itself displace that — though the reason for and frequency of the travel are assessed case by case.

What is the most common reason a subclass 887 is refused?

Insufficient evidence of the two facts at the centre of the visa: two years' residence and 12 months' full-time work in the applicable regional area. Applying the wrong regional definition, because of how the provisional visa was granted, is a close second.