Subclass 190 Authorising Help in 2026: Form 956 and Form 956A Explained

If you want another person to deal with the Department of Home Affairs about your Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) application, there are two separate appointment forms, and picking the wrong one leaves the arrangement doing nothing. Form 956A appoints an authorised recipient — someone who receives your correspondence. Form 956 appoints a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person — someone who gives you immigration assistance. The Department of Home Affairs' Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) page directs applicants to these two forms for this purpose, and both are uploaded to ImmiAccount.

The rest of this page works through the distinction in the order the decision usually arises: which form does what, who is allowed on each, when the appointment starts, and how to end it.

What is the actual difference between Form 956 and Form 956A?

The difference is the activity you are authorising, not the person you are naming.

	Form 956	Form 956A
Official name	Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person	Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient
What it authorises	The person to provide immigration assistance	The person to receive documents and correspondence on your behalf relating to your visa matter
Who can be appointed	Only a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person	Anyone you choose
Why the restriction exists	Immigration assistance is a regulated activity	Receiving mail is not regulated
How to end it	Complete Form 956 again	Complete Form 956A again

The official 190 page lists these as two distinct nominations. Appointing someone to receive your letters does not, by itself, authorise that person to give immigration assistance, and the page does not treat a Form 956 appointment as a substitute for a Form 956A appointment. If you want one person doing both jobs, the safe reading of the page is that both appointments need to be in place.

This is general information rather than advice about your circumstances, and the Department of Home Affairs' published requirements govern.

Who is allowed on Form 956?

Only three categories, and the 190 page names them explicitly:

• a registered migration agent;
• a legal practitioner;
• an exempt person.

The page's position is that these are the only people who can help you with your application in the sense of providing immigration assistance. It also warns applicants to read the Department's "Who can help you with your application" material before paying someone. That sequencing is the practical point: the restriction bites on the immigration assistance a person gives you, not on who helps you informally.

Two of these categories appear earlier in the process. The 190 page says that if you need help with your Expression of Interest (EOI) in SkillSelect, you can use a registered migration agent or legal practitioner — it does not list exempt persons for EOI help.

Who is allowed on Form 956A?

Anyone. The 190 page states plainly that you can appoint anyone to receive documents on your behalf relating to your visa matter. There is no professional qualification, registration or relationship requirement for an authorised recipient, because receiving correspondence is not the regulated activity — giving immigration assistance is.

That makes Form 956A the form to use in ordinary, non-professional situations: a partner, a relative, or a friend who is helping you keep track of what the Department sends while you are travelling or hard to reach by email.

Does an authorised recipient also speak for me?

They receive; they do not advise in a regulated sense. A useful way to hold the two roles apart is to think about what lands in their hands:

• An authorised recipient gets correspondence about your visa matter — requests for further information, notifications, and the eventual outcome.
• A Form 956 appointee is the person who may lawfully provide immigration assistance in relation to the application.

For an applicant, the practical consequence is that the Department sends documents and correspondence about your visa matter to that person instead of to you. That is the reason to appoint someone you actually trust to open and forward things promptly, rather than someone who merely has a convenient postal address.

When do I lodge the form?

The 190 page places the "tell us you are getting help" instruction in the document-gathering stage, before you apply: it directs you to nominate someone to receive your correspondence using Form 956A, or to provide immigration assistance using Form 956, and to upload the forms to ImmiAccount. The appointment is not something you retro-fit after a decision is made.

It is also not something that stops being relevant once you have lodged. The page repeats the same pair of forms in its post-lodgement section for the opposite situation — when you no longer want someone to receive your correspondence or to provide immigration advice.

Two timing points from the 190 page are worth keeping in view, because they compress the window in which appointments matter:

• Once invited, you have 60 calendar days to apply for the visa, and the Department states it cannot extend this time.
• An invitation can arrive up to two years after you submit your EOI, and if you do not apply after two invitations, your EOI is removed from SkillSelect.

How do I change or end an appointment?

You complete the same form again. Form 956A is titled "Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient", so the one form both creates and ends the arrangement. For the assistance appointment, the 190 page directs you to complete Form 956. Either way, you upload the completed form to ImmiAccount rather than sending it separately.

This is the part applicants most often forget. Ending a professional relationship informally — by email, or simply by stopping contact — does not remove the appointment from the Department's records, and correspondence will keep going to the person still listed.

Where the forms fit in the wider 190 process

Assume an applicant has submitted an EOI in SkillSelect, reached the 65-point estimated threshold, and received a state or territory nomination and an invitation. At that point the 60-day clock starts, and the applicant has three separate decisions running in parallel: which documents to gather, who (if anyone) will assist, and who (if anyone) will receive correspondence. The forms belong to the second and third decisions, and neither one affects the eligibility criteria themselves — the applicant still has to meet the points score on the invitation and every other criterion, and still has to be under 45 at the time of invitation.

If the applicant's contact details change after lodgement — phone number, email, address or passport — the 190 page lists these among the changes you must notify, separately from the appointment forms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need either form if I am handling my 190 application myself?

No. Both forms are optional, and the 190 page presents them as things you complete if you are appointing someone. If you lodge and manage the application yourself in ImmiAccount, there is no appointment to record.

Can I appoint my brother on Form 956?

Only if he falls into one of the three categories the Department lists — registered migration agent, legal practitioner, or exempt person. Family relationship is not one of the categories. If you simply want your brother to receive your mail, the correct instrument is Form 956A, which the 190 page says can appoint anyone.

Can one person be both my authorised recipient and my migration agent?

Yes in principle, but the 190 page treats the two nominations separately, so the reliable approach is to have both appointments in place rather than assuming one form covers the other. Check the current Form 956 and Form 956A to see how the Department wants both roles recorded.

Does appointing someone mean the Department stops contacting me?

The form directs your correspondence to the appointed person for the visa matter concerned. It is not a way of handing over responsibility for the accuracy of the application — the 190 page separately requires applicants to provide accurate information and to notify mistakes using Form 1023.

What if my address or email changes after I appoint someone?

Notify the change through the Department's change-in-situation process. The 190 page lists changes to phone number, email, address and passport, changes to marital or de facto status, the birth of a child, and withdrawing the application as matters you must tell the Department about.

How do I take someone off my application?

Complete the form again: Form 956A to withdraw an authorised recipient, or Form 956 where the appointment concerns immigration assistance. Upload the completed form to ImmiAccount so the change is recorded against your application.

References

• Department of Home Affairs — Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190)
• Department of Home Affairs — Who can help you with your application (linked from the subclass 190 page)
• Department of Home Affairs — Authorised recipients (linked from the subclass 190 page)
• Department of Home Affairs — Form 956 Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person (linked from the subclass 190 page)
• Department of Home Affairs — Form 956A Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient (linked from the subclass 190 page)
• Department of Home Affairs — Applying online or on paper (ImmiAccount) (linked from the subclass 190 page)