Subclass 191 visa document checklist (Permanent Residence Skilled Regional)

The Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa (subclass 191) is a permanent visa for people who have held a subclass 491 or 494 visa for at least 3 years and lived, worked and studied in regional Australia. This checklist is a starting point as at November 2026; confirm each item on the Home Affairs subclass 191 page before lodging.

Streams

• Regional Provisional stream: for holders of a subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional) or subclass 494 (Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional) visa.
• Hong Kong stream: for Hong Kong or British National (Overseas) passport holders who have held an eligible subclass 457, 482 or 485 visa for at least 3 years and have been usually resident in a designated regional area for the 3 years before applying.

Key numbers (as at November 2026)

• Time on the eligible visa: at least 3 years before applying.
• Income: notices of assessment from the Australian Taxation Office for 3 income years out of the 5 years of the eligible visa. There is no minimum income requirement.
• Visa conditions: the applicant must have complied with the conditions of the eligible visa for the whole time they held it, including living, working and studying only in a designated regional area.
• Tax debts: any money owed to the ATO must be paid back, or an approved payment plan must be in place.

Documents

• Identity: passport bio page and national identity card, if any; evidence of any change of name
• Income: ATO notices of assessment for 3 income years of the eligible visa, and evidence that any ATO debt is paid or under an approved payment plan
• Regional residence: evidence of living in a designated regional area while holding the eligible visa, such as leases or rental agreements, utility bills showing the home address, school reports or title deeds
• Regional work: reference letters and payslips
• Regional study: school reports, academic transcripts or letters of completion
• Relationship history: marriage certificates, divorce documents, death certificates, separation documents or statutory declarations, if the applicant is or has been married, widowed, divorced or separated
• Character: Police certificates from each country where the applicant has spent a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16, including an Australian Federal Police check where it applies
• Health: Health examinations, when Home Affairs asks for them
• Partner: identity and character documents, and evidence of a genuine and continuing relationship, such as joint bank statements, joint bills, joint leases or mortgages and evidence of living at the same address
• Children: birth certificates or adoption papers; for a child under 18, Form 1229 or a statutory declaration from anyone with parental responsibility who is not coming; for a child over 18, evidence that they hold an eligible visa granted as a member of the applicant's family unit

Collect it with Immiluma

Build this checklist once as a visa template in Immiluma, or ask the assistant to draft it from this page. When a 491 or 494 client reaches 3 years, open the matter and the checklist goes to their portal. The client uploads notices of assessment and regional evidence against each item, and you review each document beside it. See all visa checklists.