Cyclopedia
The 189, 190 and 491 visa cyclopedia
180,651 Expressions of Interest were sitting in the subclass 189 pool at the August 2026 snapshot, and the median published score among them was 75 points. This library explains what figures like those mean — the three visas, the pool, the points test and the vocabulary. Every figure on this page is one month; the EOI Insights dashboard holds all 26 of them, for any occupation you choose, and every card and table below opens straight into it.
The pool as at August 2026
The subclass 189 submitted pool rose by 5,401 EOIs between July 2026 and August 2026, and is +29.4% against the same month a year earlier (+40,992 EOIs). Each card above opens the dashboard view that plots the same figure as a series, so you can see whether this month is a turn or a wobble.
Rising fastest over twelve months
- Carpenter +204.6%, now 1,182 EOIs
- Electrician (General) +194.2%, now 303 EOIs
- Painting Trades Worker +134.4%, now 1,348 EOIs
- Medical Practitioners nec +99.7%, now 575 EOIs
- Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teacher +97.3%, now 12,628 EOIs
Falling fastest over twelve months
- Solicitor −11.7%, now 680 EOIs
Rank every occupation by momentumsign inMomentum ranks the whole stream over 3, 6 or 12 months — these six are the top of that list.
Percentages are measured against the same occupation a year earlier, and only occupations holding at least 300 EOIs are ranked — below that a handful of lodgements swings the percentage far enough to be meaningless. What changed this month works through the movement in more detail, and is rewritten with every SkillSelect release.
Look up an occupation
Type an occupation name or ANZSCO code — “accountant”, or 221111.
Where the pool sits on points
SkillSelect publishes how many EOIs hold each score, but never in a form that answers the question people actually ask: how many are level with me or above me? This table does. The right-hand columns are cumulative from the top, so the row for your score is the size of the field ahead of you. In the dashboard, Points Ladder does the same thing for a single occupation and for every month at once.
The median published score in the 189 pool is 75 points. 54.3% of submitted EOIs — 95,169 of them — sit at 75 or above. Read that as a description of the pool, not as a cut-off: the Department has never published a score at which an invitation is guaranteed, and the legal minimum to lodge is a separate number again.
| Points | EOIs at this score | Share | At this score or above | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 105 | 70 | 0.0% | 70 | 0.0% |
| 100 | 1,849 | 1.1% | 1,919 | 1.1% |
| 95 | 5,651 | 3.2% | 7,570 | 4.3% |
| 90 | 12,365 | 7.1% | 19,935 | 11.4% |
| 85 | 18,679 | 10.7% | 38,614 | 22.0% |
| 80 | 23,473 | 13.4% | 62,087 | 35.4% |
| 75 | 33,082 | 18.9% | 95,169 | 54.3% |
| 70 | 32,852 | 18.7% | 128,021 | 73.0% |
| 65 | 29,415 | 16.8% | 157,436 | 89.8% |
| 60 | 10,805 | 6.2% | 168,241 | 96.0% |
| 55 | 5,163 | 2.9% | 173,404 | 98.9% |
| 50 | 1,607 | 0.9% | 175,011 | 99.8% |
| 45 | 273 | 0.2% | 175,284 | 100.0% |
Place your own score in this laddersign inPoints Ladder marks where a score sits among submitted and invited EOIs, month by month.
Bands below 45 points are omitted because almost every cell in them is suppressed. The percentages are shares of the 175,307 EOIs whose score is published; the remainder of the 180,651 in the pool sit in cells under 20, which the Department does not release. The points test article explains where the score comes from, and invitation rounds explains why a round result and a monthly snapshot are different numbers.
In the dashboard
Every figure above is a single month. The dashboard is the same data as a time series, with the stream already selected — Occupation Trends shows submitted EOI counts month by month for the occupations you pick, and it is the view the guest trial opens.
The guest trial covers subclasses 189 and 190 plus five occupations, including Accountant (General). Opening 491 asks you to sign in.
Four ways into the library
The articles below all describe the same statistics from different angles, and each one ends in the dashboard with the right stream already selected. Start wherever your question actually is.
Three visas, three separate pools
Subclass 189, the Skilled Independent visa, needs no nomination at all: it is one national pool ranked on points. Subclass 190, Skilled Nominated, requires a state or territory to nominate you, so every EOI in that pool records the jurisdiction it is aimed at. Subclass 491, Skilled Work Regional, is the regional stream, nominated by a state or sponsored by an eligible relative.
The published tables count the three separately, so a figure from one of them tells you nothing about the other two. A short 491 pool does not make 189 easy, and a busy 190 occupation may be quiet on 189. The side-by-side comparison explains how to read them together without mixing the numbers.
What the EOI pool actually is
An Expression of Interest is a form you lodge in SkillSelect. It is not a visa application, and lodging one gives you no status: a visa application only becomes possible after the Department invites the EOI. Each published month is a snapshot of the EOIs sitting in the pool on that date, rather than a count of the EOIs lodged during the month, which is where most confusion about SkillSelect statistics begins.
That distinction is why the headline number can fall while lodgements keep arriving, and why nothing here is a queue: EOIs are ranked on points and lodgement time within a score, not served in order of arrival. The SkillSelect EOI article works through it, and the Guides explainer on what EOI data is covers the same ground from the chart side.
States and territories
Because 190 and 491 EOIs record a nominated jurisdiction, each state and territory has its own article for both subclasses. Subclass 189 has no nomination field, so there are no 189 state articles — it is a single national pool.
Every jurisdiction has an article for both nominated subclasses. Subclass 189 records no jurisdiction, so it has none.
| State or territory | Subclass 190 | Subclass 491 |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 190 NSW | 491 NSW |
| Victoria | 190 VIC | 491 VIC |
| Queensland | 190 QLD | 491 QLD |
| South Australia | 190 SA | 491 SA |
| Western Australia | 190 WA | 491 WA |
| Tasmania | 190 TAS | 491 TAS |
| Northern Territory | 190 NT | 491 NT |
| Australian Capital Territory | 190 ACT | 491 ACT |
Compare the jurisdictions side by sidesign inState Mix shows every jurisdiction’s share of the 190 and 491 pools, month by month.
Occupations
85 occupations have their own article — every ANZSCO code whose submitted counts are published in full, never suppressed under 20, in all 26 months we hold. Each one carries its current counts on both subclasses, its points profile and its twelve-month movement, and links straight into the dashboard with that occupation preloaded. The occupation index lists them all by ANZSCO major group.
Five of them open in the dashboard without an account, so you can read the article and then look at the live pool straight away: 221111 Accountant (General), 241111 Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teacher, 233512 Mechanical Engineer, 233211 Civil Engineer and 232111 Architect. Every other ANZSCO code is available in the dashboard once you sign in.
Terms, sources and limits
Key terms. SkillSelect is the Australian government’s online system for skilled migration. An Expression of Interest (EOI) is the form you lodge in it, and it is not a visa application. An EOI counted as submitted was still sitting in the pool when the monthly snapshot was taken; one counted as invited was holding an invitation at that moment. ANZSCO is the occupation-code list SkillSelect uses. Every figure on this site counts EOIs rather than people, because one person can lodge more than one.
Every figure on this page comes from the Expression of Interest tables the Department of Home Affairs publishes for SkillSelect, most recently for August 2026. Counts under 20 are suppressed at source; where a total is exact we say so, and where a split is estimated we label it. Nothing here is modelled or forecast.
Common questions
How many EOIs are in the subclass 189 pool?
180,651 submitted Expressions of Interest were sitting in the subclass 189 pool at the August 2026 snapshot, and 414,019 in the subclass 190 pool. Those are separate pools counted separately, and both count EOIs rather than people.
What score do most EOIs in the pool have?
The median published score in the 189 pool is 75 points: 54.3% of submitted EOIs — 95,169 of them — sit at 75 or above. That is a description of the pool, not an invitation cut-off. SkillSelect never publishes one.
Is the EOI pool growing?
It rose by 5,401 EOIs in the month to August 2026, against +29.4% over the year. The monthly figures are snapshots of what was sitting in the pool on the day, so a fall means invitations, withdrawals and expiries cleared more EOIs than arrived.
Is this official Department of Home Affairs advice?
No. EOI Insights analyses statistics the Department publishes; it is not migration advice and it does not speak for the Department. Check eligibility, occupation lists and nomination rules on the official Home Affairs website.
Do I need an account to look at the numbers?
Not to start. The guest trial opens Occupation Trends for subclasses 189 and 190 and for five occupations. Subclass 491 and the deeper views, such as State Mix and Points Pressure, ask you to sign in.