Tasmania Skilled Migration Program: August 2026-27 Update

Migration Tasmania has released its 2026-27 program settings, opening for new Registrations of Interest on 17 August 2026. The core structure of the program is unchanged, with the same four onshore pathways and the same Gold, Green, Orange-plus and Orange priority tiers, but the detail inside that structure has moved in several places that decide whether a candidate is invited or not. The 2025-26 program closed after being fully delivered, with all 1,200 Subclass 190 and 650 Subclass 491 places used, and the 2026-27 allocation increases the total to 2,050 places, made up of 1,250 for Subclass 190 and 800 for Subclass 491, an increase of 200 places on the year before. More places generally means more invitations issued across the program year, though it does not change how competitive any individual attribute band is.

A new ROI portal, same EOI step

Two separate systems are involved in a Tasmanian application, and the 2026-27 changes only affect one of them. The federal Expression of Interest, lodged through the Department of Home Affairs' SkillSelect portal, is unaffected by any of this. It remains the first step for every applicant regardless of state, and Migration Tasmania does not receive or rank EOIs directly.

What is changing is the Tasmanian-specific step that sits after the EOI: the Registration of Interest, lodged through Migration Tasmania's own gateway. From 17 August 2026 this moves to a new address, apply.migration.tas.gov.au, replacing the previous Application Gateway domain. A candidate with an existing EOI does not need to resubmit it. What changes is where the Tasmanian ROI itself gets lodged, and the priority attributes it will be assessed against once lodged. Weekly invitation rounds, where Migration Tasmania invites the highest-ranked ROIs to apply for nomination, are expected to begin from 20 August 2026, three days after the gateway opens.

Fees, Thresholds and General Terms

The income thresholds behind most priority attributes across all four onshore pathways rise with the national TSMIT update. The nomination fee, application portal and total allocation have also changed.

Tasmanian Skilled Employment (TSE), Subclass 190

The largest set of changes sits within TSE. Gold, the top priority tier, now specifies that at least one job during the six month qualifying period must involve at least 30 hours a week. In 2025-26 the requirement was worded around the six month period as a whole, without a stated minimum for a single job, which in practice allowed candidates piecing together part-time or reduced hours to still qualify. A candidate whose only qualifying employment was part-time across the six months will likely need to look at Green or Orange-plus instead.

The Orange-plus and Orange tiers have also been reshaped rather than just re-priced. The old single 30-point band for 12 to 18 months in a matching role has split in two: 15 to 18 months now scores meaningfully higher at 40 points, while 12 to 15 months sits at 30 points. Read together with the near four-fold increase to the 9 to 12 month Orange band, up from 6 points to 25, Tasmania is now rewarding time in role more steeply the closer a candidate gets to 18 months. Someone previously sitting just under the old 18-month cutoff earning only 6 points may now find themselves scoring 25, a meaningful jump in ranking position without doing anything differently.

Subclass 491 mirrors the 190 structure above, including the new 30 hour a week Gold requirement, with two differences:

Tasmanian Skilled Graduate (TSG)

TSG picks up a new attribute rather than just adjusted point values. Both TSG and TER now recognise Tasmania-only residence, meaning time spent living in Tasmania without having lived in another Australian state or territory, as a standalone scoring attribute for the first time. TSG's version is worth 15 points on its own, regardless of employment.

TSG also gains a dedicated employment-related-to-study attribute that did not exist in 2025-26, and eases its non-matching role requirement from a full two years down to 18 months. The employment-related-to-study attribute is the more significant addition: a recent Tasmanian graduate working in a role connected to their qualification for more than 18 months can now score up to 100 points under Subclass 190, a scoring path that simply did not exist before. Earnings-based attributes have also increased across the board, so graduates earning above TSMIT or above 90 percent of TSMIT score more than they would have under the old settings, even without any change in employment.

Tasmanian Established Resident (TER) and Tasmanian Business Operator (TBO)

TER gains three new attributes for 2026-27, alongside the general TSMIT-linked increase to its business income requirement. Together, the new attributes widen who TER can score at all. In 2025-26, a candidate below the priority income level with only 6 to 12 months of experience had no TER attribute to claim; in 2026-27 they can claim 5 points under Subclass 190. TER's own Tasmania-only residence attribute is worth 15 points and particularly benefits long-term residents who have not worked continuously in a single matching role. TBO's changes are narrower: the personal income requirement rises in step with the new TSMIT, but the underlying "well-established business" test is unchanged.

New Occupation-specific Caveats, Effective 1 December 2026

Two occupations move from no setting restriction to a defined setting requirement partway through the program year. Because the caveat only takes effect from 1 December, a candidate who lodges an ROI and receives an invitation before that date is assessed under the current, unrestricted definition. The practical risk sits with candidates who plan to lodge or change employment after 1 December in either occupation, since a role that would have qualified in 2025-26 may no longer meet the new setting definition.

Subclass 491 Overseas Pathway

Applicants relying on an Overseas Skilled Occupation Profile invitation should note that no invitations are planned for 2026-27, as the Australian Government is prioritising onshore visa processing this program year. This affects offshore candidates specifically; the overseas Subclass 190 Health or Education Sector pathway, which requires a formal job offer, is not described as affected and should be confirmed separately against the current program notice.

Looking Ahead

Beyond the 17 August opening, the next fixed point in the calendar is 1 December 2026, when the massage therapist and motor mechanic caveats take effect. Migration Tasmania has historically adjusted priority attribute settings mid-year in response to how quickly places are being used, so candidates with a borderline profile should treat the 2026-27 settings as a starting point rather than fixed for the full program year. Places are also likely to be used faster in the higher-scoring tiers first; Gold and Green candidates were consistently invited within weeks of the program opening in 2025-26, while Orange-only candidates waited considerably longer and, in some cases, were not invited before the program closed. Anyone sitting in Orange without an Orange-plus attribute should treat the early weeks of the program as the best opportunity to be assessed while places remain in that tier.

Before 17 August

For anyone with an existing EOI who has not yet lodged a Tasmanian ROI, the period immediately before and after 17 August is worth planning for rather than waiting through.

• Recalculate priority attribute scores against the 2026-27 figures above rather than the 2025-26 settings, particularly if the case sits in TSE and relies on hours worked, months in role, or salary close to a threshold band. Newsted Global's Tasmania skilled migration page includes a priority points calculator that can be used for this.

• Confirm the current EOI in SkillSelect matches employment, salary and residency details exactly. Migration Tasmania's ROI will be checked against it, and inconsistencies between the two are a common cause of delay.

• Watch for weekly invitation rounds, expected to begin from 20 August 2026, and be ready to move on nomination documentation once an invitation is issued, since Gold and Green candidates are typically invited first.

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