In short: A 189 invitation locks your points at that date and opens a 60-day window to lodge a $6,135 application. Nothing about your job, your address or your expression of interest should change until the application is in.
The most expensive email in a 189 file is the resignation sent the morning after the invitation. The applicant reads the invitation as the visa. The employer, who was about to write the reference, now writes a shorter one. The payslips stop. The invitation has not changed the person's visa status, and it has just made the evidence harder to collect. This note covers the sixty days after the invitation and what changes on that day. It also names the three things that must stay fixed until lodgement.
What the invitation changes, and what it does not
| Changes on the day | Does not change |
|---|---|
| Your points are assessed as at the invitation date | Your current visa, its conditions and its expiry |
| The expression of interest is locked to that invitation | Your right to work, and for whom |
| A 60-day window opens and does not extend | Your employer's obligations if you hold a sponsored visa |
| The visa you can apply for is fixed as the 189 | Your family composition, which can still be updated |
Because the points are assessed at invitation, a birthday or an expired test after that date does not lower them. Because the current visa is untouched, nothing about work or travel changes until a bridging visa takes effect. Both facts argue for the same thing: keep still and lodge.
Three things to keep fixed
First, the job. The employment claimed in the expression of interest needs references and payslips from the employer who paid for it. Leaving before the reference is signed hands the evidence to someone who no longer needs you. Second, the expression of interest. It is locked, and an attempt to correct it now belongs in the application, with an explanation. Third, the claims. Every point was claimed on a document that either exists or does not. If one does not, the safer course is to let the invitation lapse and correct the profile. A refused application costs the whole charge.
The sixty days, in three streams
Each claim has one proof. Age is the passport. English is the test report at the band claimed, current at invitation. Skilled employment is a reference on letterhead with duties, hours and dates, backed by payslips or tax records. Qualifications are the award and transcript the assessing authority saw. Australian study, regional study and a partner's assessment each have their own certificate. The skills assessment must have been valid at invitation. Health examinations and police certificates for every country of twelve months' residence in the last ten years run in parallel.
The charge is $6,135 for the main applicant, $3,070 for a partner and $1,540 for each child. It is paid at lodgement and is not refunded if the application is refused or withdrawn. A secondary applicant without functional English attracts a further $4,885. Health, police and any late English test are separate. Professional fees are staged around the invitation, and we set them out at the first consultation.
A partner and dependent children are included in the same application. Each needs identity, relationship and character documents of their own. A partner's points contribution, if claimed, needs the assessment or test result behind it. A child born after lodgement can be added before decision. A relationship that ends after lodgement must be disclosed, and the points it supported are re-examined.
Estimate the government charges
What we tell the employer
An employer often hears about the invitation before we do, and sometimes reacts to it. The employee's work rights have not changed. If the employee holds a 482, the sponsorship obligations continue until that visa ends. The 189 lodgement does not release them. The contract should not be rewritten on the assumption of permanent residence, because the grant has not happened. Our commercial practice reviews the terms that change on grant, such as a retention clause tied to the sponsorship. The employee's obligation is simpler: get the reference signed before anything else moves.
What if my skills assessment expires between invitation and lodgement?
The requirement is that the assessment was valid at the time of invitation. Expiry after that date does not defeat the claim. Lodge the assessment and the invitation together so the dates can be read side by side. A test result works the same way. What cannot be repaired is an assessment that had already expired when the invitation issued.
Onshore lodgement and the bridging visa
An applicant in Australia on a substantive visa receives a bridging visa A on lodgement. It comes into effect only when the current visa ends, and until then the current visa governs work and travel. The bridging visa has no travel facility. Leaving Australia while it is in effect needs a bridging visa B at $575, granted for a stated period. Its work conditions usually follow the last visa held, and we check them before anyone relies on them. Our migration practice lodges the application with the full set of evidence. No later request should have to be answered from a job you have left. If the invitation has arrived, contact us before you write to your employer.
If the invitation does not come
A 189 expression of interest rarely stands alone. The same profile can name the 190 and the 491, which carry 5 and 15 nomination points. Those queues move on the states' own timetables. We set out how to choose between them in choosing a skilled visa in 2026. The evidence assembled for the 189 serves those routes without change.
Frequently asked questions
Does lodging the 189 onshore give me a bridging visa straight away?
A bridging visa A is granted on lodgement if you hold a substantive visa at that time. It only takes effect when the current visa ends. Until then the current visa and its conditions continue to apply.
Can I travel overseas after lodging the application?
While your current visa is in effect, its travel facility applies. Once the bridging visa A is in effect, it has no travel facility. You need a bridging visa B at $575 before you leave. Apply for it before booking.
Can I add a child born after I lodge?
Yes. A child born after lodgement and before decision can be added to the application with the birth certificate and passport. A further charge applies. Tell us as soon as the child is born so the addition is made before the decision.
Must I stay in the same job until the 189 is granted?
No rule requires it, and the points were locked at invitation. Leaving does make the references and payslips harder to obtain, and the employer's goodwill is part of the evidence. Get the signed reference first, then decide.
I hold a 482. Does the 189 invitation end my employer's obligations?
No. The sponsorship obligations run while the 482 is in effect, and lodging a 189 does not end it. They end when the 482 ceases, including on grant of the 189. The employer should not alter the contract on the strength of an invitation.
Figures verified against Home Affairs visa pricing as at 1 July 2026.
General information as at 2 September 2026. Not legal advice. Speak to us about your own circumstances before acting on it.