Moving from Sri Lanka to Australia: Points, Pathways and Costs (2026)
How the points test works for a typical Sri Lankan applicant, the engineering and IT skills-assessment pathways, what a subclass 482 or student visa costs, and why Sri Lanka isn't eligible for a working holiday visa. Figures as at September 2026.
Read the full guide, with official sources →
Watch
Chapters
- 0:00 65 points clears the minimum —
- 0:18 How 65 points breaks down
- 0:35 Levers to raise the score
- 0:52 Engineering: the Accord-only assessment
- 1:10 IT: ACS's current model
- 1:24 Nursing: AHPRA's English standard,
- 1:47 The student pathway
- 2:01 Employer sponsorship
- 2:14 Not eligible for subclass 417 or 462
- 2:25 Police clearance
- 2:37 Age points step down at 33 —
- 2:48 Where to read more
Transcript
A 30-year-old Sri Lankan civil engineer with 6 years' experience and IELTS 7.0 scores 65 points on Australia's skilled visa points test. That clears the minimum — but it isn't always enough to be invited.
Here's how that score breaks down. Age 25 to 32 is worth 30 points. Proficient English, IELTS 7.0, is 10 points. A bachelor's degree is 15. And 5 to 8 years of overseas experience is another 10.
To push past 80, there are a few levers. Superior English, IELTS 8.0, is worth 20 points instead of 10. A subclass 190 state nomination adds 5. So does a Sinhala or Tamil NAATI CCL credential.
For engineers, IESL has been a full Washington Accord signatory since 2014. That means IESL-accredited degrees can use Engineers Australia's Accord-only assessment, at $555.50, instead of the standard $1,034 CDR assessment.
For IT, the Australian Computer Society's current model, running since 3 November 2025, has free priority processing and a turnaround of 4 to 6 weeks, with no fixed years-deducted table.
For nursing, Sri Lanka isn't one of the countries eligible for ANMAC's Full assessment. Most Sri Lankan nurses go through AHPRA's IQNM pathway first, and need AHPRA's English standard from 23 April 2026: IELTS Academic 7.0 overall, 7.0 in listening, reading and speaking, and 6.5 in writing.
The student route runs a subclass 500, at $2,500, into a subclass 485. Home Affairs' living-costs benchmark for a student visa is $29,710 a year.
Employer sponsorship runs one charge, $4,015, across every subclass 482 stream. The Core Skills stream can lead to a subclass 186 after 2 to 3 years.
One thing Sri Lanka doesn't have access to: Sri Lanka isn't an eligible country for either the subclass 417 or the subclass 462 working holiday visa.
A police clearance is applied for online, through police.lk. It's posted out by registered post rather than collected in person, and takes about 14 working days.
Age points step down at 33, and again at each bracket after that. On a points-tested visa, starting the process earlier keeps more of that score in play.
The full guide, with the official sources, is on migratio.com.au. The link is in the description.
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