Northern Territory 491
Commitment Statement

What the Territory requires of everyone

These apply to every applicant, in every stream, and all of them must be met at the time the nomination is lodged — not at the time of the visa application.

• Under 45 at nomination.

• A valid skills assessment for the subclass, with the occupation on the Home Affairs skilled occupation list. Offshore Priority stream applicants additionally need an occupation on the NT’s own offshore list.

• At least Competent English — no requirement above the federal minimum — unless the assessing or licensing body for the occupation specifies otherwise.

• At least 65 points on the Home Affairs points test. The Territory states expressly that it does not prioritise applicants by points, which changes how a case should be presented: there is nothing to be gained by edging the score up, and everything to be gained from the commitment evidence.

• Net assets — a genuine point of difference from other states.

• Neither you nor your migrating dependants may be living interstate.

• Anyone on a student visa with incomplete studies is ineligible.

Assets have to be documented, in Australian dollars. Bank statements, share certificates, property valuations or jewellery evaluations — verifiable documents, not a declared figure. Tasmania has no equivalent standalone test on its onshore pathways, so an applicant comparing the two jurisdictions should know this is a real additional requirement rather than a formality.

The onshore streams — the only ones currently open

The designated critical sectors, and what Greater Darwin means. The critical sectors the Territory names are energy, defence, agriculture, mining, health, aged or disabled care, education, tourism and construction. Greater Darwin means the City of Darwin, the City of Palmerston and Litchfield Shire — so “outside Greater Darwin” is everything else in the Territory, and it is one of the exceptional-circumstances routes where employment does not match the nominated occupation.

The offshore streams — closed, but worth understanding

Offshore applicants are generally considered only for a 491, and all three streams are closed to new applications at the time of writing. The requirements are set out here because the 2027–28 program year will reopen on some basis, and because one of them is widely misreported.

Every offshore applicant needs at least two years’ post-qualification work experience in the nominated occupation within the last five years — more for some priority occupations. If you have read one year within the last ten, that is from a superseded page on the Territory’s old domain, and it is wrong.

Do not confuse the NT Family stream with the federal family-sponsored 491. They are different pathways. The NT Family stream is a route to an NT state nomination — fifteen points as a state-nominated applicant, with access to all three skilled occupation lists. The federal family-sponsored 491 needs no state nomination at all, is sponsored by an eligible relative usually resident in a designated regional area, also attracts fifteen points, but is restricted to the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List only. Almost nobody gets this distinction right, and it decides which occupations are available.

The NT occupation list, and what it does not cover

The Territory publishes one list — the NT Offshore Migration Occupation List, of roughly 139 occupations, as an online table with no downloadable version.

It applies only to the offshore Priority Occupation stream. It does not apply to onshore applicants, and it does not apply to the offshore Job Offer or Family streams, which may nominate any occupation on the national eligible list. Some occupations on it carry a note requiring evidence of Australian licence or registration, or a statement of eligibility to obtain it.

One honest caveat: the list page was last updated in November 2025 and was not restamped across the 2026–27 program rollover. We will not describe it as current for this program year — we date it and link to it, and we check it at the time we write.

Onshore applicants use the federal lists. For a state-nominated 491 that means all three — the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List, the Short-term Skilled Occupation List and the Regional Occupation List — which remain ANZSCO-based in the 2013 version. OSCA does not apply to the points-tested skilled visas.

The letter of commitment — mandatory, and specified

This is the centrepiece of an NT nomination, and the Territory is more prescriptive about it than Tasmania. Where Tasmania recommends a one-page personal statement, the NT mandates a letter of commitment for all applicants, in your own words, no more than two pages, covering three named things:

• Why you chose the Northern Territory.

• Why it suits you better than other Australian cities — a direct comparison, which is what most statements avoid making.

• Your research into employment, housing and costs, and amenities for dependants.

What you are committing to, and the consequences

The condition of accepting an NT nomination is to live and work in the NT in your skilled or a closely related occupation for at least three years from visa grant — longer than Tasmania’s two years from nomination. You must notify the NT Government of your visa status at grant and on arrival, keep your contact details current, take part in Territory surveys, and sign and return the declaration issued with the nomination.

Two consequences are published plainly and are worth knowing before you start. Nominations apply only to the NT, and release letters for transfer to another state or territory are not issued. And 491 holders may face Home Affairs reporting, evidence requirements and interviews, as well as NT compliance checks and surveys.

One application at a time, and one per applicant. All criteria must be met at the time of lodgement; the visa application must be lodged within 60 calendar days of the Home Affairs invitation or the nomination lapses; and a new application after a refusal is, in the Territory’s own words, highly unlikely to succeed unless circumstances or information have changed. Anyone previously nominated by the NT for a 489 or 491 is not eligible for a 190 nomination.

The NT DAMA is not a 491 pathway — and right now it is the open door

This is the most common confusion in NT enquiries, and with the 491 closed it matters more than usual.

The Northern Territory Designated Area Migration Agreement is a labour agreement. It supports the 482, 494 and 186 — employer-sponsored visas — and it has no points test. Its concessions are negotiated: a salary floor at 85 per cent of the income threshold, English at IELTS 4.5 overall for provisional visas and 5.0 for the 186, and age up to under 55 for skill levels 1 to 4 and under 50 for level 5.

The 491 is the opposite kind of instrument: points-tested, with a hard under-45 age bar, Competent English and no concessions. So an applicant who is 47, or whose English sits at 5.0, has no 491 route at all — and may have a straightforward DAMA one. Where a Territory employer is involved, the DAMA is usually the question to ask first, and our labour agreement and DAMA page covers it.

Both the whole Territory and the whole of Tasmania are inside the designated regional area. Every NT postcode qualifies, Darwin included. For a 491 holder the distinction between the two regional tiers has no bearing on where they may live — any designated regional area satisfies the visa.

Fees, processing and the documents rule

The NT nomination fee is A$300 plus GST where applicable, for both the 190 and the 491, and it is non-refundable — a fresh application after an unsuccessful one costs the same again.

No processing times are published. Priority processing applies only to applicants living in the NT who, within the next 30 days, face a visa expiry, turn 45, or drop below 65 points.

And one rule that causes more trouble than anything else: applications must include all required supporting documents at submission, and documents must stay current and valid throughout the assessment. Everything must be in English or accompanied by an official English translation, in PDF or DOC format. There is no adding material later as a matter of course.

This is why the evidence pack matters more than the prose. A letter of commitment is two pages. The thing that carries it is twelve months of bank statements, tenancy evidence for every dependant, an employer letter that actually addresses local recruitment, and a job-search record that shows sustained effort rather than a handful of applications in the last fortnight. We build that pack and tell you what is missing before anything is lodged.

What we prepare

• The stream relied on, and whether the current onshore exception applies to your dates — checked first, and told to you plainly

• The two-page letter of commitment in your own voice, written to the Territory’s three named content requirements, including the comparison against other Australian cities

• Settlement and labour market research specific to the city or region named — employment for the occupation, housing costs, schooling and amenities for dependants

• The residence evidence pack for you and every migrating dependant, itemised against what the Territory asks for

• The employment position against the 35-hour test, the majority-of-tasks test, the 12-month employer trading rule and the market salary requirement

• The net asset position, documented in Australian dollars

• Where an employer is involved, the letter of support addressing genuine local recruitment and why you are the most suitable person

• A consistency pass against the Expression of Interest, the skills assessment, the points claim and the forms

General information, current at October 2026. The NT program’s open or closed status, streams and occupation list change during and between program years, and the Territory’s own pages moved domain — older pages still rank and still describe superseded settings. We check the current pages at the date we write and date-stamp what we rely on. Zeolla Solutions prepares migration documentation, research and reports — we are not a law practice, we are not a registered migration agent, and nothing here is immigration assistance or immigration advice. We do not advise on which state to apply to.