189 visa points for occupational therapists, with or without experience

A single OT aged 25 to 32 with a degree and “superior” English can score 75 points with no work experience at all. Occupational therapists were invited at 75 points in the June 2026 round of the Skilled Independent (subclass 189) visa, so that’s on the line, not comfortably over it. Reaching the cut-off doesn’t guarantee an invitation. The 189 is a permanent visa that doesn’t need an employer or a state to back you.

General information only. Points rules are detailed and a registered migration agent should check your score before you lodge anything.

How the points add up

Being a native English speaker doesn’t earn the English points. Passport holders from the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada and New Zealand are treated as having competent English, which scores 0, so you still have to sit a test, and “superior” means the minimum score in every component.

The other things you need

• A positive skills assessment from the Occupational Therapy Council (OTC). It checks your degree and English, not your experience. It costs A$800 and is generally valid for three years.
• An invitation. You lodge an expression of interest in SkillSelect and wait to be invited. Cut-offs move between rounds: a round ran on 15 October 2026 with OTs reported at 75 points, but official results hadn’t been published when we checked.
• Ahpra registration to actually work as an OT once you’re here.

If you’re short of 75

• 190 or 491 state nomination adds 5 or 15 points. OTs were on Queensland’s 2025-26 lists for both, though places are limited and the 2026-27 program hadn’t opened at 27 October 2026.
• A Skills in Demand (482) visa through an employer is another route. It needs a year’s experience, not points.
• Retaking your English test is often the cheapest way to add points.

Speech pathologists and physios

Speech pathologists and physiotherapists were also invited at 75 points in June 2026. But speech pathologists can’t get a skills assessment until they have 1,000 hours of work in the last five years, so the “no experience” route doesn’t work for them.