State Nomination Withdrawn on a 190 Application in 2026: Legal Outcome
What happens legally when a state or territory withdraws your subclass 190 nomination after you apply: no discretion, no grant, and what options remain.
If a state or territory government agency withdraws your nomination after you have lodged your Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) application, that application cannot be granted. The Department of Home Affairs states this directly on its official Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) page: "If the state or territory agency that nominates you withdraws your nomination after you have applied, your application becomes invalid" (page checked as at July 2026). The nomination is not one criterion among many that a case officer can weigh against the rest of your file — it is the foundation of the visa, and once it is gone there is nothing left to decide in your favour.
What happens the moment the nomination is withdrawn?
The subclass 190 exists only for people a state or territory has agreed to nominate. Home Affairs describes the sequence as: you submit an expression of interest (EOI) in SkillSelect, a state or territory agency sees it and may nominate you, and "we will only invite you to apply for this visa if you are nominated." The nomination is what converts an EOI into an invitation, and the invitation is what makes an application possible.
So the withdrawal does not "weaken" your case. It removes the legal basis on which the application was made. Two consequences follow from the official material:
- The application cannot succeed. On the Department's own wording, it becomes invalid once the withdrawal occurs after lodgement.
- There is nothing you can add to the file to replace it. A new skills assessment, a higher English score or extra work evidence does not cure the missing nomination, because those documents prove other criteria, not this one.
Why is there no case officer discretion here?
Some 190 criteria involve judgement — whether a relationship is genuine and continuing, whether evidence is persuasive, whether a health or character issue should be waived in particular circumstances. The nomination is not in that category. It is an objective fact about a third party's decision: either the nominating agency has withdrawn the nomination, or it has not.
The regulation-level summary of the Migration Regulations 1994 for subclass 190 sets out clause 190.215 in these terms: "The nominating State or Territory government agency has not withdrawn the nomination." The same summary of departmental policy describes the withdrawal of a nomination during processing as a mandatory refusal, not a matter of balance. Because this summary is a secondary compilation rather than the official Department page, the precise wording and current status of the clause and of policy guidance should be confirmed against the official legislation and Home Affairs publications — but both sources point to the same outcome.
This is general information about how the mechanism works, not an assessment of any individual case; your own situation can turn on details this article cannot see, and the official pages and the legislation remain the authoritative sources.
Does it matter when the withdrawal happens?
Timing changes the practical consequence even though the legal conclusion is the same.
| When the withdrawal happens | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Before you are invited to apply | No invitation can be issued. Home Affairs will only invite you if you are nominated, so nothing is lost except the EOI's place in the queue. |
| After you are invited but before you apply | The invitation cannot be used to produce a valid grant. Anything lodged on it runs into the same problem. |
| After you have applied | The application becomes invalid, per the official 190 page, and cannot be granted. |
There is one more timing rule worth knowing if you are thinking about a fresh attempt: once invited, you have 60 calendar days to apply and Home Affairs states it cannot extend this time. An invitation may arrive up to 2 years after you submit an EOI, and if you do not apply after two invitations, your EOI is removed from SkillSelect.
Can you fix the application — or get a new nomination?
Not the existing one. A nomination is a decision of the state or territory agency, not a document you supply, so there is no "updated evidence" that can substitute for it. Official material also notes that the Department may make a decision without requesting further documents, so waiting for an opportunity to explain is not a reliable strategy.
What is realistically open to you is a fresh pathway, not a repair:
- A new EOI and a new nomination. States and territories each set their own nomination criteria and decide independently whom they nominate, so a fresh approach means meeting whatever that agency is asking for at the time. Submitting an EOI itself carries no fee.
- A new invitation. A new nomination is what puts you back in line for an invitation, and the 60-day lodgement clock starts from that invitation.
- Re-checking the other entry criteria. Age is assessed at invitation — you must be under 45 when invited, and turning 45 after submitting an EOI but before invitation means you will not be invited. You also need to meet the points score stated on your invitation, have competent English at the time of invitation, and hold a suitable skills assessment for your nominated occupation. A second attempt that was viable two years earlier may not be viable now.
If you decide not to continue, the official 190 page lists withdrawal of your application among the changes you should notify after applying.
What about review rights and the money already paid?
Home Affairs states that if it refuses a visa application it will tell you why, and whether you have a right to review of the decision. Whether a review is available in a particular case depends on the decision that was actually made and where you were when it was made, so the refusal notice itself is the document that matters.
On cost, the official page is explicit: "We will not refund the application charge if we refuse your application." A secondary compilation also describes merits review time limits (21 days if you are in Australia, 70 days if outside), but those figures come from a secondary summary and should be confirmed against current official information before you rely on them.
Where this leaves your migration plan
A withdrawn nomination ends the specific application it supported; it does not permanently bar you from skilled migration. What it does do is send you back to the start of the chain — EOI, nomination, invitation — with whatever your age, points, English results and skills assessment look like at that point, rather than what they looked like when you first applied.
Because the nomination is held by a state or territory agency and the visa criteria are set by Commonwealth law, the two halves of the process can fail independently: you can satisfy every criterion Home Affairs assesses and still have no visa because the agency that nominated you changed its position.
Frequently asked questions
Can my 190 still be granted if I meet every other requirement?
No. Nomination by a state or territory agency is what makes the visa a subclass 190 rather than a points-tested independent visa. Once the agency withdraws the nomination after lodgement, the Home Affairs official page says the application becomes invalid, and no strength in the rest of your file can substitute for it.
What if the state withdraws before I receive an invitation?
Then no invitation can be issued. Home Affairs will only invite you to apply if you are nominated, so a withdrawal at that stage costs you the opportunity rather than an application. You would need a fresh nomination before any invitation can follow.
Can I line up a nomination from a different state while my application is still pending?
The pending application is decided on the nomination it was invited against, so a new nomination from another agency does not rescue it. Each state and territory sets its own criteria and decides independently, which means a fresh nomination has to be sought on that agency's own terms and then lead to a new invitation.
Will the visa application charge be refunded?
No. The official subclass 190 page states that Home Affairs will not refund the application charge if the application is refused. Submitting an EOI, by contrast, has no fee.
Do I have a right to review the decision?
Home Affairs says that when it refuses an application it tells you why and whether you have a right to review. Refusal grounds and review rights are case-specific, so the notice you receive is what determines your position, and any time limits should be taken from official current information.
Do I need a new skills assessment and English test to try again?
You need whatever the criteria require at the time of the new invitation, not what you held before. The official page requires a suitable skills assessment for your nominated occupation obtained within the period it specifies, competent English at the time of invitation, and the points score stated on your invitation. Check current official requirements before relying on documents from an earlier application.