Points Test 2027: The 70-Point Minimum, Salary Bonus & What's Going Away

If you hold an active Expression of Interest (EOI), are sitting on borderline points, or are mid-way through a Professional Year designed to bridge a 5-point gap, the next 13 months matter - and the timing window for invitations under the current Schedule 6D scoring is now well-defined.

What Has Actually Been Confirmed for 1 July 2027

The 2026-27 Budget commentary and follow-up analysis from multiple registered migration practices have settled three things that were genuinely uncertain through Q1 2026. The first is the commencement date. Earlier signals had pointed to a 1 July 2026 commencement, which would have left only six months between any consultation and rollout - a timeline that was always going to be tight for a wholesale points-test rebuild. Government commentary now points to 1 July 2027 as the operational start date, giving the sector a clear 13-month runway and giving applicants a much more usable planning window.

The second is the legislative pathway. A public consultation paper is scheduled for June 2026, followed by draft legislative instruments by December 2026, and the new Schedule 6D-equivalent instrument will be registered and made operational from 1 July 2027. The current Schedule 6D of the Migration Regulations 1994 - the rule that sets every existing point category from age to NAATI - remains in force unchanged until that date.

The third and most significant clarification is the transition rule. Invitations issued under the current Schedule 6D test will be honoured in full. An EOI that secures an invitation between today and 30 June 2027 is processed and decided under the same rules that were in force when the invitation was issued. The new test only governs invitations issued on or after 1 July 2027 - meaning candidates with mature, competitive EOIs in the current pool have a meaningful incentive to ride out the existing regime rather than wait. If you want to see where you sit right now under the current 65-point system, our GSM points calculator walks you through every Schedule 6D category in real time.

The Three Mechanical Changes Being Proposed

Change 1 - The Minimum Lifts from 65 to 70 Points

The most concrete proposed change is that the minimum pass mark moves from 65 to 70 points. On paper this is a 5-point increase. In practice, for the Subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa, it changes very little - invitation rounds across 2024 and 2025 cleared at 90+ points for most occupations, so a 70-point floor is well below the operational invitation line. The same logic applies to most popular 190 and 491 nominations.

Where the 70-point floor bites is the eligibility threshold for lodging an EOI in the first place. A candidate currently sitting on exactly 65 points - most commonly someone who is a 33-39-year-old (25 points), with Competent English (0 points), a Bachelor degree (15 points), 8+ years overseas skilled work (15 points), the Australian-study requirement (5 points), and one PY/NAATI/STEM bonus (5 points) - is technically eligible to lodge today. After 1 July 2027, that same profile would no longer meet the entry threshold at all. The 5-point gap stops being a "would I get invited" question and becomes a "can I even submit an EOI" question.

The practical implication is that anyone within striking distance of 70 points should map the cheapest path to the extra five - typically a jump from Competent to Proficient English (which is worth 10 points, not 5) - and lodge under the current framework while their 65-point EOI is still valid. If your current score depends on the Australian-study 5 points or the Professional Year 5 points, those bonuses may not exist in the post-2027 calculation at all.

Change 2 - A New "Salary Above SSIT" Bonus

For the first time, the proposed reform introduces an Australian-income-based scoring criterion. Applicants earning above the Specialist Skills Income Threshold (currently $141,210, lifting to $146,717 from 1 July 2026 under the standard ABS AWOTE indexation) would be eligible for additional points under the new test. The exact point value has not been published - the consultation paper in June 2026 is expected to settle this - but the policy direction is unmistakable: an employer prepared to pay you well above the specialist threshold is treated as objective evidence that your skills are genuinely in demand.

This change is structurally different from anything in current Schedule 6D. Today, "skilled employment" earns points based on years of experience, not pay rate - a 7-year developer on $90,000 and one on $180,000 score identically. Under the proposed test, the second profile attracts a salary bonus on top, making income a points-earning attribute in its own right.

For onshore candidates already in 482 Specialist Skills roles (median processing ~2 weeks per the 25 May 2026 Home Affairs dashboard), the advantage compounds: they already hold a visa that recognises their high-salary skills, and the same salary will start producing GSM points after 1 July 2027. For offshore candidates and lower-paid onshore workers, it raises a strategic question - is it worth pursuing a higher-paying Australian role first and applying for GSM second, rather than the other way around?

Change 3 - Australian-Study Bonuses on the Chopping Block

The most contested proposed change is the removal of the Australian-study bonus (currently 5 points for completing the Australian-study requirement) and related bonuses such as the Professional Year (5 points) and Community Language / NAATI credentialled (5 points). The reasoning, drawn from think-tank and Productivity Commission research, is that these bonuses do not reliably predict higher lifetime earnings or labour-market success. The counter-argument, made loudly by the international education sector, is that these bonuses are precisely what makes Australia competitive as an English-speaking study destination.

What is on the consultation table - meaning these are proposals, not announcements:

• Australian-study requirement: proposed removal (currently 5 points)
• Specialist education / regional study: proposed removal or restructure (currently 5 points each where claimable)
• Professional Year: proposed removal (currently 5 points)
• Community Language / NAATI: proposed removal (currently 5 points)

Whether all four go, only one or two go, or whether they are repurposed (for example, into a single "Australian-skills-capital" credit) will not be known until the consultation paper is published in June 2026. But the policy direction is clear: education-based bonuses are being de-emphasised in favour of income, age and English-proficiency signals.

Who Wins, Who Loses, Who Has Time

The reform is not symmetric. Some profiles improve under the proposed rules; others lose meaningful ground. The table below maps the most common archetypes against the three proposed mechanical changes.

For onshore 485 holders the strategic calculus has shifted. The traditional play - 500 → 485 → claim AU study + PY + NAATI to reach 65 - does not survive intact if those bonuses disappear. The replacement play looks more like 500 → 485 → secure a high-salary 482 Specialist or 190/491 nomination → ride existing Schedule 6D until 30 June 2027 → apply under the new test only if the current pool dries up.

You can model your own profile against both the current and proposed regimes using our calculator and ANZSCO occupation tool - both reflect the current 65-point Schedule 6D rules and remain accurate until the new instrument is registered.

What You Should Do in the Next 13 Months

The timeline between today (30 May 2026) and 1 July 2027 splits into three actionable phases.

Phase 1 - Now until June 2026 consultation paper (next 4 weeks). If you are already at 65 points, lodge or refresh your EOI now. Existing EOIs do not need to wait for the consultation paper - the current Schedule 6D applies to every invitation issued before 1 July 2027. If you are within 5 points of 65, identify the cheapest top-up: an English re-sit is almost always the highest-return action. Confirm your occupation is on the relevant skill list using the ANZSCO occupation search and that your skill assessment remains valid through to the end of June 2027.

Phase 2 - June 2026 to December 2026 (consultation phase). Once the consultation paper is published, the salary-bonus point value and the fate of the four study-related bonuses will be visible. This is the window to re-model your post-2027 score and decide whether to lodge a 482 Specialist Skills, 190 or 491 application under existing rules, or wait. Anyone whose post-2027 score drops materially should aim to be invited under Schedule 6D before 30 June 2027. For non-points-tested alternatives, our skilled visa service page and employer-sponsored visa overview walk through the parallel pathways.

Phase 3 - January 2027 to June 2027 (last invitation window under current rules). With the draft instrument public from December 2026, the SkillSelect pool typically thickens as candidates rush to be invited under the more favourable existing rules. Top-ranked profiles are likely to keep clearing the invitation line, but marginal cases in the 65-75 range become much more competitive as the deadline approaches. Lodge early in this phase, not late.

How the Pieces Fit With the Broader 2026-27 Reform Programme

The points-test rewrite is not happening in a vacuum. It runs alongside two other 2026-27 structural shifts: the subclass-level reallocation (Employer Sponsored +32% to 58,040; 189 +25% to 21,090; Regional 491/494 cut from 33,000 to 14,110) and the 1 July 2026 income threshold indexation (CSIT to $79,499; SSIT to $146,717). The points-test rewrite lands 12 months later, on 1 July 2027.

Taken together, the direction is consistent: older programmes built on study-based points and regional volume are being de-emphasised; younger, higher-paid, employer-sponsored profiles are being preferred. The points-test rewrite codifies in the GSM scoring instrument what the employer-sponsored allocation already announced through capacity numbers.

For the wider context on what was originally proposed in the academic and think-tank space - including the Grattan Institute's much larger reform model - our earlier piece Points Test Overhaul Coming? What We Know About the 2026-27 Skilled Migration Reform is the deep-dive starting point. For tactical scoring strategy under the current rules, see our companion guide Australia Skilled Visa Points Calculator 2026: How to Maximise Your Score.

How First Migration Can Help

The 13-month window between today and 1 July 2027 is one of the most strategic planning periods the GSM programme has seen since the 2012 points-test introduction. At First Migration Service Centre, our registered migration agents are already mapping client profiles against both the current Schedule 6D and the proposed post-2027 rules, so that every application lodged from today onwards is positioned for the most favourable invitation pathway.

Ready to take the next step? We invite you to submit a free visa assessment so we can model your score under both the current and proposed rules, and recommend the right timing for your EOI.