Which Visa Should a Lawyer or Accountant Apply for After Graduating in Australia?
Lawyers and accountants often get grouped together as high-skill professional graduates, and on the surface their migration pathway looks identical: graduate, get a 485, gain experience, apply for PR. But the detail underneath is where these two professions genuinely part ways, and getting that detail wrong costs time and money. This article maps the shared starting point and then treats each profession separately, because the profession-specific requirements are what actually determine your success.
Quick Answer
For both lawyers and accountants, the immediate step after graduating is almost always the 485 Temporary Graduate visa, which buys you two to four years to gain experience, complete the profession-specific requirements, and build points for permanent residency. From there the pathways diverge sharply. Accountants face a competitive, pro-rata points race with a mandatory skills assessment from CPA Australia, CA ANZ, or IPA. Lawyers face a completely separate hurdle: legal admission and a practising certificate, which the migration system does not assess at all.
Pro-rata points race
Positive skills assessment from CPA Australia, CA ANZ, or IPA. Points cut-offs sit in the high 80s or 90s. Superior English, Professional Year, and NAATI CCL are the controllable levers.
Admission runs parallel to migration
The Priestley 11 + PLT + admission through the Supreme Court + practising certificate. Your visa alone does not give you the right to practise. Employer sponsorship often makes more sense than pure points.
Graduating in Law or Accounting? Get the Right Pathway Mapped Early
The 485 is straightforward. What comes after it depends entirely on your profession, your degree specifics, and whether you are aiming for the points-tested or employer-sponsored route. Speak with a migration professional early to sequence your admission or skills assessment alongside your visa strategy.
The Shared Starting Point: The 485 Graduate Visa
Whichever profession you are in, if you have just completed an eligible Australian qualification, the 485 Temporary Graduate visa is almost always your first move. It grants full work rights for two to four years depending on your qualification level and where you studied, and it gives you the runway to do the things PR actually requires: gain professional experience, sit English tests, complete a skills assessment or professional admission, and build your points.
The 485 is not the destination. It is the platform from which everything else is launched. The graduates who succeed treat their 485 period as an active project with a plan, not just a work permit to use while figuring things out later. Our guide on moving from a 485 to a 482 onshore covers the sponsored pathway from the 485, and our guide on what to do if your 485 expires without a job covers the backup plans if that pathway does not come together.
Accounting occupations sit on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List, which makes them eligible for the 189, 190, 491, and employer-sponsored pathways. The catch is that accounting is one of the most competitive occupations in the entire skilled program, and this shapes every decision you make.
The Mandatory Skills Assessment
Before you can claim points for your occupation, you need a positive skills assessment from one of three bodies: CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), or the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA). The assessment verifies that your qualifications and experience meet Australian standards for your nominated occupation. If your degree is missing required competency areas, you may be asked to complete bridging subjects before receiving a positive result. Our full guide on skills assessment requirements for skilled visas covers which body assesses which occupation.
The Pro-Rata Problem
Accounting is a pro-rata occupation, which means the Department distributes invitations proportionally across the program year rather than in large batches. The practical effect is that invitation cut-offs for accountants sit far above the 65-point minimum. In real terms, competitive accountants are typically aiming for scores in the high 80s or 90s, and simply meeting the minimum will almost certainly not result in an invitation.
The English Advantage for Accountants
Because accounting is so competitive, English points do heavy lifting. Superior English (IELTS 8 or PTE 79 in each band) gives you 20 points, versus 10 for Proficient. For an accountant, closing that 10-point gap can be the single difference between sitting in the pool indefinitely and receiving an invitation. Combined with a Professional Year (5 points) and NAATI CCL (5 points), these controllable points are often what get accountants over the line. See our guide on improving your points score while onshore for the specific levers ranked by realistic timeframe.
The Professional Year Option
A Professional Year in accounting is a structured 12-month program combining coursework with a workplace placement. It adds 5 points and, for accountants specifically, can also satisfy the English requirement for the skills assessment in some cases. Given how tight the points race is, many accounting graduates find the Professional Year worth both the time and the cost. If you are also weighing up state nomination versus the 189, the guide on state nomination and next steps after missing 190 is directly relevant given how tight the 2025-26 allocations are.
Here is the single most important thing a law graduate needs to understand, and it is something the migration points system does not tell you: getting a visa and being allowed to practise law are two completely separate processes, governed by different authorities.
The Department of Home Affairs assesses your migration eligibility. It does not assess your right to practise law in Australia. That is determined by the legal admission authority in each state or territory, and by the practising certificate issued by the relevant law society or legal services board. You can hold permanent residency and still not be legally allowed to work as a solicitor until you have been admitted.
What Legal Admission Actually Requires
To be admitted to the Australian legal profession, a law graduate generally needs to have completed the academic requirements (the Priestley 11 core areas of law), completed Practical Legal Training (PLT), and then applied for admission through the Supreme Court of the relevant state or territory. For those who studied law overseas, an assessment of your qualifications by the relevant admitting authority is required first, and this often identifies additional Australian law subjects you must complete before you can be admitted.
Only after admission can you apply for a practising certificate, which is what actually permits you to work as a solicitor. This is a profession-specific track that runs entirely parallel to, and independent of, your visa pathway.
Migration and Admission Are Separate Projects
Because legal admission is separate from migration, many law graduates pursue skilled migration under a related occupation or through employer sponsorship rather than relying on a lawyer-specific skilled pathway. Your visa strategy and your admission strategy need to be planned together but treated as distinct projects. Assuming that a migration skills assessment covers your right to practise is one of the most common and costly misunderstandings law graduates make.
Side by Side: How the Two Professions Compare
The table below is designed to be read column by column. If you are an accountant, work down the middle column. If you are a lawyer, work down the right column. The factors are what actually differ between the two.
| Factor | Accountants | Lawyers |
|---|---|---|
| First visa | 485 Temporary Graduate | 485 Temporary Graduate |
| Migration skills assessment | CPA Australia, CA ANZ, or IPA | Occupation-dependent; separate from admission |
| Profession-specific hurdle | Bridging subjects if degree gaps exist | Legal admission + practising certificate |
| Points competitiveness | Very high (pro-rata, high cut-offs) | Varies by occupation and pathway |
| Key points levers | Superior English, Professional Year, NAATI | English, work experience, sponsorship |
| Right to practise | Covered by skills assessment | Requires separate state admission |
The Pathways After the 485, For Both Professions
Once you have your profession-specific requirements underway and your points assessed, the permanent residency pathways are broadly the same for both:
- Subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) for high-scoring applicants whose occupation is on the relevant list, with no sponsorship required.
- Subclass 190 (Skilled Nominated) requiring nomination by a state or territory, which can lower the points pressure.
- Subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional) carrying bonus points and leading to PR through the 191 after three years of regional living.
- Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) if an employer sponsors you, leading to PR through the 186 after two years.
- Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme) for a direct or transitional employer-sponsored permanent pathway.
For accountants facing high cut-offs, state nomination (190) or the regional pathway (491) often makes more sense than waiting for a 189 invitation. Our comparison of 189 vs 190 PR visa covers the tradeoffs directly. For lawyers, employer sponsorship can be attractive because it sidesteps the points competition while you work through admission separately - our guide on 482 employer sponsorship walks through what the pathway requires. If you are already on a 482 and considering a change of employer, the guide on changing employer on a 482 covers how to move without breaking your PR clock.
What to Have Ready Before You Get Advice
- Your qualification details, including whether it is recognised by the relevant professional body
- Your 485 visa status and expiry date, or your eligibility for it
- For accountants: your target assessing body (CPA, CA ANZ, or IPA) and any known gaps in your degree
- For lawyers: whether you have completed Practical Legal Training and the Priestley 11 subjects
- Your English test results and current points estimate using the PR points calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Map Your Professional Graduate Pathway?
A migration professional can sequence your skills assessment or legal admission alongside your visa strategy, so you are not spending twelve months on one track only to find the other is not ready.