Australian Immigration Daily News

1. Skill Select – More Invitations to be issued today 

Home Affairs issues invitations in relation to Skilled (General) subclass 189 as well as Skilled Regional subclass 489 visas once per month. Current invitation round is expected to be conducted today.  Accordingly, applicants who have submitted their expression of interest are encouraged to check their skill select account.  Based on invitation rounds issued in September, approximately 2490 subclass 189 invitations as well as 10 subclass 489 invitation are expected to be issued today.  Minimum test score for subclass 189 visa is 70 points.  The minimum test score for subclass 489 visa is 80 points.  Certain occupations such as Accountants attract a higher minimum test score.   

For full details visit: 

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/WorkinginAustralia/Pages/11-september-2018-invitation-round.aspx 

On front page news today:

NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian has called for a 50% cut to NSW's overseas migrant intake.  The Premier has said it is time to take a breather.

For the full story and other related stories click the link below.

Migration Alliance has received the following communications from Regional Development Australia - Orana NSW:

RDA Orana has been working on the issue of the workforce for our region and has identified that there are critical labour shortages holding back business growth.

We’ve also identified a project pipeline of $7.9 B that is a mix of mining, infrastructure, renewable energy, manufacturing and health projects between now and the next 5 years.

The Migration Program is designed to achieve a range of economic and social outcomes. The program is set on an annual basis and re-sets on 1 July each year.  For the current migration year, with the total places available capped at a ceiling of 190,000.  These figures refer to permanent migration and do not include temporary visa grants such as visitor and temporary work visas. 

The subcategories of permanent migration are broken down as follows:

1. Skill – designed to improve the productive capacity of the economy and fill skill shortages in the labour market, including those in regional Australia. This represents most places offered (128,550 places in 2018-19).
2. Family – is predominately made up of Partner visas, enabling Australians to reunite with family members from overseas, and provide them with pathways to citizenship (57,400 places in 2018-19).
3. Special Eligibility – this covers visas for those in special circumstances that do not fit into the other streams. This can include permanent residents returning to the country after a period away, and is the smallest stream (565 places in 2018-19).

Based on the above figure, Skilled Migration Continues to remain Australia’s priority, representing 68.9% of the total migration intake.

Australia has a new Migration Minister David Coleman.  Hon David Coleman is a member for Banks, New South Wales.  Prior to entering politics, Hon David Coleman worked in the private sector, principally in the media and technology industries. He was Director of Strategy and Digital and Nine Entertainment Co, Chairman of ninemsn, and held board positions with a number of other companies including Sky News and 3P Learning, the operator of the Mathletics business.   He also worked with the management consulting firm McKinsey and Co, and had his own consulting business. In his recent interview with SBS, the Minister of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs advised that regional visas will be given a priority under his portfolio.  It is also worthwhile noting that immigration portfolio no longer falls under Home Affairs Ministry. 

According to latest statistics published by Home Affairs, approximately 128,550 places were allocated to skilled migrants and of those, approximately 16,000 were regional visa grants. 

There are several consequences which are to be expected: