Australian Immigration Daily News

The Department of Home Affairs has published their first round of skill select invitations for the new financial year and the figures are looking bleak.  The first round of invitations was sent on 11 July 2018 to potential applicants.  As reported previously, Home Affairs confirmed that invitation rounds will be issued once per month however, this will not impact the number of invitation issued.  The July figures seem to contradict the following statement issued via skill select: 

Posted on: 25/07/2018 at 00:01

SkillSelect invitation rounds for Skilled - Independent (subclass 189) and Skilled - Regional Provisional (subclass 489) will occur once each month, on the 11th day of each month, effective 11 August 2018. There is no change to the overall number of invitations provided each month.

July 2018 figures published on Home Affairs website list the following:

-       Skilled – Independent (Subclass 189) – 1000 Invitation Rounds

-       Skilled – Skilled Regional Provisional (subclass 489) – 10 Invitation Rounds

Total Invitation Rounds Issued for July 2018 = 1010

Top occupations to receive invitations are:

-       Civil Engineering Professionals

-       Electrical Engineers

-       Chemical and Material Engineers

-       Telecommunications and Engineering Professionals

-       Database and Systems Administrators

-       Software Application and Programmers

-       Registered Nurses

-       Other Medical Practitioners

-       Secondary School Teachers

-       Architects

-       Accountants

By comparison, July 2017 figures published on Home Affairs Website list the following:

-       Skilled – Independent (Subclass 189) – 2000 Invitation Rounds

-       Skilled – Skilled Regional Provisional (subclass 489) – 210 Invitation Rounds

Total Invitation Rounds Issued for July 2017 = 2210

Based on these figures, the skilled migration intake is halved.

Upon release of Federal Budget in May this year, the Government confirmed that immigration numbers will remain unchanged.

“In 2018–19, the planning figure for the Migration Program remains unchanged at 190,000 visas, marking the seventh consecutive year this figure has been used. This was announced in the Regional Australia ministerial budget statement, unlike in past years where the figure was in the Department of Home Affairs Portfolio Budget Statement. This continues the highest planning level on record”

It is therefore disappointing to see the first round of Skill Select results halved by comparison to last year.

Invitation process and cut offs are somewhat of a complex process given the there is no information published regarding ranking of applicants. The highest ranked clients by points score are invited to apply for the relevant visa. For clients who have equal points scores, the time at which they reached their points score for that subclass (referred to as the date of effect) determines their order of invitation. Expressions of Interest with earlier dates of effect are invited before later dates.

The second round of invitations was issued on 11 August and the data is yet to be made available to the public.  To match last year’s immigration intake, Department of Home Affairs will need to issue at least 3000 invitations (to make up for July shortfall) for August 2018 and at least 3500 invitations to match September 2017 intake.

Skill select first allocates places available to subclass 189 visas followed by provisional regional subclass 489 visas.  The current points cut off for subclass 189 visa is 75.  Provisional regional 489 visas points cut off is 80.

There is current no information available on any states or territories issuing subclass 190 nominations for the new financial year.

Full press release on permanent migration intake as well as skill select can be found here:

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201819/Immigration

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/WorkinginAustralia/Pages/20-june-2018-invitation-round.aspx