Home Affairs published latest invitation round for subclass 189 Skilled Independent as well as Subclass 489 Regional Provisional Visas.

By comparison to March 2019 invitation rounds where a total of 1500 Invitations were issued, Home Affairs issued a mere 100 invitations for subclass 189 visa and 10 for the 489 visas.  The lowest invitation score was 80 points.

Full details pertaining occupations that received invitations as well as minimum points score are available here: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skillselect/invitation-rounds

Earlier this year, the Government confirmed plans to reduce immigration intake down to 160,000 and place greater focus on regional areas with the introduction of two new provisional regional visas due to commence in November 2019.

Further, the government is currently in negotiations with several regions across the country to enter into a Designated Area Migration Agreements which will allow employers to sponsor foreign nationals in skilled as well as semi - skilled occupations in areas which are currently experiencing consistent and critical skills shortage.