Western Australia released its first invitation round for this financial year yesterday. As previewed, it was an interim quota round with a small number of invitations, and today’s official report confirms this — 420 pre-invitations in total (header image).
All invitations went to the highest-priority occupations in the construction trades, including electricians, plumbers and carpenters. Only the Sch2 and local-graduate VET streams received invitations, with just one lucky applicant invited from the Higher Education stream (image 2).
Among WA’s priority industries this financial year, construction blue-collar trades have been singled out. Construction occupations are now split into blue-collar trades and other occupations.
One important note: WA graduates who completed Higher Education and Advanced Diploma qualifications in the previous financial year could be counted under both streams.
However, this financial year, the applicant’s highest qualification completed in WA will determine which stream they fall under. If the highest qualification is a bachelor/master, they can only be treated as a Higher Education stream applicant. If the highest qualification is VET, they can only be treated under the VET stream (image 3).
On this point, we received a question over the past couple of days that’s worth discussing. An applicant completed a BA and a diploma in Enrolled Nursing, both in WA. Their skills assessment is as EN, so they go through the WA local-graduate stream — but do they count as Higher Education or VET? Feel free to comment below, and I’ll reveal the answer later.
Another key point newly added this financial year: applicants must have lived continuously in WA for at least three months before receiving an invitation. This is a significant update (image 3).
Neither the general 190 stream nor the graduate stream requires a job offer or work experience. If you’re considering studying a blue-collar trades course, WA is well worth focusing on this financial year!
