This Week’s Migration News Round-Up

Migration Weekly

1. 2023–24 state-nomination quotas still not confirmed; Queensland processing into the final week

2. Tasmania briefly closes for the year-end changeover and previews new-financial-year changes

3. The course codes for the extra 2-year Subclass 485 are released

4. A brilliant, bumper 2022–23 financial year — a wrap-up and a few predictions for the year ahead

5. This week’s grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing round-up

2023–24 Working Holiday (Subclass 462) visa applications now open

The first news of the new financial year comes from the WHV

1. Subclass 462 EOI registration for 2023–24is open from 1 July 2023 to 31 January 2024

2. The new change this financial year is thatyou first need to register an ImmiAccount

3. After lodging your EOI (expression of interest) through your ImmiAccount,a successful lodgement will generate a confirmation letter, and the status will show as “received”, meaning the Department has received your expression of interest. If you are selected, it will show as “selected”; if you are not selected in that round, you will not receive any additional message and the status remains “received”.While the EOI status is “received”, you can amend some of your details through your ImmiAccount

4. This financial year still uses random selection. The start and end dates of each round are updated, and when you are selected, your ImmiAccount status will change and you will also receive an email notifying you of the selection

5. once you receive the selection email you have three months to lodge your documents(the documents and requirements are the same as before),and if you fail to lodge your documents within the time limit you will be penalised andwill not be able tolodge a new EOI again this financial year

6. Selection for the whole financial year ends on 30 April 2024; any EOI not selected by that date will automatically lapse,and the rules for the following 2024–25 financial year will be announced on 1 May 2024.

There are still 5,000 places for Subclass 462 this financial year. It is open to applicants aged 18–31 with English of at least an overall IELTS 4.5 (PTE is also accepted); once you arrive you can work full-time in Australia, and there is no requirement regarding the applicant’s current employment.

If you need help lodging a Subclass 462 application or want to learn more about the requirements,

add our consultant below

1. 2023–24 state-nomination quotas still not confirmed; Queensland processing into the final week

This week is the final week of the 2022–23 financial year — by the calendar, today (2 July) we are already in the new financial year. The Department’s processing has entered its wind-down stage, mostly working through temporary visas such as Subclass 408/500/485. With the new financial year arriving, one of everyone’s biggest concerns is each state’s Subclass 190/491 quotas.

Queensland was the first to state, in its June monthly report —also its year-end summary — that the Commonwealth has not yet approved the final formal state-nomination quotas. Shortly afterwards Tasmania also said it had not yet received its quotas either.

Beyond the new-year quotas, Queensland also noted:

– By the end of the second-last week of 2022–23, it had approved 4,000 state nominations. It was still sprinting through processing in the final week, but with Queensland’s total quota of 5,000, clearing 1,000 in a single week is clearly impossible, so, as expected, Queensland looks set to leave quite a few places unused

– There have been significant staffing changes in the state-nomination team this 2022–23 financial year. The team’s manager formally retired after 25 years of service, and another departure was Principal Project Officer Lin Han. Marney Richardson, who has extensive migration-law and legal experience, has taken over as manager, along with several new staff members joining

Queensland in summary:

– Its 2022–23 performance was fairly average — on policy, on quota release and on processing, it was something of a laggard.

– This financial year invitations leaned towards science and engineering fields; accountants mainly went through the Subclass 491 small-business stream, and the local-employment stream had a higher priority

– During the year there were rumours that the requirements would be relaxed and the floodgates opened, but unfortunately it never eventuated.

– Whatever Queensland’s quota turns out to be for the new year (given the size of the program it won’t be too small), we hope the threshold can come down a little.

2. Tasmania briefly closes for the year-end changeover and previews new-financial-year changes

Tasmania this week announced its arrangements for the year-end changeover and gave an early preview of the direction of its new-year policy changes — more specific than at its earlier information session.

ROI applications temporarily closed:

New-year ROI applications will open from 5 July 2023,and at the same time the system will be updated with the new requirements, attributes and policy guidelines

ROIs already lodged or already invited are not affected by the new policy:

1. Nomination applications lodged before 1 July 2023 but not yet processed (meaning the ROI has already been invited) will be assessed under the policy in force at the time of lodgement. Once approved they will count against the new-year quota, but Tasmania’s backlog is small, so this will not take up much of the quota

2. ROIs successfully lodged in 2022–23 but not invited will remain valid in the new financial year and will likewise be invited under the policy in force when the ROI was lodged

Previewed changes for the new financial year

1. All migration occupations will be able to apply through the Subclass 190 Employment pathway

2. Adjustments to the onshore occupation list (Tasmanian Onshore Skilled Occupation List)

3. Adjustments to the requirements for massage therapists

4. Adjustments to the income thresholds in state nomination in line with changes to the TSMIT

5. Minor adjustments to the priority attributes

6. The policy guidelines will be more detailed

After Tasmania got its gateway system running smoothly in the second half of the financial year, it still picked up quite a few local applicants, and many of our clients were invited. If you want to learn about Tasmanian state nomination, add our consultant below

3. The course codes for the extra 2-year Subclass 485 are released

Many new policies take effect in 2023–24, and many of them require accompanying legislation. The Department rushed in the final week to put almost all of it in place — including the specified-qualification course codes for the extra 2-year Subclass 485

In other words, the long-asked question “can I apply if I studied XXX?” now has a definitive answer thanks to the course codes.

The course codes run to more than 100 pages — please add our consultant to check whether your course is eligible for the extension.

The specified qualifications cover the following fields —

Medical and Nursing (categories: Medical Professionals, Nursing and Medical Technicians)

Professional Health (categories: Dentistry, Veterinarian)

Diagnostic (categories: Medical Imaging, Radiologist)

Allied Health (categories: Psychologist, Recovery Therapist, Optometrist, Pharmacist)

Teaching

Engineering

ICT

Agriculture (categories: Agriculture, Food Technologist)

You may apply in the following circumstances

Scenario 1 — First-time lodgement of a Subclass 485 PSW on or after 1 July 2023 (where you have not previously held one as the primary applicant)

You will be granted the extended Subclass 485 directly — for example, a bachelor’s degree holder will receive 4 years straight away

Scenario 2 — You currently hold a Subclass 485 PSW, a Subclass 485 replacement, or a Subclass 485 regional (the extension obtained in a regional area)

On or after 1 July you can apply for a subsequent Subclass 485, and the extra 2 years will be added directly to your existing visa.

For example: Xiao Ming’s current Subclass 485 expires on 1 December 2023; from 1 July at the earliest he can apply for a 2-year extension, taking his visa validity out to 1 December 2025.

Because the list of course codes runs to more than 100 pages, we obviously cannot show them all — please add our consultant below and we will arrange for an adviser to assess your Subclass 485 application!

4. A brilliant, bumper 2022–23 financial year — a wrap-up and a few predictions

2022–23 was truly a bumper year for Australian skilled migration. Whether you were waiting onshore for a long time, watching the policy closely from overseas, or someone who had been in Australia and then returned home, there were a great many invitations and grants, plenty of stream choices, and the quotas were the largest in history.Visa processing also finally sped up dramatically, with the backlog falling from nearly 1,000,000 to the most recently updated 550,000(and that is despite a constant flow of large numbers of new lodgements)

We have put together a brief wrap-up of a few common migration streams, along with some modest predictions

Subclass 189 Skilled Independent migration

The biggest surprise of the year. With 66,535+ invitations it made a commanding comeback, with invitations concentrated in the first half of the year. Occupations such as healthcare, nursing, teaching, social work and trades were invited at 65 points, while accounting, IT and engineering were invited at 85 points — onshore or offshore, it seemed to give everyone hope

There will be even more grant quotas in the new financial year, and Subclass 189 will remain one of the mainstream choices — but competition will be even fiercer. With it feeling like everyone is lodging a Subclass 189, competition is intense, so while you wait it is worth considering a Plan B

Subclass 190 state nomination

This financial year saw a bidding war for talent, with a total quota of 38,000+. The states worked hard to use up their quotas, and many sharply lowered their application thresholds and expanded their occupation lists during the year. New South Wales and Victoria competed directly with Subclass 189, while the other states competed with NSW and Victoria for applicants — the result being that most quotas were fully allocated

The overall new-year quota should not differ much from this year, but how it is split between the states remains uncertain. From what we understand, several state-nomination programs are unlikely to change policy substantially, but competition will be even more intense.

Subclass 491 regional state nomination

For most of the financial year it was overlooked and shunned, but the zero-income requirement introduced at year-end finally let Subclass 491 hold its head high and put visa holders’ minds at ease.For most states and occupations this financial year, simply reaching 50–70 points yourself gave you a good chance of a Subclass 491 invitation; many of the thresholds did not even require work experience, all lowered to the absolute minimum.This swept up many people offshore.

Judging by our current enquiry volumes, the zero-income requirement has already drawn explosive interest for the new financial year,and we expect the points to rise in the new year — so get your skills assessment done and achieve at least four 6s as soon as you can, and try to seize the opportunity while the points are still low!

Employer-sponsored

Employer sponsorship was the star of the second half of the financial year. Of the new policies now confirmed, 80% (PS: the requirement for the TSMIT to be 70,000 from 1 July has also been legislated) relate to employer sponsorship, and most of them are hugely positive.STSOL occupations will also be able to move straight to PR, converting to permanent residency after 2 years of work, and Subclass 482 holders will be given more time to change employers,and the Labor government’s focus on and prioritisation of the Subclass 482 is clear,with large numbers of Subclass 482 nominations and visas finalised within a few weeks to a month in the final months of the financial year.

The new financial year should bring much good news, with more details added and confirmed. If you have around 2–3 years of relevant work experience, this really is an excellent stream — roles in accounting, IT, engineering, marketing, finance and more all qualify.

If you need to, get in touch with our consultant to learn about Australian migration policy

For reasons of space, for a wrap-up of GTI, investor migration, Subclass 485, the Subclass 500 student visa and more, you can revisit the article:Let’s wrap up the [brilliant] 2022–23 financial year! Was it your “dream come true”, your “happy surprise”, or are you “still on the journey”? Plus a few predictions for the new financial year!

5. This week’s grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing round-up

A round-up of Newstarsec’s recent grants and invitations across the board:Press and hold below to view — the page is updated continuously, so we highly recommend you save and bookmark it!

State-nomination invitation / GTI invitation statistics

Canberra (ACT) state nomination

None this week

Victoria state nomination

None this week

Tasmania state nomination

The following are formal nomination approvals

Subclass 190 nomination application lodged 9 June 2023, EOI invited 27 June 2023, 65+5 points (External Auditor – 221213)

New South Wales state nomination

None this week

South Australia state nomination

None this week

Queensland state nomination

Occupation: Management Consultant Lodged: 09/06/2023 Invited: 21/06/2023 Onshore, Subclass 190 work stream, onshore

Western Australia state nomination

None this week

Northern Territory state nomination

The following all received formal nomination

Occupation: Accountant, Lodged: 20/04/2023, Approved: 30/06/2023

Occupation: Recruitment Consultant, Lodged: 28/02/2023 Approved: 30/06/2023

Occupation: Accountant, Lodged: 07/03/2023 Approved: 30/06/2023

Occupation: Information Organisation Professional, Lodged: 17/03/2023 Approved: 30/06/2023

Occupation: Financial Investment Adviser, Lodged: 03/03/2023 Approved: 30/06/2023

Occupation: Insurance Agent Lodged: 14/03/2023 Invited: 30/06/2023

Occupation: Project Administrator Lodged: 04/04/2023 Invited: 22/06/2023

Occupation: Financial Investment Adviser Lodged: 28/03/2023 Invited: 22/06/2023

Occupation: Civil Engineer Lodged: 28/03/2023 Invited: 22/06/2023

Occupation: Computer Network and Systems Engineer Lodged: 24/03/2023 Invited: 30/06/2023

Occupation: Property Manager, Subclass 491 lodged: 21/04/2023 Approved: 28/06/2023

Occupation: Contract Administrator, Subclass 491 lodged: 21/04/2023 Approved: 28/06/2023

GTI invitations

None this week

This week’s grant progress and analysis

Subclass 189 Skilled Independent migration

None this week

Subclass 190 State Nominated skilled migration

None this week

Subclass 491 (new regional) / Subclass 489 (old regional) sponsored visa

None this week

Subclass 887/191 regional permanent residence visa

None this week

Employer-sponsored

Lodged 12 September 2022, Subclass 186 DE nomination approved 28 June 2023, Accountant

Lodged 20 June 2023; Subclass 482 sponsorship + nomination + visa all approved together on 27 June 2023, Accountant

Investor migration / GTI

None this week

Subclass 600 visitor visa

Lodged 27 June 2023, granted 30 June 2023

Lodged 28 June 2023, granted 28 June 2023 (genuine tourist; refused the first time, came to us for help, and we successfully turned it around)

Lodged 23 June 2023, granted 26 June 2023

Lodged 8 June 2023, granted 27 June 2023, offshore

Lodged 15 June 2023, granted 27 June 2023, offshore

Lodged 19 June 2023, granted 28 June 2023, offshore

Subclass 500 student visa

Lodged 8 June 2023, granted 27 June 2023

Lodged 26 June 2023, granted 27 June 2023

Lodged 14 June 2023, granted 26 June 2023

Lodged 26 May 2023, granted 29 June 2023, offshore

Subclass 485 Graduate Work visa

Lodged 30 June 2023, granted 30 June 2023

Lodged 28 June 2023, granted 28 June 2023

Lodged 19 May 2023, granted 26 June 2023

Lodged 28 June 2023, granted 28 June 2023

Lodged 26 June 2023, granted 28 June 2023

Lodged: 25/03/2023 Granted: 27/06/2023 Offshore

Lodged 29 June 2023, granted 29 June 2023

Lodged 28 June 2023, granted 28 June 2023 (GW)

Lodged 26 May 2023, granted 27 June 2023 (offshore)

Subclass 408 visa

Lodged 26 June 2023, granted 29 June 2023

Lodged 24 June 2023, granted 27 June 2023

Lodged 26 June 2023, granted 29 June 2023

Lodged 28 June 2023, granted 29 June 2023

Lodged 20 June 2023, granted 28 June 2023

Partner migration

None this week

Parent migration / visa / child visa

None this week

Subclass 155 visa

Lodged 29 June 2023, granted 29 June 2023

Lodged 26 June 2023, granted 26 June 2023

Lodged 27 June 2023, granted 30 June 2023

Lodged 28 June 2023, granted 28 June 2023

Citizenship applications

Lodged 29 November 2022, citizenship granted 29 June 2023

Lodged 2 December 2022, citizenship granted 26 June 2023

This week’s skills assessment progress

CA ANZ (accounting-related)

Lodged March 2023, skills assessment approved 28 June 2023, four occupations: Taxation Accountant, Management Accountant, General Accountant + Auditor

Lodged late May 2023, approved 28 June 2023, Taxation Accountant

ACS (IT-related)

Lodged 30 March 2023, skills assessment approved 26 June 2023, Software Engineer

Lodged 31 March 2023, approved 29 June 2023. Occupation: Software Engineer

VETASSESS

Lodged 22 June 2023, approved 28 June 2023. Occupation: Finance Broker

Lodged: 23/06/2023 Approved: 30/06/2023, Occupation: Insurance Broker

Lodged: 26/06/2022 Approved: 29/06/2023, Occupation: Statistician

Lodged: 26/06/2023 Approved: 30/06/2023, Occupation: Project Administrator

Lodged: 17/06/2023 Approved: 26/06/2023, Occupation: Project Administrator

Lodged: 18/06/2023 Approved: 24/06/2023, Occupation: Conference and Event Organiser

Catch up on past articles

Let’s wrap up the [brilliant] 2022–23 financial year! Plus a few predictions about opportunities in the new year

The course codes for the extra 2-year Subclass 485 are out — more than expected. Do you qualify?

Subclass 491 points this low, zero income to PR and Medicare too — check your eligibility in one read!

Migration news sharing group

2023

Step 1: Press and hold to add our consultant

Step 2: After adding, please

Study abroad, migration, visas — we are the professionals

Attention!Please verify agenuineNewstarsec consultant!

Study-abroad and migration enquiries — consultants in every location

Sydney

Melbourne

Canberra

Brisbane

Adelaide

Hobart

Beijing

Guangzhou

Follow the Newstarsec official account

On the official account, reply withone of the numbers below or any keyword (not in the comments at the bottom of the article),to get the most timely and professional migration news!Reply [A] to view the directory (covering every topic)!

Reply: 0000 → view the 16 Nov new-policy news (Subclass 491 + skilled migration points)

Issue 291 Australia Migration Weekly | Subclass 462 opens with lodgement changes; states yet to receive new nomination quotas; estimates and a wrap-up across skilled migration streams

Let’s wrap up the [brilliant] 2022–23 financial year! Plus a few predictions about opportunities in the new year

The course codes for the extra 2-year Subclass 485 are out — more than expected. Do you qualify?

Subclass 491 points this low, zero income to PR and Medicare too — check your eligibility in one read!

Quick Links

Popular Services

Our Offices

Follow Us