This Week’s Migration Update
Migration Weekly
5. The week’s grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing update
Home Affairs Minister
Migration reform recommendations to be released before 9 May
In a recent interview, the Home Affairs Minister said:she has received the migration reform recommendations report and is currently considering the review findings. Some or all of the content will be released before the 9 May Budget is handed down.
The recommendations that have repeatedly been flagged are likely to be made official soon:
First, the GTI programme and business and investor migration both face abolition or a complete overhaul.
Business and investor migration
It is understood that the Labor government has accepted the wide-ranging reform views and recommendations put forward by the Grattan Institute and the Productivity Commission. Both recommend complete abolition. The most recent Productivity Commission report directly recommends scrapping all business and investor migration programmes. The Grattan Institute likewise recommends abolishing business and investor migration and reallocating its annual quota to points-based skilled migration. In fact, the business and investor migration quota for this financial year has already been cut sharply to just 5,000 places.
The GTI programmewas a short-lived programme the previous government was proud of, but it has been repeatedly downgraded since Labor took office, and is likely facing upheaval as well.
Second, the number of visa categories will be significantly reduced.
Third, efforts to reduce the visa backlog are paying off — it has fallen from close to 1 million to about 570,000.
The Department of Home Affairs added 600 staff to process visas, and has handled the recent surge in migration flows well at the same time. Treasury forecasts a net intake of 650,000 migrants across this financial year and the next.
Below is the change in median visa processing wait times from May to December 2022; the updated March processing figures are summarised further down:
1. State nomination quota usage to the end of March — opportunities in NSW 491 / Canberra / WA
The Department of Home Affairs website has published state nomination quota usage to the end of March.Overall, every state is speeding up its use of the 190. In March alone, 7,764 190 state nomination places were issued(these are genuine formal nominations, not pre-invitations),with overallusage reaching 72.35%.3,300 491 places were issued in the single month, taking usage to 58.74%.
Of these,NSW used 2,178 190 places, Victoria used 3,136, and WA used 1,025. At this point, both NSW’s and Victoria’s 190 quotas are running low — the former has 1,034 places left and the latter 3,243.
Streams that still have quota and where state governments are willing to be generous include:
NSW 491 — popular IT and engineering occupations are being invited on very low scores, as explained below
Canberra 190 and 491 — the lodgement thresholds are about to be lowered,with core requirements such as continuous employment, four 7s in English and work experience likely to be eased
WA 190 and 491 — quota is sufficient,but WA is likely to maintain its requirement to relocate to the state,those who relocate can be invited quickly on a low score
If you want to secure at least one invitation this financial year, these are excellent opportunities — covering a wide range of popular occupations. Get in touch for an assessment.
For more analysis, see:NSW 491 / Canberra / WA and more still have plenty of quota!
In addition,state nomination quotas were also adjusted slightly this week.Victoria topped up its 190 from its own original 491 quota, adding 1,400 190 places.South Australia added to both its 491 and 190, with an extra 800 places. Tasmania also moved 150 of its own 491 places across to its 190.
2. A flood of NSW 491 invitations — IT / marketing / engineering invited on common raw scores of 50-65
NSW 491 issued a wave of invitations on and around 12 April. The features of this round are:
– a particularly large number of IT occupations invited — software engineering, security specialists and the like — on a raw score as low as 55
– there is an RDA stream,but more invitations came through the State stream (pathway 2). Many RDA stream lodgements have already closed; applications already successfully lodged will continue to be processed if the RDA still has quota, but the next major round of invitations will certainly be through the State stream
– there are onshore applicants,but more are offshore applicants, so this stream is well suited to common offshore occupations such as engineering / IT / marketing / organisation for applicants who cannot reach a high score
Further 491 nomination and invitation details:
– customer service manager, 50+15 points
186is relatively slower, but at an acceptable speed. The TRT stream is hovering around the middle of last year; the DE stream has reached the latter part of last year. Accounting is slower and computing occupations are faster.
Parent migration: 143/864applicants who lodged around 8 May 2017 have now been contacted. For 103/804, grants have reached a Queue Date (QD) of late February 2011, with a QD of 11 October 2011 receiving requests for further documents. Fewer document requests have been sent for the 143 recently, and a number of applicants who completed their full documents in January-March are still waiting to pay the second instalment of the contribution fee and receive their grant.
5. The week’s grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing update
A summary of recent Newstarsec grants and invitations across all categories:You can press and hold below to view it. The page is continually updated — we strongly recommend you save and bookmark it!
Canberra state nomination
Formal nomination approved
Lodged 31 March 2023, invited 12 April 2023 — NSW 491, External Auditor
Lodged 29 March 2023, invited 12 April 2023 — ACT 190, Database Administrator
Lodged 29 March 2023, invited 12 April 2023 — ACT 190, Early Childhood (Pre-Primary School)
Teacher
Lodged 29 March 2023, invited 12 April 2023 — ACT 190, Web Developer
Lodged 6 April 2023, invited 14 April 2023 — VIC 190, Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teacher
Lodged 29 March 2023, invited 14 April 2023 — ACT 190, Accountant (General)
Nomination lodged 24 January 2023, formally invited 12 April 2023
Victoria state nomination
Nomination lodged 4 April 2023,
formally invited 11 April 2023
Nomination lodged 5 April 2023,
formally invited 12 April 2023
Nomination lodged 5 April 2023, formally invited 14 April 2023
Pre-invited 5 April 2023, documents lodged 6 April 2023, formal nomination approved 12 April 2023 — Mechanical Engineering 85+5 points, onshore
Pre-invited 5 April 2023, documents lodged 6 April 2023, formal nomination approved 13 April 2023 — Conference and Event Organiser 80+5
Pre-invited 5 April 2023, documents lodged 12 April 2023, formal nomination approved 13 April 2023 — 75+5 points, Program or Project Administrator
Pre-invited 5 April 2023, lodged the afternoon of 13 April 2023, formal nomination approved 14 April 2023 — 85+5 points, Architect
190 lodged: 20/03/2023 Invited: 12/04/2023. Financial Investment Adviser, applicant offshore
None this week
Accountant (General) (221111) (75+15) — WA Nomination lodged 11 January 2023, formally invited 14 April 2023
None this week
This week’s grant progress and analysis
189 Skilled Independent migration
Lodged 27 October 2022, granted onshore 14 April 2023 — Registered Nurse (Aged Care)
Lodged 15 November 2019, granted onshore 14 April 2023 — ICT Business Analyst, with partner
Lodged 11 January 2023, granted onshore 12 April 2023 — ICT Security Specialist, with partner
Lodged: 26/08/2022, granted: 14/04/2023 — University Lecturer, offshore
190 lodged onshore 09 Aug 2021, granted 14 Apr 2023 – University Lecturer
Lodged 3 June 2021, granted 14 April 2023, onshore, occupation: Quantity Surveyor
Lodged 4 June 2021, granted 13 April 2023 — WA 190 Civil
Engineer, onshore with partner
Lodged 30 June 2022, granted 13 April 2023 — TAS 190
Accountant (General), onshore with partner
Lodged 26 October 2022, granted 12 April 2023 — VIC 190
Software Engineer, onshore with partner
Lodged: 29/04/2022, granted: 14/04/2023. Marketing Specialist, offshore
491 lodged onshore 13 Jul 2022, granted 12 Apr 2023 – ICT Business Analyst
Lodged 14 June 2021, granted 13 April 2023
Lodged 12 July 2022, granted 11 April 2023 — TAS 491
Computer Network and Systems Engineer, with partner
Lodged 23 August 2021, granted 14 April 2023 — TAS 491
Accountant (General)
Lodged 16 March 2022, granted 11 April 2023 — Accounting 90+15 points
None this week
186 nomination lodged 10 May 2022, approved 13 April 2023 — Accounting
482 nomination lodged 18 December 2022, approved 12 April 2023 — cook
None this week
Lodged 23 March 2023, granted 12 April 2023, offshore
Lodged 23 March 2023, granted 12 April 2023, offshore
Lodged 6 March 2023, granted 13 April 2023, offshore application
Lodged 3 February 2023, granted 12 April 2023, offshore application
Lodged 22 March 2023, granted 12 April 2023, offshore application
Lodged 9 March 2023, granted 12 April 2023, offshore application
Lodged 08 March 2023, approved 11 April 2023 — PR’s parents, offshore
Lodged 23 March 2023, approved 12 April 2023 — PR’s parents, offshore
Lodged 22 March 2023, approved 12 April 2023 — PR’s parents, offshore
Lodged 10 March 2023, approved 12 April 2023 — PR’s parents, offshore
500 lodged offshore 17 Feb 2023, granted 12 Apr 2023
500 lodged onshore 24 Nov 2022, granted 12 Apr 2023
500 lodged onshore 08 Mar 2022, granted 13 Apr 2023
Lodged 16 December 2022, granted 11 April 2023
Lodged 30 March 2023, granted 14 April 2023
Lodged 5 April 2023, granted 14 April 2023
Lodged 28 September 2022, granted 14 April 2023
Lodged 29 March 2023, granted 12 April 2023
820 lodged 16 December 2021, granted 13 April 2023
Lodged 13 January 2023, granted 11 April 2023
801 lodged 26 October 2021, granted 12 April 2023
870 lodged 14 January 2023, granted 13 April 2023
870 lodged 16 December 2022, granted 13 April 2023
870 lodged 9 January 2023, granted 14 April 2023
408 visa
Lodged 9 March 2023, granted 13 April 2023
Lodged 13 April 2023, granted 13 April 2023
Lodged 11 April 2023, granted 13 April 2023
155 visa
Lodged 11 April 2023, granted 11 April 2023
None this week
ACS (IT-related)
Lodged 3 February 2023, passed 14 April 2023
Lodged 23 February 2023, result issued 14 April 2023
Lodged 3 February 2023, result issued 12 April 2023
Lodged 10 January 2023, result issued 11 April 2023
Lodged 8 March 2023, result issued 13 April 2023 — CDR fast-track
VETASSESS
Occupation: Marketing Specialist, lodged: 01/04/2023 passed: 13/04/2023. Occupation: Program or Project Administrator, lodged: 05/04/2023 passed: 13/04/2023
Occupation: Research and Development Manager, lodged: 27/03/2023 passed: 13/04/2023
Occupation: Financial Investment Adviser, lodged: 04/04/2023 passed: 14/04/2023
Occupation: Financial Investment Adviser, lodged: 04/04/2023 passed: 07/04/2023
Catch up on past articles
March visa and state nomination processing overview | skilled categories accelerating, states ramping up formal nominations
Latest NSW 190 round invites from as low as 65 points! These occupations are remarkably easy to be invited
Victoria adds another 1,400 190 state nomination places! ICT invited to NSW on 65-80 points!
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2023
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