Every setback is an opportunity. The pandemic cast a shadow over Australian migration, but there’s a light shining through that shadow too — and nursing and IT are the two standout occupations, together accounting for almost half of all priority shortage occupations, with invitation numbers that are hard to ignore. In this long-form article, we take a detailed look at how IT professionals can plan carefully under current conditions to get ahead of the pack.
This article is for
Recently graduatedIT students
IT applicants who are alreadybuilding up points and watching forthe right opportunity
People with someIT work experiencewho are based overseas
IT skills assessment
A skills assessment is the entry ticket for most Australian skilled and employer-sponsored migration pathways. Most IT skills assessments are handled by the Australian Computer Society (ACS). The assessment focuses on two things:qualifications and work experience.Qualifications are assessed on the level and duration of the qualification and the relevance of the course content,and are split into three categories: Major, Minor and None-ICT.Work experience must meet the relevance requirement.
IT graduates who completetheir bachelor’s or postgraduate degree within Australia can use the onshore pathway,and only need to complete a one-year Professional Year programme or relevant work after graduating to be certified.Local Australian IT graduates can skip straight ahead to the Professional Year section below.
Applicants with an overseas qualification or another type of Australian qualificationare assessed on a combination of qualification and work experience — details below:
Major:
A Diploma, Advanced Diploma or Associate Degree must contain 50% or more ICT-related content.
Bachelor’s degree:
• A 3-year programme needs 33% or more ICT content
• A 4-year programme needs 25% or more ICT content
• A 5-year programme needs 20% or more ICT content
For postgraduate programmes that don’t require an undergraduate IT qualification for entry, the following can count as Major:
•A minimum of 3 semesters or at least 1.5 years of full-time study
•At least 2 semesters or 1 year of full-time equivalent ICTcontent
•Aminimum of 12 units or subjects (overseas degreesmay contain less units or subjects)
•50% ICT content for a 2 year Graduate Diploma or Mastersqualification
• 33%ICT content for a 3 year Graduate Diploma or Masters qualification
For postgraduate programmes that do require an undergraduate IT qualification for entry, 33% or more ICT content is needed.
Minor:
For a bachelor’s degree or above, if the ICT content falls short of two-thirds of the Major threshold, it’s classified as Minor.
Insufficient ICT Content:
Anything below the Minor threshold is treated as a Non-ICT qualification
The chart below shows whether your qualification and work experience meet the skills assessment requirements.
Professional Year (PY)
The Professional Year is a 12-month training programme. It covers job-seeking skills to boost your employability. The whole programme runs for 44 weeks,made up of 32 weeks of coursework and 12 weeks of internship. Classes run one day a week and the internship at least three days a week. Once you’ve lodged your Subclass 485 work visa and reached four PTE bands of 50 (or the IELTS equivalent), you can enrol.
Note that your Subclass 485 visa needs at least a year of validity remaining when you enrol.(Contact the author for detailed enrolment steps and intake dates for the Professional Year programme.)
The above covers how to obtain a skills assessment:Local Australian IT bachelor’s or master’s graduates get their skills assessment via a one-year PY. Those with an overseas IT qualification generally need two or more years of relevant work experience overseasbefore they have a chance of being assessed. Once you have your skills assessment, whatmigration pathwayscan you access?
Now for the main event — an overview of IT migration options
Subclass 189 and state nominations
Employer sponsorship and the GTI
Over the past two years, Subclass 189 skilled migration was Plan A for Australian graduates — straight to PR in one step. But quotas have shrunk sharply over the last two financial years, and invitations have moved from monthly to once every three months,with zero invitations for IT-related occupations last financial year. As for the July round already issued this financial year,there’s been no news either.For IT applicants still holding out hope, an EOI score of 95 or above can currently still make Subclass 189 one of your Plan B options.
Here are two common ways to make up a 95-point EOI score:
Option one:aged 25-32 (30), bachelor’s degree or above (15), two or more years of study in Australia (5), four PTE bands of 79 (20), single (10), Professional Year (5), one year of onshore Australian work experience (5), NAATI/CCL interpreting test¹ (5) = 95
Option two:aged 25-32 (30), bachelor’s degree or above (15), two or more years of study in Australia (5), qualification completed in a regional area (5), four PTE bands of 79 (20), partner holds a skills assessment and four PTE bands of 50 (10), NAATI/CCL interpreting test (5) = 95
Subclass 189’s English requirement isn’t low, and if you haven’t studied in a regional area, it’s best to have a year or more of relevant work(contact the author at the end of this article for the detailed points table).If IT applicants can’t reliably reach 95 points, their chances of a Subclass 189 invitation may be slim. And even at 95 or above, that’s no guarantee of a strong chance either — it comes down to luck. Good luck.
Footnote 1
The NAATI/CCL test is a translation and interpreting test. NAATI covers both written translation and interpreting, while CCL covers interpreting only. It’s one type of bonus-points item.
State government nomination comes in two types, Subclass 190 and Subclass 491,Subclass 190 is a straight-to-PR visa — once granted, you need to live in the nominating state for 2 years. Subclass 491 is a 5-year work visa for regional applicants — once granted, if within those 5 years you live in a regional area for 3 years and earn at least $53,900 for 3 of those years, you can apply to convert to the Subclass 191 PR visa.
The list of regional postcodes is as follows:
Apart from NSW, VIC and QLD, the entire territory of every other state is classified as regional. You can check whether an area counts as regional by looking up its postcode.
A Subclass 190 EOI gets an automatic 5-point bonus, while a Subclass 491 EOI gets an automatic 15-point bonus. Below, we go through each state’s policy one by one.
NSW190
Worth considering at 85 points or above
For NSW’s Subclass 190, your occupation needs to be on the state list; the 2021-22 financial year requirement isto have lived in the state for three months or more, or have relevant work in NSW, plus a high EOI score, making it at one point no easier than Subclass 189.The IT-related occupations currently on the list fall into the 6 broad categories shown below:
The good news is that towards the end of last financial year, IT occupations saw a good number of invitations, with some applicants’ Subclass 190 EOI scores dropping as low as 90 points(NSW being a favourite, it’s never short of applicants, so competing scores won’t stay low).If you have relevant work in Australia and a Subclass 190 EOI of 85 or above, it’s worth submitting your EOI and holding out hope for an NSW 190 invitation.
Overall,NSW 190 has a large quota and is relatively stable, but the transparency of its invitation preferences is fairly low — recommended for applicants who’ve already built up a high score.
NSW491
Three pathways, each suited to different applicants
NSW’s Subclass 491 has three pathways: 1. Living and working in a regional area of NSW for a year or more;2. Graduates within two years from a regional NSW institution; 3. Other applicants living in Australia whose occupation is on the NSW 491 list.
Pathway 1 has priority and its own occupation list; pathways 2 and 3 share a list, and IT occupations are generally on it.
Pathway 1 suits applicants who have work in a regional area but whose EOI score isn’t quite high enough. If you’re a graduate within two years from the University of Newcastle or the University of Wollongong and can’t reach the higher scores needed for 189 or NSW 190, you can go straight for pathway 2.Other applicants wanting to try NSW 491 can choose pathway 3.
NSW 491 currently works by submitting a ROI first; once invited, you then submit an EOI and receive a formal invitation from the state government.In the 2021-2022 financial year there are 4 ROI windows: August 2021, October 2021, January 2022 and March 2022.
If you want to lodge your application as soon as a window opens, feel free to get in touch with the author.
ACT
Stable policy, short turnaround
The whole of Canberra is classified as a regional area, and it’s currently only open to applicants already in Australia.Canberra has its own occupation list, and IT occupations are essentially all on Canberra’s current list(it’s usually reviewed every 4 months, with the next review in September — IT occupations have historically been fairly stable on it).Canberra also has its own unique Matrix scoring system, shared by both Subclass 190 and Subclass 491.Once you meet the basic ACT 190 and 491 EOI requirement of 65 points, the state government issues invitations based on your Matrix score.
ACT state nomination also has a few basic requirements: 1. A skills assessment, 2.four PTE bands of 65 or the equivalent,3.Subclass 491 applicantsneed to have lived and worked in Canberra before lodging their application, for3 months,Subclass 190 applicantsneed to have lived and worked in Canberra before lodging their application, for6 months. (Any job qualifies as long as it’s at least 20 hours a week.)
Matrix scoring factors include how long you’ve lived in Canberra, your job role, hours worked, how long you’ve studied in Canberra, your English level, qualification level, your secondary applicant’s English level, occupation and job role, and can even take into account local investments, property and relatives.
Here are two common examples —
Example 1: Xiao Ming is single, has an IT bachelor’s degree from Sydney, has completed his Professional Year and obtained a skills assessment, has four PTE bands of 65, and has 10 months left on his Subclass 485 work visa.
Xiao Ming heads to Canberra and finds a job related to his skills assessment; after 3 months he’ll have a Matrix score of 65. Based on early-2021 invitation trends, he could be invited under 491.
Example 2: Xiao Zhang and his partner Xiao Wang. Xiao Zhang has an IT postgraduate degree from Melbourne, can only manage four PTE bands of 65, and has just had his Subclass 485 work visa granted.
His partner Xiao Wang studied accounting and has four PTE bands of 65. The two of them head to Canberra, where Xiao Zhang enrols in a PY locally and finds a full-time job — it doesn’t need to be IT-related. After 12 months they’ll have a Matrix score of 60, giving them a chance at a 491 invitation. If the job is relevant to his field instead, they’d have 80 points, giving them a chance at a 190 invitation.
Overall,ACT state nomination has a short preparation period and the Matrix policy is quite stable. For IT applicants, the higher your English score, the more relevant your job, and the longer you live and work there, the higher your score — and partner points make a noticeable difference.It particularly suits couples wanting a fast visa outcome whose English can reach four bands of 65 but who’d struggle with four bands of 79. If you need a detailed analysis of your own situation, or want the full Matrix scoring rules, feel free to message the author on WeChat.
SA
Good chances of finding relevant work
South Australia is also fairly welcoming to IT applicants,and applicants have a chance whether they graduated locally, graduated interstate, or have worked there before.That said, the requirements can vary slightly for each occupation,so this article uses 261313 Software Engineer as the example occupation for discussion.First, you’ll need a skills assessment and an EOI of 65 points. Beyond that, SA mainly differentiates eligibility by work requirements, as follows:
Interstate graduates:
24 months or more of relevant work in the Adelaide area, or 12 months or more of relevant work outside Adelaide, qualifies you to apply for 190; 12 months or more of relevant work in the Adelaide area, or 6 months or more of relevant work outside Adelaide, qualifies you to apply for 491.
SA local higher-education graduates:
12 months or more of relevant work in the Adelaide area, or 6 months or more of relevant work outside Adelaide, qualifies you to apply for 190; 3 months or more of relevant work anywhere in South Australia qualifies you to apply for 491.
SA graduates also have some additional exemption pathways on top of this — for example, PhD and research master’s graduates, and other high-scoring applicants.
Overall, SA’s quota isn’t small, and its policy is relatively stable.If your English doesn’t reach four bands of 65 and you don’t want to keep studying, you could consider completing 12 months of work in South Australia and applying for 491.SA also suits applicants who want to further their studies with a master’s or PhD.
WA
Favours local graduates
IT occupations are essentially all on Western Australia’s list. Both local and non-local graduates need a skills assessment, an EOI of 65 points and four PTE bands of 65. However, each has its own application pathway.Non-local graduates need to be living in Australia and hold a relevant full-time employment contract in WA of one year or more.Local graduates need six months of relevant work experience, or a relevant employment contract of six months or more.
WA overall still leans towards local graduates, and its basic English requirement isn’t low either — but if you have a local employment contract, it’s worth applying.
TAS
Landing a good job boosts your competitiveness
Tasmania essentially also has two pathways — a graduate pathway and a work pathway.Graduates of a 2-year Tasmanian programme can try for 190, and graduates of a 1-year programme can try for 491; 6 months or more of local work in Tasmania lets you try for 190, and 3 months or more lets you try for 491.
Although TAS’s 190 and 491 lists match the Department of Home Affairs list, there are currently no IT-related roles on TAS’s shortage list. TAS’s requirements look easier than those of areas that explicitly demand work experience, but with applicants flowing in steadily over the past two years, combined with limits on quota size and the number of jobs available,the state government invites on a merit basis.
So if you have an IT background and want an invitation, your own profile needs to be strong — for example, relevant local work, or work in a pandemic-critical or shortage industry.
VIC
There’s a chance, but in fewer fields
Victoria is fairly welcoming to the digital sector. Applicants with an IT background need to be living and working in VIC. If you work in the digital sector and are living and working outside Melbourne, you can try for VIC’s 491.However, the state government currently only considers 190 invitations for two niche fields — cyber security skills or digital game engineers.
VIC also works by submitting a ROI first, before a formal EOI and state government invitation follow. Overall, VIC’s state government requirements are consistently quite high.The pool of applicants who can secure an invitation is relatively small.
QLD
This financial year’s policy is tentatively due to be announced in September 2021
This financial year’s new policy hasn’t been released yet, but based on past policy, applicants need to have local work along with an ongoing employment contract for a further period. Last financial year’s quota went mainly to fields helping with pandemic recovery, with no particular preference for IT.
State nomination 190 and 491 — summary
Looking at English requirements:
actual NSW 190 invitations show it’s essentially four bands of 79; ACT and WA both need four bands of 65; other regions need four bands of 50 or above.
Looking at work requirements:
Needs 2 years: SA 190 for interstate applicants moving to Adelaide;
Needs 1 year: NSW 491, SA 491 for interstate applicants moving to Adelaide
Needs 6 months: ACT 190, TAS 190, WA graduates
Needs 3 months: ACT 491, TAS 491, SA 491 graduates
Needs a contract: WA
No explicit duration requirement, but one exists implicitly or informally: VIC, TAS
How to choose
Follow this process
1. Are you willing to move outside Sydney or Melbourne?If not, aim for an EOI of 90 or above, or find relevant work in Melbourne, or skip ahead to the employer sponsorship and GTI sections below. If you are willing, move on to point 2.
2. Can you achieve four bands of 65?If yes, consider ACT and WA. If not, consider SA, TAS or NSW 491.
3. Do you want to complete a further qualification before considering migration?If so, consider TAS, ACT 190, SA 190 or WA; if not, consider ACT, which has a clear time advantage, or NSW 491 and SA 491.
Since the vast majority of state nomination streams require work experience, having a job is essentially a must. If you have specific questions about which state to choose, or any queries about the work side of things, feel free to add the author for a detailed discussion.
Employer sponsorship | 482 186
As mentioned above, applicants who don’t want to leave Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, or those with many years of work experience overseas, can consider employer sponsorship.The advantage of employer sponsorship is that you don’t need to build up points and wait for an invitation, and the quota is fairly generous too — IT is a relatively easy field to apply in.This type of migration option only requires an employer who meets the sponsorship conditions, plus an applicant who meets their own eligibility conditions.
Specifically, when an applicant applies forthe employer-sponsored Subclass 186 PR visa, they need to meet the following conditions:
1. A relevant qualification plus 3 years of full-time relevant work experience since obtaining it
2. Four PTE bands of 50
3. A skills assessment
The last two points are both easy to meet, but since a Subclass 485 work visa usually only lasts 2 years, building up three years of full-time experience is tough.At this point, you can first apply for the employer-sponsored temporary Subclass 482 visa as a bridge,as a Subclass 482 is generally granted for 2-4 years, during which you can work full-time throughout.
Employer-sponsored Subclass 482requirements are as follows:
1. A relevant qualification plus 2 years of full-time relevant work experience since obtaining it
2. Four PTE bands of 36 (IT is on the medium- and long-term occupation list)
Employer sponsorship can satisfy applicants who don’t want to leave a major city yet still want PR. But if you can’t even build up two years of experience, there are other options too — there’s a lot to cover, so we won’t go into it further here; interested readers can contact the author for the full details.
Global Talent Independent programme (GTI) | 858
To close out the article, here’s a brief look at the GTI — a special pathway for high-end talent that goes straight to PR.Many fields within an IT background have a chance under it, though the requirements are fairly demanding.
Generally speaking, GTI applicants need a matching background — research talent needs a PhD or above; on the income side, you need to already be earning AUD 153,600 or have the ability to reach that income; and applicants need a degree of influence in their field, along with a nomination from an influential Australian citizen, PR holder or organisation in the same field.
This pathway suits technical staff with many years of experience, senior executives, and university researchers — applicants with a PhD, or recent graduates with notable academic achievements.
This article has taken a detailed look, from a skilled-migration perspective, at how IT-background applicants can choose a migration pathway — readers can draw up their own plan based on their individual circumstances.Of course, besides skilled migration options, there are also investment-linked pathways within skilled migration, as well as family migration and investor migration,and readers who haven’t found a suitable option in this article are also welcome to contact the author for a plan tailored to them.
Finally, we hope everyone finds clear skies on their migration journey and reaps a great harvest!
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