The Department has today released the state nomination quota usage for this financial year up to 30 September. All states have so far received only a small allocation of interim quota, so Q1 of 2025-26 can be considered the coldest (and most meagre) state nomination data in history (see hero image).
Now let’s look at each state in turn
New South Wales
NSW’s interim quota of 200+180 places now has 201 remaining, mainly used to clear the backlog of invitations from the previous financial year.
Last Tuesday’s first-round invitations were small in scale, with the vast majority going to construction and engineering blue-collar occupations. The first-round invitations are not yet reflected in the data.
Canberra
ACT was the earliest state to issue first-round invitations, and is also issuing nominations for those invited in the previous financial year. 190 usage is at 70/85, and 491 is at 44/80.
ACT’s official website has updated the quota usage up to 15 September. At this pace, ACT’s remaining 51 interim quota places should have been fully used up in October.
Victoria
Almost none have been used, because there isn’t much backlog of invitations from the previous financial year, and the pre-invitations issued in October are not yet reflected in the data.
Those invited in VIC’s October ROI round have already had their nominations approved — Victoria completed the ROI submission first-round invitation-to-nomination approvals in mid-October, and the overall efficiency is quite pleasing.
Queensland
Similar to Victoria, the quota has barely been used. The reasons are much the same: not much backlog from the previous financial year, and no large-scale invitations issued this financial year — invitations have basically gone to S.B.O. applicants whose visas are about to expire.
Western Australia
The 104 quota places already issued all went to invitees from the previous financial year. First-round invitations were in October, so the pre-invitations issued are not yet reflected in the data.
The first round of 420 invitations all went to construction-trade occupations, which sets the tone for this financial year: construction — especially construction-trade occupations — will be very highly favoured.
Tasmania
A total of 151 places have been used. Most of the interim quota went to ROI invitations received at the end of the previous financial year. When we met with the state, they also indicated that before receiving their formal quota they would only issue a very small number of ROI invitations, and would not issue formal nominations.
Northern Territory
A total of 145 places have been used. Like Tasmania, they have all gone to invitees from the previous financial year, with new 491 invitations only being considered in special circumstances. Their official website has just updated to show the interim quota is exhausted (see image 2).
South Australia
A total of 97 quota places have been used. Although various versions of the new South Australian occupation list and policy have been circulating, SA has not yet announced its policy for this financial year, so the interim quota is basically still being used to process the backlog from the previous financial year.
At this stage, most states have gradually released their policies for the new financial year — only South Australia and the Northern Territory have yet to finalise their policies.
Regarding interim quota, only Canberra and NSW have clearly stated their interim quota numbers, so for the other states it is not yet possible to tell how much stock remains. With November around the corner, we hope the quotas will be released sooner rather than later, so everyone can breathe a little easier.
