There is a lot of state nomination news today, 6 November. The trigger is that the federal government (very likely) has issued a new wave of interim places to the states, and given that the first wave has largely been used up, everyone can get moving again now that more places have arrived.

Starting with NSW:

By the end of October, NSW had used 197 places for subclass 190 and 173 for subclass 491, which in sheer volume is the highest of any state — meaning NSW likely received the largest share of the first wave of interim places, or at the very least one of the largest.In October alone, NSW issued 89 formal 190 invitations and 102 formal 491 invitations.

After issuing 197 formal 190 invitations, NSW today released another fresh round of pre-invitations, covering occupations that include — but are not limited to — construction and healthcare, which very likely indicates NSW has also received a second wave of interim places.

Below is the invitation data collected from our own clients and from external sources:

– The volume so far looks larger than the 21 October round, and the occupation spread is broader.

– The previous round was concentrated in the construction trades; this round still sees construction invitations but at lower scores, with Architectural Draftsperson and Construction Project Manager both receiving invitations on a raw score of 75. Healthcare and broader wellbeing occupations also came through at relatively lower score thresholds.

– For other occupations, NSW only picks the very top scorers within each occupation, and as the most competitive state nomination program, invitation raw scores routinely sit at 90.

NSW has performed well on the 190 front this year — it ran the first round on 21 October, and less than three weeks later has already run another. The only catch is that the places remain limited, so applicants still have to compete fiercely. The further catch is that NSW has not opened the 491 this year — every 491 place issued has gone to applicants who already received pre-invitations last year.

Next up: WA and QLD

WA has confirmed receipt of a second wave of places, so it will run a second pre-invitation round of this financial year in November. The first round issued at the end of October was made up entirely of construction-trade occupations, and the scores were not low either — we are hoping to see a wider range of occupations in November.

By the end of September, WA had issued 62 places for the 190 and 54 for the 491, and by the end of October those numbers were unchanged — no further progress. The formal nominations being issued right now are all going to applicants who received pre-invitations in the final months of the previous financial year. WA is not yet ready to process this year’s invited applicants and will continue to wait until its formal places are granted before it starts work.

QLD quietly updated its official website today

— it has received interim places, although it did not specifically say whether this is additional allocation. QLD will use these interim places to issue invitations, and regular invitation rounds are about to begin.

By the end of September, QLD is understood to have used no places at all; by the end of October the 190 remained untouched and only 24 places had been issued for the 491. Based on our client cases, those 491 invitations were all issued through the small-business pathway, and only where there were extremely special circumstances such as a visa due to expire imminently.

Going by the numbers alone, QLD has had the lightest workload of any state — and it is finally about to put in some work.

TAS is back and issuing invitations today

TAS confirmed this week that it has received a second wave of 450 interim places. The first wave went mainly to applicants who received ROI invitations last year; with these 450 places in hand, TAS has also decided to issue new ROI invitations.In the previous financial year TAS consistently issued ROI invitations every Thursday, and — as expected — it is Thursdays again this year.

Our invited clients are all Green pass, covering both the 491 and the 190.

The state government then quickly published the data for this 6 November round:

70 invitations issued for the 190, minimum score 324, all Green pass.

30 invitations issued for the 491, minimum score 83, with Orange pass applicants also receiving invitations.

(TAS is using its own points table this year; an EOI only needs to reach 65 to qualify.)

Most Australian state nomination programs have now confirmed their policies and opened for applications — contact us to assess a full migration plan tailored to you!

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