189/190 actual visa grant waiting times! Over 3,000 people still waiting for a visa under NSW 190! The industries with the most approved critical-skills border entry exemptions!

when it comes to FOI data, please keep two things in mind first:

First:the data has a certain lag,for example, it’s now late May, and the most recent figures we can usually see only run to the end of March, because it takes time for staff to collect, compile and publish the data after it’s requested

Second:each roundup can’t cover every category and occupation,so we generally pick out the ones that have been updated recently and that attract the most interest to share

Today’s roundup covers —

the monthly number of onshore and offshore 190 visa grants over recent months, and the remaining backlog

the monthly number of NSW-sponsored 190 visa grants over recent months, and the remaining backlog

the latest 489-to-887 application backlog

which occupations fall under ‘critical skills’ in the border entry exemption category

which PMSOL occupations have received the most border entry exemptions

Now, let’s get into it

The following data covers the period 13 September 2020 to 24 March 2021

139,368 border entry exemption applications,23,068 approved, an approval rate of only 16.5%

The top three grounds for application

Compelling or Compassionate leads by a wide margin with 65,213(various urgent, special circumstances)

Critical Skills, 36,508(which specific industries’ skills received the most approvals is covered further below)

Immediate Family (spouses and children of PR holders/citizens — there’s been an active push recently to have parents included as immediate family too)

The 10 industries/fields with the most approvals under the Critical Skills exemption category

Health care and social assistance leads with 1,204,which needs little explanation

Professional, scientific and technical services is second with 1,003,which, according to the ABS definition, covers a broad range of fields:

“These services include scientific research, architecture, engineering, computer system design, legal, accounting, advertising, market research, management and other consultancy, veterinary science and professional photography. However, this does not include units mainly engaged in providing health care and social assistance services.”

Engineering and construction-related fields round out the next three spots, with much smaller numbers.

For offshore employer-sponsored applicants whose occupation isone of the 19 occupations on the PMSOL list,a border entry exemption can also be granted at the same time as the offshore visa grant — this mainly applies to the 482 TSS and 494 temporary visa categories; if it’s a 186 (which is PR), no additional exemption is needed. So, as of the first three months of this year, the occupations that received the most exemptions on this basis were:

The top tier issoftware engineering, mechanical engineering and management occupations,which had over 200 in just three months

The second tierincludes developer programmers and construction project managers,among others, all with over 100

This also indicates that,for occupations such as software engineering, mechanical engineering, developer programmer and construction project manager, if you have relevant work experience, now is a good opportunity to get ahead through employer sponsorship, with priority processing and fast approval! Whether you’re onshore or offshore, if you’d like an assessment, feel free to contact our consultants below!

Broken down by nationality, among the top five for the most exemptions granted,Chinese applicants had 1,171 approvals:

Migration news and Q&A group

Still looking for a Plan B? It’s right here!Click ‘Original Link’for the New Zealand border entry guide!