Victoria’s investor migration programme updated its 2022–23 financial year requirements on 30 August. With 170 transitional investor migration state nomination allocations, Victoria has actually relaxed its requirements for this financial year! If you’re considering investor migration, this is essential reading.
On the morning of 30 August, the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) hosted a session, inviting NSW Investment officials to brief agents on NSW’s skilled and business migration programmes for the 2022–23 financial year.
Last week we introduced the Department of Home Affairs’ newly launched Visa Processing Times Guide — simple to use but of limited practical help. As for the official visa processing wait times updated for the first time in three months, they are worth monitoring but should not be taken as definitive. For details, see: New Department Feature to Check Whether Your Application Has Exceeded the ‘Standard Processing Time’? Updated Grant-Time Reference: Subclass 189 Old Backlog Cleared, but 190/491/887…
The last time the Department of Home Affairs updated its visa processing reference times was May 2022. Since the Labor government took office, pressure to speed up processing has come from all sides — the work has been getting done, but the data simply hasn’t been updated.
SA state nomination transitional quota for FY22–23 2,700 Subclass 190 and 3,180 Subclass 491 190 increased by 100, 491 decreased by 150 (The above are transitional-phase quotas only; adjustments are expected after the end of the first quarter of the financial year — most likely increases)
Let’s get straight to the point: Subclass 189 invitations have finally been issued recently — great news all around. For a summary of the invitation round, see: Subclass 189 Invitations Surge — Points Thresholds Drop Significantly for Several Occupations! But when some delighted applicants discovered that their skills assessment and English test had already expired, they were completely devastated — feeling that after finally receiving an invitation, there was no way to salvage the situation. They may have missed this opportunity, and who knows when the next skilled independent migration invitation will come.
Lower-cost Australian universities — while many students pay close attention to a university’s overall ranking and the subject ranking of their chosen field, affordable study-abroad options are far more popular. For those who have their sights firmly set on migration, study is simply a stepping stone; the ultimate goal is obtaining permanent residency in Australia. Australian employers value work experience and capability over the graduating institution — a key difference from the domestic job market. So keeping study costs as low as possible and securing residency as quickly as possible is the priority.
First thing Monday morning, the Department issued a deluge of Subclass 189 invitations! Invitations are still flowing, and the occupations receiving invites remain predominantly those that were in high demand during COVID — social workers, teachers, nurses, and a wide range of healthcare roles — but scores have dropped significantly!
Looking at successful applications over the past one to two years, we have found that the main applicant group for business and investor migration is no longer dominated by overseas entrepreneurs — more and more international graduates already in Australia are now meeting the requirements through entrepreneurship.
Processing of the Subclass 887 Skilled Regional visa — the pathway to permanent residency — currently remains stalled on applications lodged before September 2020. For these applicants, 90% must endure a wait of more than two years. Last weekend, hundreds marched through Adelaide in protest, calling for approvals to be fast-tracked — a cry that has reverberated throughout the migration community. Many are Chinese applicants whose lives have been put on “pause” while they wait with no end in sight.
