Canberra announced today that the next Matrix invitation round will be held this Thursday, 10 December，The schedule for subsequent rounds was also released — April is planned to be the final round of this financial year.
Canberra is arguably the first state to publish specific state-nomination invitation dates. This provides strong certainty, so that applicants/agents/and even the state government itself can all plan and progress steadily against a known timeline.
The new guidelines were also released alongside the schedule. Only the onshore-applicant section has been amended; the offshore-applicant guidelines remain unchanged this time. The changes take effect from 1 February 2026 — let us look at the key points.
These202621 Guidelines — effective 1 February 2026 — key changes
1. Removal of the 482/457 → state-nomination pathway
2. Minor adjustments to the small-business pathway
3.. Self-employedABN minimum-income threshold raised
4.Skilled Level Employment. Skilled-Level-Employment hourly-wage threshold raised
1. Removal of the 482/457 → state-nomination pathway
Thisstream stream was originally created because482 many occupations have no direct route toPR, and Canberra wanted to retain people already working here by offering a state-nomination channel. Now, because482-186 covers a wide range of occupations with favourable policy settings and low requirements, for the state government to step in mid-way and use491/190 to invite482 holders is effectively interfering with the employer-sponsorship relationship. No other state currently runs a similar policy, and looking at invitations issued last financial year to482 holders, the numbers were not high either (190-150,491 — even fewer,23), so removing this pathway is a reasonable move.
2. Small-business (SBO)SBO pathway minor adjustments
-Small-business owner:491 — income over3 months13,000 raised toAUD 16,000；190 — from6 months26,000 raised toAUD 32,000。
-Compared with the outright removal of the482 pathway, the small-business changes are relatively minor.
The state government also noted that this is a normal indexation adjustment for inflation, and expectsSBO no major policy changes to the SBO stream in the short term.
3. Self-employed (ABN)ABN minimum income also raised
491: from the 2023 rate of2023520AUD//week raised to610AUD//week;
190 — from the 2023 rate of20231,000AUD//week raised to1,175AUD//week
4、Skilled Level EmploymentSkilled-Level-Employment hourly-wage threshold raised
TFNEmployees (TFN): from26AUD//hour raised to31AUD//hour;
Small-business owners:13,000AUD/3 months raised to16,000AUD/3 months;
Self-employedABN520AUD//week raised to610AUD//week
Rationale: the Canberra state government stressed repeatedly in theGuidelines that the wage-threshold increases are in line with inflation and/ normal adjustments to the national minimum-wage requirements, and will be updated in real time at the start of each future financial year — an ongoingreview.
The Canberra state government also plans to launch a new Matrix submission system during this financial year, expected in the final months of the financial year. Once live, the new system will allow applicants to amend already-submittedMatrix applications, which should meaningfully improveMatrix invitation efficiency — avoiding repeated, ineffective submissions and invitations — so that every invitation actually“lands where it counts”！
As of1124November 24, Canberra state nomination:190 has593 places remaining;491 has580 places remaining. This is consistent with the figures previously published by the Department of Home Affairs.
Applicants who need advice on Canberra state nomination, or who are affected by these changes, are welcome to contact our client-service team below for a consultation.
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