Sharing a recent lightning-fast Subclass 190 grant, with some takeaways for fellow Early Childhood Teachers
I shared an update when the client received their invitation — see the earlier note for background (Image 2).
In short: Early Childhood Teacher, 80 points before state nomination. Midway through last year, watching 189 cut-offs keep climbing, he decided to move to Western Australia — continuing to build points toward 189 while also exploring WA 190 or 491 options.
Fortunately, within a few months of moving to WA he landed a role in early childhood education, and in December last year received a WA pre-invitation at 805. He received the formal invitation in late January, lodged his 190 application in early February, and just half a month later — on 19 February — the visa was granted (Image 3). Timeline in Image 4.
This client was also fortunate in one other respect — his existing visa was about to expire, so he lodged the application the moment the formal invitation arrived. With the grant coming through in just half a month, the transition was essentially seamless.
So far, even though WA has reduced its state-nomination allocation somewhat this financial year, there are still plenty of places overall. Today’s updated state-nomination usage data shows that, as of the end of January, WA still has close to 80% of its 190 allocation and close to 83% of its 491 allocation remaining. There’s still plenty of opportunity this year (Image 5).
Early Childhood Teachers aren’t prioritised as highly as construction or trade occupations, but invitations do come through from time to time. Higher-scoring candidates in particular — if you have 80 or 85 points before nomination and are willing to relocate to WA — can realistically aim for 190 once you secure employment. And even if a job doesn’t come through immediately, the odds of a 491 invitation are still reasonable.
Especially now, with points scores for Early Childhood Teaching continuing to climb, WA is one of the few states with a relatively short lead-in period — at the moment it requires only three months’ prior residence, which is shorter than NSW, TAS, or most other states. The invitation mechanism is also relatively transparent, with invitations issued in descending points order. Not every occupation receives invitations in every round, but for higher-scoring Early Childhood Teachers this route is genuinely more achievable than chasing higher and higher 189 cut-offs.
This client also fell within the combination of regional area and early-childhood-teaching priority occupation, which is why the visa was granted so quickly. We’ve recently seen similar fast turnarounds for other priority-occupation applicants in regional areas — for example PTs, OTs, and nurses on regional 190 — all noticeably benefiting from higher processing priority.
Our advice for these applicants: get your medicals and police checks ready in advance once you’ve lodged. Processing for regional priority occupations is running fast at the moment, so anyone still waiting should also prepare early to give themselves the best chance of a quick grant.
One final reminder: once you’ve received an invitation or a grant, please withdraw your 189 and any other EOIs promptly so other applicants have a better chance. Our client got in touch with us to withdraw his 189 EOI the moment the visa was granted (Image 4).
Invitations aren’t easy to come by these days, and grants even less so. If you’re in a position to, a small gesture goes a long way — give someone else a better chance too!
