[Issue 279 Australia Migration Weekly] Three Months Left in the Financial Year: NSW to Open the Floodgates, Canberra to Lower Requirements! Subclass 189 Backlog Tops 36,000, Subclass 491 Nears 30,000!

This Week’s Migration News Round-Up

Migration Weekly

1. State officials confirm NSW will open the floodgates on Subclass 491; with quota to spare, 190 will keep issuing invitations

2. Victoria does not pick applicants by EOI score; Canberra is about to lower its requirements;

3. Queensland has used half its quota and reopens the priority channel next week; WA is pushing hard to approve nominations to hit its KPI

4. As of the end of January, the Subclass 189 backlog tops 36,000, and 491 nears 30,000!

5. The week’s grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing progress

1. State officials confirm NSW will open the floodgates on Subclass 491; with quota to spare, 190 will keep issuing invitations

This week the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) brought together the various state governments to brief everyone on the latest state-nomination situation. The good news everyone was most keen to hear came at the final day’s session: the head of NSW’s migration programme confirmed that the state government will now lead the way in opening the floodgates on NSW Subclass 491.

As of the end of February, NSW 491 still had more than 4,800 places remaining – the most left of any state’s 190/491 nomination quota.Across February and March, NSW 491-RDA (pathway 1) has been issuing invitations more frequently, and several of our clients have received invitations, so we believe a portion of that has already been used up.

On Friday the state official noted that quite a few RDAs had already used a large share of their quota by the end of March,so the state government (state) will now lead the invitations going forward, with an invitation round similar to 190 – many rounds, and in very considerable numbers (the official’s exact words were “very large round”) – so the remaining three months should be one of the best windows to make a final push for NSW 491!

NSW 491 has two main channels: under pathway 1 the RDA does the selecting, and under pathway 2 the state government manages it directly. The lodgement requirements are simply:

– residing overseas / in NSW (including Sydney) for at least 3 months

– an EOI score of 65 points (with at least 50 points earned on your own)

– a nominated occupation on the Pathway 2 skills list, with a corresponding skills assessment

– under 45 years of age

– English of at least four 6s

The Pathway 2 skills list covers a wide range of common occupations:manager roles in engineering / construction / human resources / restaurants, audit and finance, marketing / advertising / design / public relations, all kinds of engineering such as civil / electronic / mining / other, IT roles such as ICT BA / software engineer / multimedia specialist / web designer, plus the all-rounder occupations of contract and project administrator.

In fact,the NSW 491 invitation round also “quietly” began on 29 March. The chart below shows the data we have collected:

One more to add:Customer Service Manager – 149212, 50+15, lodged NSW 491 EOI on 23 March 2023,received a NSW 190 pre-invitation on 30 March 2023

For more detail, see:NSW state official just confirmed: 491 floodgates opening soon, multiple rounds and large volumes!

Offshore! Low scores! Fast! Don’t miss this chance to be invited – get in touch with our team for an assessment!

There’s no need to worry about the NSW 190 and 491-RDA channels either:190 will keep issuing invitations and has currently used 75% of the total quota, with the state government working steadily through to use it all.The 491-RDA channel will also continue normal processing and remain open to applications until each RDA has used up its quota.

2. Victoria does not pick applicants by EOI score; Canberra is about to lower its requirements;

The state with the largest 190 quota this financial year isVictoria. Last week they likewise broadened the scope of 491 applications – anyone anywhere in Victoria can now apply – and opened a fast track for occupations such as healthcare and social work. There wasn’t much of an update on quota usage, but they did reveal that 30% of the quota has so far gone to offshore applicants.

In addition, during the Q&A,the state official reiterated that Victoria does not refer to EOI scores when issuing invitations, nor does it rank applicants by EOI score. Instead it mainly assesses an applicant’s circumstances through the ROI submission (Victoria’s lodgement system).For onshore applicants, more weight is given tosalary, whether you have a job in Victoria, work experience, age and English, all assessed in the round; so a very high salary alone won’t make you competitive if you are older with weaker English. For offshore applicants, the main factors are age, English level, work experience, and the partner’s English and skills assessment (whether they are a skilled partner).

There’s also no need to worry about future invitations: although there is a fast track,invitations for other occupations will keep coming, and they believe invitations will continue at least through to May. The Victorian team has also brought on more staff and is working hard to train new recruits, in the hope that processing speed will pick up.

Canberra‘s programme head, meanwhile, announced some important news rather casually.Canberra will soon lower the threshold for state-nomination applications and once again expand its list. You won’t have to wait for the new financial year – it should be visible very soon,and he urged everyone to keep a close eye on the official website. The Canberra matrix invitation scores have been trending down ever since January, but Canberra’s pre-application thresholds are still quite high: offshore 491 applicants need three years of relevant work experience plus four 7s; onshore 190 applicants need six months of full-time work experience, and 491 needs three months of part-time work, also with four 7s.

Compared with the big players like NSW and Victoria, Canberra still has plenty of room to adjust. Something to look forward to!If you’d like to understand Canberra state nomination ahead of time and get prepared, please get in touch with our team below.

3. Queensland has used half its quota and reopens the priority channel next week; WA is pushing hard to approve nominations to hit its KPI

Queenslanddidn’t reveal much at the meeting about reforms to lower requirements this financial year (even though they had earlier hinted at them). They did give an update on quota usage:

–to date 2,500 nominations have been issued across 491+190, putting usage at 50% by the end of March, up from under 40% at the end of February – an improvement.Of the quota issued, 60% went to 190, leaving 1,200 places;40% went to 491, also leaving 1,200 places

– most invitations went to the local-worker channel, since 491 SBO issuances make up 10% of the total quota; local graduates make up 10% of the total quota

– Queensland’s focus remains onshore: 80% of nominations go to onshore applicants, only 20% offshore

–Queensland’s Top 10 skilled-migration occupations are software engineer, ICT BA, civil / mechanical engineering, QS, programmer, cook / chef, and restaurant / cafe manager; accountant is also in the Top 10, but most go through the SBO channel

Next week, from 3 April to 10 April, Queensland will again open priority processing for applications via the local-worker channel – still limited to the local-worker channel.Do take note: the case must be decision ready, with all materials fully prepared.

If you need help lodging, please get in touch with our team below

WAhad a quota usage rate of just 32% up to the end of February. At the MIA-organised meeting,the state official revealed it has now reached 50%,and they are currently working hard to process nominations, with more pre-invitations to come.As always, WA will do its best to use up the entire quota.As for not issuing 491 in the last two rounds, they said they are indeed carrying out “quota load management”,but the 491 channel has not closed for the financial year – it is still accepting applications now.

If slow processing puts an applicant’s job offer at risk, you can contact the state government to expedite processing – but you must provide very detailed supporting materials.

4. As of the end of January, the Subclass 189 backlog tops 36,000, and 491 nears 30,000!

Having covered state nomination, let’s also touch on the latest visa-backlog news. Processing of the three main categories – 189, 190 and 491 – is now very fast, but with more invitations going out, there are more people eagerly waiting. We mainly share data for the 189, 190, 489 and 491 categories up to the end of January(as of the end of January, the large-scale concentrated clearing of the 887 backlog had not yet begun).

–the total backlog is close to 90,000,of which 189 accounts for more than 36,000, 190 has more than 21,000, 491 nears 30,000, and 489 still has around 2,700

–16,500 visas were granted in the single month of January 2023,with 189 granted the most at 10,000 (this includes both points-tested and NZ), about 3,400 for 190, and about 2,500 for 491

–around 13,000 visas were lodged in the single month of January 2023,with about 6,600 lodged for 189 (all points-tested now, since NZ paused new applications in December), 4,235 new lodgements for 190, and about 2,822 new for 491.

Across every category, both grants and new lodgements keep climbing – case officers are granting visas like mad while state governments hand out invitations like mad. Proof that the good days for skilled migration have truly arrived!

5. The week’s grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing progress

A round-up of Newstarsec’s recent grants and invitations: press and hold below to view. The page is updated continuously – we strongly recommend you save and bookmark it!

State-nomination invitation / GTI invitation statistics

Canberra state nomination

None this week

Victoria state nomination

Formal nomination approved

Lodged VIC 190 ROI on 7 March 2023, received VIC 190 pre-invitation on 21 March 2023, lodged VIC 190 application on 24 March 2023, 190 invited on 28 March 2023, Social Worker- 272511, 75+5

Lodged VIC 190 ROI on 24 February 2023, received VIC 190 pre-invitation on 28 February 2023, lodged VIC 190 application on 10 March 2023, 190 invited on 27 March 2023, Registered Nurses nec- 254499, 65+5

Lodged VIC 190 ROI on 8 March 2023, received VIC 190 pre-invitation on 21 March 2023, lodged VIC 190 application on 21 March 2023, 190 invited on 28 March 2023, Registered Nurses nec- 254499, 60+5

Lodged VIC 190 ROI on 2 March 2023, received VIC 190 pre-invitation on 21 March 2023, lodged VIC 190 application on 29 March 2023, 190 invited on 29 March 2023, Secondary School Teacher – 241411, 80+5

Lodged VIC 190 ROI on 15 March 2023, received VIC 190 pre-invitation on 21 March 2023, lodged VIC 190 application on 30 March 2023, 190 invited on 31 March 2023, Secondary School Teacher – 241411, 60+5

Lodgement date: 27/02/2023 Invitation date: 29/03/2023, Actuary, applicant offshore

Tasmania state nomination

Lodged TAS 190 ROI on 10 February 2023, received TAS 190 pre-invitation on 17 February 2023, lodged TAS 190 application on 24 February 2023, 190 invited on 29 March 2023, Accountant (General) – 221111, 70+5

Lodged TAS 491 ROI on 1 March 2023, received TAS 491 pre-invitation on 3 March 2023, lodged TAS 491 application on 9 March 2023, 491 invited on 28 March 2023, ICT Business Analyst – 261111, 60+15

Lodged TAS 190 ROI on 27 March 2023, received TAS 190 pre-invitation on 31 March 2023, Cafe

[Issue 279 Australia Migration Weekly] Three Months Left in the Financial Year: NSW to Open the Floodgates, Canberra to Lower Requirements! Subclass 189 Backlog Tops 36,000, Subclass 491 Nears 30,000!

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