This Week in Migration

Migration Weekly

1. Victoria steals the headlines: three pieces of good news in one day, with plenty of opportunities across the 491 and 190

2. Tasmania has ample quota and a high approval rate, with even more places likely next financial year!?

3. NSW 491 RDA pathway: the Illawarra region is nearly out of quota and has closed to new applications

4. Queensland reopens its priority processing pathway for a limited window in April!

5. Weekly wrap-up of grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing progress

1. Victoria steals the headlines: three pieces of good news in one day, with plenty of opportunities across the 491 and 190

Having issued ROI invitations only to Priority occupations in February, Victoria turns out to have been saving its big moves. Three pieces of good news arrived one after another at the start of this week!

Good news 1: the March invitations arrived on schedule and the range of invited occupations is back to normal

The March invitations are no longer limited to priority occupations.Several accountants on 85+5 points, engineers on around 80 points, actuaries, and financial investment managers on 80+5 points were among the many offshore invitations issued.，The latest collated invitation data is shown below:

Good news 2: the 491 requirements have been lowered and the eligible pool widened, so we welcome you to apply

Previously, onshore applicants for the Victorian 491 had to already be living in a Victorian regional area and working in a role related to their nominated occupation. That bar was even higher than for the onshore 190 and clearly unreasonable. Because of this unreasonable requirement,，Victoria still had around 1,900 places remaining at the end of February.On the principle of not wasting a single place, the state government has lowered the requirements and broadened the pool of eligible applicants.The rules are now:

– applicants living in metropolitan Melbourne can now also apply for the Victorian 491

– there is no longer any requirement for employment, work experience, a job offer or a salary threshold

Soif you are in Melbourne with a positive skills assessment, a base score of at least 50 points and a minimum of 6 in each band of English, you can apply,which is the lowest entry threshold for skilled migration in Australia. For those who cannot reach the higher scores, such as applicants in fiercely competitive occupations like accounting and IT, this is well worth considering as a backup option.Offshore applicants have always been able to apply with no employment requirement.

Good news 3: a fast track has been opened for health, teaching and social services occupations

For occupations eligible for the fast track, the state government has committed to issuing a pre-invitation (ROI) within two weeks and approving the nomination within 5 business days of a complete application being lodged! This applies to both existing and new applications. What is more,and most importantly, the state government has made clear that applicants in these occupations are guaranteed a nomination as long as they meet the minimum skilled-migration threshold!

For more detail on all three pieces of good news, see:Latest Victorian ROI invitations: multiple accountants invited, with a base score as low as 85! Audit, construction and offshore finance applicants all secure outcomes! Priority pathway opened and the 491 threshold sharply lowered!

For Victorian 491 or 190 applications, you are welcome to get in touch and let us map out each step for you!

2. Tasmania has ample quota and a high approval rate, with even more places likely next financial year!?

Tasmania held its first information session of 2023 this week. It was also the first briefing on invitations and processing since the new system has been in use for a while, and state officials chose to answer the questions most frequently raised during this period.

1. There is ample quota remaining and the invitation rate is as high as 85.9%

682 places remain for the 190 and 1,057 for the 491.

2. ROI applications will not close early this financial year, with invitations continuing through to June

The state government says invitations will be issued on a fixed schedule each Friday. With quota usage tracking well, it sees no need to close ROI applications early, and invitations will continue to be issued through to the end of the financial year.

3. The quota will increase in the new financial year

In addition, Martin Andrews, the state official leading the session, indicated that the quota will increase in the new financial year (FY23-24).

4. The GateWay system has been optimised and upgraded, and applicants who have not yet been picked up may wish to resubmit their ROI

He also noted that ROIs are still weighted by the competitiveness of each applicant rather than issued on a first-come, first-served basis, and that places carry the same weighting across the different pathways. Applicants who were previously less competitive and have not yet been invited are encouraged to resubmit their ROI.

5. The offshore job-offer pathway gives priority to health and medical occupations

For occupations related to Health and Allied Health Professionals, once an applicant has secured a qualifying job offer in Tasmania relevant to their nominated occupation, the state government will prioritise issuing an invitation.Even where the applicant originally applied for the 491, they will proactively offer the 190.

For further details, see:Tasmania update | ample quota remaining, an invitation rate of nearly 86%, and invitations continuing through to June! More places next financial year?

For Tasmanian state-nomination lodgements and related migration matters, please contact our consultants below:

3. NSW 491 RDA pathway: the Illawarra region is nearly out of quota and has closed to new applications

The NSW 491 RDA pathway has been a genuinely popular migration option of late, and because it is so attractive, many people are competing for it. The popular NSW regional area of Hunter (which takes in Newcastle) had already announced it was closing to new applications,and this week another popular area, Illawarra (which takes in Wollongong), announced that it too will no longer accept new lodgements.

Please note, however,that the RDA authorities will continue to process applications already successfully lodged, and we have seen nominations approved in both regions even after they closed to new applications.

The NSW 491 RDA pathway may have flown under the radar in the past,but since the occupation score and work-experience requirements were removed, this pathway, which allows you to apply for nomination directly, has seen plenty of applications and plenty of invitations.A selection is shared below:

Civil engineer, 60+15 points

Chef, 60+15 points

Organisational Method Analyst, 70+15 points, offshore

Electronics engineer, 55+15, onshore

Multimedia designer, 75+15, onshore

Motor mechanic, 50+15, offshore

Advertising specialist, 50+15, offshore

Financial investment manager, 50+15, offshore

Property manager, 60+15, offshore

Graphic designer, 55+15, offshore

This pathway is therefore a great fit for purely offshore applicants in engineering, finance, marketing and management occupations: there is no need to pile up a high score, and there is a real chance of a quick invitation. We welcome you to get an assessment!

4. Queensland reopens its priority processing pathway for a limited window in April!

While we are still waiting for Queensland to open the floodgates on its state nomination, Queensland remains firmly committed to its priority processing pathway.This is the third limited-window opening for priority processing applications.As with the previous two rounds,it is open only to the work pathway, and priority processing can be requested either by the applicant directly or through an agent.

The priority processing window is open for applications fromMonday 3 April to Monday 10 April 2023. Please be sure to note, however,that the case must be decision-ready, with all supporting documents fully prepared.

Over this period, a number of our clients who previously lodged through the priority pathway with us have been approved one after another! Leave the professional matters to the professionals: for help reviewing your documents and lodging through the priority pathway, get in touch with our consultants!

5. Weekly wrap-up of grants, invitations, skills assessments and citizenship processing progress

A wrap-up of recent grants and invitations of all kinds at Newstarsec: press and hold below to view. The page is continually updated, so we strongly recommend saving and bookmarking it!

State-nomination invitations / GTI invitation statistics

ACT (Canberra) state nomination

None this week

Victorian state nomination

Nomination lodged 2 March 2023, approved 23 March 2023, priority occupation

Pre-invitation received 24 January 2023, nomination approved 20 March 2023, occupation: Systems Analyst, 70+5 points, offshore with spouse and children

Tasmanian state nomination

No data compiled this week

NSW state nomination

Lodged via the 491 RDA pathway 17 March 2023, formal nomination received 21 March 2023, 55+15, electronics engineering

190 formal application lodged 28 February 2023, formal nomination received 20 March 2023

NSW 491 RDA pathway invitation, nominated occupation: Advertising specialist, state nomination lodged 10 March, formally invited 20 March

NSW 491RDA pathwayinvitation, nominated occupation: Motor mechanic, state nomination lodged 10 March, formally invited 20 March

South Australian state nomination

None this week

Queensland state nomination

Nomination lodged 16 March 2023, approved 22 March 2023, 85+5 points, developer programmer 190 pre-invitation received 6 March 2023, approved 21 March 2023, 85+5 points, agricultural scientist

Western Australian state nomination

None this week

Northern Territory state nomination

MINT 190 invitation, occupation: marketing. NT state nomination lodged 19 August 2022, pre-approval granted 6 November 2022, formally invited 22 March 2023

Business and investor migration / GTI invitations

No data compiled this week

For more state-nomination and visa case studies, see:For those who lodged in good time late last year, the road to PR is bearing fruit step by step. A showcase of successful VET & engineering skills-assessment case studies, plus 189/491 grants and NSW and other state nominations approved!

This week’s grant progress and analysis

189 Skilled Independent migration

Lodged 17 October 2022, granted 24 March 2023

Lodged 16 December 2022, granted 24 March 2023

Lodged October 2019, granted 24 March 2023; issued an s57 request, four rounds of additional documents, and successfully granted with spouse

Lodged 31 October 2022, granted 23 March 2023

Lodged 9 December 2022, granted 20 March 2023, 189

Lodged 9 December 2022, granted 21 March 2023, 189

Lodged 13 December 2022, granted 22 March 2023, 189 Secondary School Teacher

Lodged 15 December 2022, granted 22 March 2023, 189

Lodged 15 December 2022, granted 22 March 2023, 189 Registered Nurses nec

Lodged 16 December 2022, granted 23 March 2023, 189

Lodged: 12/10/2022 Granted: 18/03/2023, applicant offshore, occupation: electronics engineer

190 State-nominated skilled migration

Lodged 5 October 2022, granted 22 March 2023, occupation: Structural Engineer, onshore

Lodged 5 September 2022, granted 23 March 2023, occupation: Graphic Designer, onshore

Lodged 28 September 2022, granted 21 March 2023, 190 Accountant (General)

Lodged 1 December 2021, granted 24 March 2023, 491 Landscape Architect

Lodged: 08/11/2022 Granted: 22/03/2023, applicant offshore, NSW 190 granted occupation: human resources manager

Lodged: 22/04/2020 Granted: 20/03/2023, offshore, TESOL

491 (new regional) / 489 (former regional) sponsored visas

Lodged 30 November 2021, granted 20 March 2023

Lodged 11 April 2022, granted 23 March 2023, accounting

Lodged 27 May 2021, granted 23 March 2023, family of three

Lodged 23 February 2022, granted 23 March 2023, 491 Accountant (General)

Lodged 3 February 2022, granted 23 March 2023, 491 Chef

Lodged 1 December 2021, granted 24 March 2023, 491 Landscape Architect

489 lodged: 14/10/2019 Granted: 20/03/2023, applicant offshore, 489 granted, occupation: marketing

887 Regional permanent visa (selected)

No data compiled this week

Employer-sponsored

Nomination lodged 27 February 2023, approved 20 March 2023, accounting

Business and investor migration / GTI

GTI 858 lodged 25 October 2022, granted 21 March 2023, family of four, offshore

600 Visitor visa

Lodged 1 March 2023, granted 23 March 2023

Lodged 9 March 2023, granted 22 March 2023, PR holders’ parents

Lodged 1 March 2023, granted 21 March 2023, PR holders’ parents

Visa lodged 2 March 2023, granted 24 March, offshore

500 Student visa

Lodged 8 March 2023, granted 22 March 2023

Lodged 3 March 2023, granted 22 March 2023

Lodged 12 March 2023, granted 24 March 2023, 500

485 Graduate Work visa

Lodged 20 September 2022, granted 21 March 2023, onshore with spouse (second 485)

Lodged 15 April 2022, granted 22 March 2023, onshore (second 485)

Lodged 28 February 2023, granted 21 March 2023, onshore

Lodged 28 September 2022, granted 22 March 2023, 485

Partner migration

No data compiled this week

Parent migration / visas

143 lodged 11 January 2017, granted 22 March 2023

Child visa

None this week

408 visa

Lodged 16 February 2023, granted 24 March 2023

Lodged 13 March 2023, granted 24 March 2023

Lodged 6 February 2023, granted 22 March 2023

Lodged 1 April 2022, granted 21 March 2023, 408

155 visa

None this week

Citizenship applications

None this week

Skills-assessment processing progress this week

CA (accounting-related)

Lodged 24 February 2023, approved 24 March 2023, external auditor

Lodged 14 February 2023, approved 23 March 2023, external auditor

Lodged 24 February 2023, approved 24 March 2023, general accountant

ACS (IT-related)

Lodged 23 December 2022, approved 23 March 2023, 261111 (ICT Business Analyst)

EA (engineering)

Lodged 27 January 2023, approved 22 March 2023

Lodged: 22/02/2023 Approved: 21/03/2023, engineering technician

VETASSESS

Occupation: financial investment adviser Lodged: 06/02/2023 Approved: 20/03/2023

Occupation: quality assurance manager Lodged: 17/03/2023 Approved: 23/03/2023

Occupation: financial investment adviser Lodged: 01/03/2023 Approved: 18/03/2023

Occupation: financial investment adviser Lodged: 12/03/2023 Approved: 20/03/2023

Occupation: marketing specialist Lodged: 20/03/2023 Approved: 24/03/2023

Occupation: private tutor nec, Lodged: 11/03/2023 Approved: 20/03/2023

Occupation: cafe and restaurant manager, Lodged: 09/03/2023 Approved: 20/03/2023

Occupation: illustrator Lodged: 02/03/2023 Approved: 20/03/2023

Occupation: web designer Lodged: 07/03/2023 Approved: 23/03/2023

Occupation: financial investment adviser Lodged: 17/03/2023 Approved: 24/03/2023

Occupation: organisation and methods analyst Lodged: 15/03/2023 Approved: 22/03/2023

Catch up on past articles

The complete 2023 guide to Australian immigration medicals! What does the exam cover? Handy tips to keep in mind!

Latest Victorian ROI invitations: multiple accountants invited, with a base score as low as 85!

Can a bridging visa be “forced” into effect? Can one person hold multiple bridging visas?

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[Migration Weekly #278] Offshore engineering, advertising, design and finance occupations win fast, direct invitations – NSW suddenly heats up! Victorian accountants invited at 85 points, with the 491 pathway widened!

Latest Victorian ROI invitations: multiple accountants invited, with a base score as low as 85!

Can a bridging visa be “forced” into effect? Can one person hold multiple bridging visas?

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