As 2022-23 draws to a close, alongside the mid-year sale we also have our end-of-financial-year wrap-up!

How would you sum up this financial year? A surprise? A glimmer of hope? A dream come true? Or something else…

After much thought, we have settled on the word [Eventful]

In previous years we usually wrapped up by timeline and events. Looking back, across the past year of WeChat-channel articles, more than 30 “major events” came together effortlessly, covering almost every common visa type.

So this financial year, we have decided to sum things up by visa category.

Subclass 189 / Skilled Independent visa

You could call it the biggest surprise of the financial year — once the most popular pathway, then for a while almost forgotten by everyone.

This financial year it made a powerful comeback with 66,535+ invitations, particularly in the first half of the year, where occupations such as healthcare, nursing, teaching, social work and trades received invitations at 65 points, while accounting, IT and engineering were invited at 85 points. Onshore or offshore, it suddenly gave everyone who had lodged an EOI fresh hope of migration.In the second half, Subclass 189 was largely focused on granting visas, working through the large volume of applications lodged from October 2022 to January 2013.

Featured article: Subclass 189 floodgates open! Accounting at 85, auditing at 75, masses of IT/engineering/offshore applicants invited at low points! The most complete data round-up!

A little forecast: Subclass 189 will remain one of the mainstream pathways in the new financial year, with at least 30,000+ places available for grants.Its low threshold means fierce competition — onshore and offshore applicants compete directly, and within the same occupation the highest points win.Of course we hope everyone can land PR by the most direct route, but we also suggest keeping a state-nominated and employer-sponsored Plan B~

Subclass 190 / Skilled Nominated visa

Covering Subclass 190 state by state would be a full article in itself. To summarise the overall trend: every state received a bumper allocation, totalling 38,000+ places, arguably the highest on record, with Victoria ending up with as many as 12,900 places.Visa processing kept speeding up, currently clearing applications lodged in the second half of 2022.

So everyone was racking their brains over how to use up all the places.New South Wales and Victoria competed directly with Subclass 189, issuing invitations widely with effectively no threshold. Plenty of opportunities, but you still need a degree of competitiveness — after all, this is Sydney and Melbourne~The other states competed with NSW and Victoria for applicants, issuing fewer invitations than NSW and Victoria. Their points cut-offs were lower and they were less attractive — but they offered favourable treatment to local international students or those who relocated there.In the end, the vast majority of states did not waste a single place, with 99% allocated.

Featured article: Victoria over-issuing invitations? NSW Subclass 491 nearly exhausted too! By the end of May, states had issued 57,000+ nominations! Which states could still run another round?

A little forecast: Subclass 190 will also remain one of the mainstream pathways in the new financial year. Overall allocations should be similar to this year, but how each state divides them up remains to be seen. From what we understand so far, most state nomination programmes are unlikely to make major policy changes, such as tweaks to detailed requirements and minor adjustments to the offshore-to-onshore ratio. But we believe competition for Subclass 190 in the new financial year will be even fiercer than this year, because many people have already completed their skills assessments and other preparations and are ready to push.

Subclass 491 / Skilled Work Regional visa

This year’s theme for Subclass 491 was offshore invitations at low points plus a zero-income requirement.

Total allocations came to 24,000+ — not far behind Subclass 190 — yet it was far less popular, mainly because it is a two-step pathway to PR and the income requirement for converting to PR remained unresolved.Gradually, several state governments signalled, explicitly or implicitly, that Subclass 491 is mainly reserved for purely offshore applicants who cannot reach a high points score. Canberra, the Northern Territory and NSW all cut their requirements significantly during the year to attract applicants.But there was a silver lining: the invitation scores for Subclass 491 were very low, and for most occupations, reaching 50-60 points on your own opens up many available pathways.Likewise, the vast majority of states did not waste their Subclass 491 places, with more than 90% allocated.

Just as everyone was agonising over whether taking Subclass 491 meant missing out on a Subclass 190 opportunity, good news finally arrived for Subclass 491: the move to Subclass 191 PR carries a zero-income requirement, you simply need to hold Subclass 491 for three years, live in a regional area while onshore and comply with the other visa conditions to obtain permanent residency. While we wouldn’t literally “coast” for three years to convert to PR, being able to “coast” beats meeting some 53,900 figure any day~

Featured article: Zero-income requirement for the Subclass 491-to-191 conversion! Can you really “coast” for three years and get PR? A full explainer on converting Subclass 491 to PR!

A little forecast: Because of the zero-income requirement for Subclass 491, and because Subclass 491 comes with Medicare and free compulsory schooling for children, some have said “Subclass 491 has finally become a genuine quasi-PR”. It will be even more popular in the new financial year — we have already had plenty of enquiries lately — and even as a backup option, it is a very good one.Points cut-offs may rise somewhat, especially in popular states like NSW, but the difficulty and scores should still be friendlier than Subclass 190.

Employer-sponsored migration

Employer-sponsored migration was the star of the second half of the financial year — and a long-awaited boost it was. One change is that STSOL short-list occupations will soon also have a pathway to Subclass 186 PR (expected to be confirmed before the end of 2023). Another is reducing the work requirement to just 2 years before converting to PR, and yet another is that the addition of the aged care labour agreement may open up a new study-work-migration pathway!

We see these new favourable policies as icing on the cake. In reality, with post-pandemic labour shortages, Subclass 482 has been processed quickly and in large volumes; with no quota cap, processing has stayed strong, and recently some have even been granted within a single day — the overall number of grants is no fewer than Subclass 189/491/190.Those with three years of relevant work experience can consider Subclass 186 employer sponsorship — a one-step pathway to PR. Processing is a little slower, though it has also sped up recently.

Featured article: A perk for workers onshore and offshore! Over 200 new occupations now convert directly to PR! Older, weaker English, non-traditional migration fields — a chance at a green card in just 2 years!

A little forecast: For employer-sponsored migration, especially Subclass 482, the best is yet to come — once the new policies above are all legislated, another golden period will begin!

GTI

The GTI weathered a few scares but came through. Although it is no longer a mainstream programme, the government currently leans towards reform and adjustment rather than abolition, keeping the 23-24 financial year allocation at 5,000 places, without the steep cuts seen for business and investor migration.

Processing remains relatively slow — invitation codes take more than a year to issue and visas more than six months. You could say every successful applicant is either deeply researched or exceptionally outstanding.

A little forecast: In the new financial year the GTI will either carry on much as it did in 2022-23 or face a sudden reform — it depends on how far the government’s migration reform agenda has progressed.

Business and investor migration

The best news for business and investor migration this year may simply be that it still exists.Business and investor migration — especially the AUD 5 million programme — has long been criticised. After Labor came to power, the Minister for Home Affairs personally criticised it on multiple occasions, and the government did more than just talk: it withheld places wherever it could. This financial year, owing to the handover between the old and new governments, the new government announced large increases in state-nominated places after releasing its October budget — yet business and investor migration got not a single one. The big states led by Queensland had long since used up their transitional places, but the Commonwealth said, sorry, we won’t be topping them up this year, meaning invitations for business and investor migration ran for only a fraction of the financial year.All these signs led many to believe at one point that most programmes would soon be scrapped.

Fortunately, after the migration review report was released in May, the government softened its stance under pressure from various quarters, saying: it is not necessarily abolishing business and investor migration but reforming it for the better. The 23-24 financial year still has places for it (although reduced by 3,100)

Featured article: Queensland business and investor migration essentially closed this financial year! Which migration pathway should you choose as a backup? A detailed analysis of the pros and cons of several popular migration pathways!

A little forecast: In the new financial year, business and investor migration places will have to be scrambled for; unless there is no other option, we wouldn’t really recommend this pathway.We also hope Subclass 188 and the Subclass 188-to-888 processing can speed up — it too has been overlooked and kept waiting for far too long.

Parent migration and visas for PR holders

We wrote about this in detail last week. Like skilled migration, parent migration saw long-awaited rapid progress this financial year. Although the lodgement wait is still over 10 years, advancing 8-9 months in a single financial year beats only moving forward 1-2 months. The shift to a ballot system mentioned in the migration review report is still likely some way off.

After the pandemic, the Subclass 870 and Subclass 600 visitor visas for parents of PR holders are no longer encouraged to be applied for or renewed onshore, and the risk of an onshore Subclass 600 renewal being refused has increased.

Featured article: Parent migration / visas: a 2022-23 financial-year wrap-up | Subclass 143 blossoms too! Stay cautious about changes to the visitor visa and Subclass 870!

A little forecast: Allocations in the new financial year are broadly the same as this year, still 6,800 places for Subclass 143/864, but a large backlog of applications built up in mid-2017, so the next financial year should mainly process applications lodged in June-July 2017.

Subclass 485 / Graduate Work visa

The government is going all out to give international graduates a longer Subclass 485 — whether by extending the Subclass 485 itself or by compensating through the Subclass 408 pandemic stream. Most people now have more visa time to stay in Australia and work towards migration, which is partly good news, but the other part of us still hopes the government will deliver on its promise to “create more PR pathways and reduce permanent temporariness”.

Featured article: Two extra years for Subclass 485 now formally legislated! Effective immediately from 1 July! Some applicants even get the visa fee waived!

Subclass 500 / Student visa

Study in Australia has largely returned to normal, with the vast majority of students back on campus for class.

Visa processing overall has trended towards greater strictness, and offshore Vocational Education and Training (VET) applications in particular have faced rigorous scrutiny of the GTE (genuine intention to study) requirement,

So if you want to apply offshore for the commonly discussed trade or TAFE student visas, the requirements are very demanding regarding the applicant’s age, qualifications, connection to their home country, assets, income and other background factors.

Onshore applications fare somewhat better, but there has been a tightening trend recently.

Higher-education applications are generally granted smoothly.

Subclass 600 / Visitor visa

The Subclass 600 visa for parents of PR holders was covered above.

Offshore Subclass 600 visas for general travellers have been slowly recovering. In the past few months we have seen more grants, for example the parents of international students or Subclass 485 holders coming to visit, or applicants who, after a Subclass 491 invitation, wished to enter Australia to lodge — we have had clients granted in all of these, as well as those simply coming for sightseeing.

But you still cannot be complacent about the overall background and documentation, and whether to recommend an attempt can be assessed case by case.

Subclass 408 — COVID stream

It has helped, and is still helping, many students through their “visa” crunch — but the Subclass 408 COVID-stream benefit is about to be wound back, so arrange to lodge as soon as possible within 90 days before your visa expires.

Three major events

Everything above happened against the backdrop of three major events

first, Labor replacing the Coalition in government

second, the PR grant allocation rising from 160,000 to 195,000 places

third, Labor launching its once-in-30-years migration review

The effects of these big events are already showing (such as visa processing speeding up dramatically and skilled migration coming back to life), while some are still in the pipeline (such as employer-sponsorship reform).

For the new financial year starting 1 July — with the foundational PR grant allocation already confirmed at broadly similar levels to this year — the various governments’ stances and policy settings should not be much different from this year. But after a financial year of build-up, more people are poised to pursue Australian skilled migration, and competition across every pathway will be fiercer than this year.

Get prepared, seize the timing, line up several backup options
Get in touch — we’d be glad to help

Catch up on past articles

Two extra years for Subclass 485 now formally legislated! Effective immediately from 1 July!

Subclass 491 set to be the next migration “blockbuster” — a round-up of low-points pathways!

Zero-income requirement for the Subclass 491-to-191 conversion! A full explainer on the Subclass 491-to-PR requirements

Migration News Sharing Group

2023

Step 1: Press and hold to add our client service

Step 2: After adding, please

Study abroad, migration and visas — we are the professionals

Attention!Please verify a genuine Newstarsec consultant!

Study-abroad and migration consultations — client service in every location

Sydney

Melbourne

Canberra

Brisbane

Adelaide

Hobart

Beijing

Guangzhou

Follow the Newstarsec WeChat channel

Reply on our WeChat channel with any of the numbers or keywords below (not in the comments at the foot of the article) to get the most timely and professional migration news! Reply [A] to view the directory (covering all topics)!

Reply: 0000 → view the 16 November policy update (Subclass 491 + skilled migration points)

Wrapping Up an Eventful 2022-23 Financial Year! Was Yours a “Dream Realised”, a “Pleasant Surprise”, or “Still on the Journey”? Plus a Quick Look Ahead to the New Financial Year!

Two extra years for Subclass 485 now formally legislated! Effective immediately from 1 July!

Subclass 491 set to be the next migration “blockbuster” — a round-up of low-points pathways!

Zero-income requirement for the Subclass 491-to-191 conversion! A full explainer on the Subclass 491-to-PR requirements

Quick Links

Popular Services

Our Offices

Follow Us