The Department has updated 190 and 491 state-nomination quota usage as at end of January (header image)
This year’s quotas were announced late, and with the Christmas and New Year holidays on top of that, every state feels slow to restart โ a lot of places are still sitting on plenty of quota
A state-by-state look:
Canberra (ACT)
Both 190 and 491 are more than 40% used. 150 formal nominations have been issued, and a round of invitations went out on 29 January. Most haven’t received a formal nomination yet โ overall it’s on track and progressing quickly.
For the first time, all round dates have been announced in advance โ barring the unexpected, another round is due next week (Figure 2).
New South Wales
190 is at 57%, with 186 formal nominations issued in January processing. NSW sent out a pre-invitation round in January โ IT was included but the score cut-off was very high, while healthcare and blue-collar trades had slightly lower cut-offs.
491 is under 28% used. Channels 1 and 3 for 491 opened in late January and were paused to new applications in under a day โ plenty of quota still available. 491 is now waiting on channel 1 and 3 processing: 86 were fast-tracked in January, and channel 2 pre-invitations likely won’t go out until near the end of the financial year.
Northern Territory
190 quota is being used up the fastest, with less than 55% remaining. Mainly onshore approvals โ 146 nominations in a single month, a pace on par with some of the larger states.
491 still has nearly 70% left and has barely started. The much-anticipated offshore priority-occupation channel will have to wait a bit longer.
All 190 and 491 application channels have now closed to new applications โ everyone already in the pool is now waiting on processing outcomes.
Queensland
190 usage is dead last at around 16%. Nomination processing itself hasn’t been slow โ 179 nominations issued for 190 and 129 for 491, second only to Victoria and WA in volume.
QLD runs multi-round pre-invitations, small rounds. We have clients in social work and other fields settled โ data is hard to collect. For example, the early-February round was mostly offshore (Figure 2). QLD has plenty of quota and started late, so progress is still lagging โ should they consider ramping up issuance?
South Australia
190 is 33% used and 491 is nearly 30%. One fixed round each month, usually in the first week โ SA has caught up and is now on pace.
Tasmania
190 still has nearly 60% left, 491 still has 75%. TAS runs weekly, so you’d expect faster progress, but the weekly issuance is small and processing isn’t fast either. The quota is there โ everyone in the pool just needs to be patient a little longer.
Victoria
Both 190 and 491 have 57% remaining. 297 were processed for 190 in a single month โ the highest of any state, and the only state with 190 usage over 1,000. Steady monthly rounds: January ran a big ROI round covering IT, engineering and various priority occupations, and a small 491 round went out this week.
Western Australia
Almost 80% of 190 is unused (over 1.5k), with 1.1k left on 491. January ran a pure-trades round, with three rounds issuing 3,355 pre-invitations in total. Even though 423 formal nominations were approved in January, the data shows WA is still well behind.
This year’s state-nomination quota usage is running well behind previous years. Quotas were received late, and most states have restricted intake to similar, narrow priority-occupation lists โ no surprises in either volume or occupation coverage. February has one week to go โ here’s hoping each state picks up the pace.
