Today we are sharing two pieces of news

1. Adjustments to NSW policy and occupation list

2. Summary of 24-25 financial year visa data

1. Adjustments to NSW policy and occupation list

Yesterday, without prior notice, the NSW state government’s official websiteupdated the NSW residency requirement. It added that if you secure work in NSW related to your nominated occupation, you can lodge a 190/491 immediately, with the original mandatory six- or three-month in-state residency requirement waived.So for applicants from interstate,if they find work in NSW and move over, they can lodge straight away,and for the 190 applicants this saves half a year.

A job whose ANZSCO code shares the same first four digits counts as related to the nominated occupation.

For example, a civil engineer skills assessment holder who finds a structural-engineer job in NSW is considered related — both sit withinthe 2332 CIVIL ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS occupation group.

A number of occupations have also been added to the list.

NSW’s current list is largely made up ofthe “three treasures” (accountants, teachers, and nurses), healthcare, engineering/construction, IT, engineering trades, and a handful of agriculture or environment-related occupations,and popular 190 occupations include

1331 Construction Managers

2321 Architects and Landscape Architects

3121 Architectural, Building and Surveying Technicians

2326 Urban and Regional Planners

2332 Civil Engineering Professionals

3122 Civil Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians

2339 Other Engineering Professionals

2411 Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers

2414 Secondary School Teachers

2421 University Lecturers and Tutors

2611 ICT Business and Systems Analysts

2613 Software and Applications Programmers

2621 Database and Systems Administrators, and ICT Security Specialists

2631 Computer Network Professionals

Over the past couple of days NSW has only updated its website.As of publication on 8 October, the state nomination program for this financial year has not yet been officially opened, so further adjustments to the list and requirements cannot be ruled out.NSW 190 and 491 Pathway 2 use the EOI system and can be lodged at any time — in theory there is no opening or closing. The 491 NSW Regional Workers and NSW Regional Graduates pathways remained unopened as of 7 October.

If you would like to consult on or lodge an NSW state nomination application, please contact us.

2. Summary of 24-25 financial year visa data

Employer Sponsored — 482

Counting primary applicants only, in the 24-25 financial yearthe number exceeded 86,000, a 34.5% year-on-year increase. The top 15 most-nominated positions are shown below

Employer Sponsored — Aged Care Labour Agreements

As of 30 June, 132 agreements were in force,which in theory can supply more than 30,000 relevant positions,and the Department granted 2,305 employer-sponsored visas under aged care labour agreements across the full financial year.

The migration program overall

The top ten source countries for migration in the 24-25 financial year were unchanged in their ranking,with India, Mainland China, the Philippines, and Nepal each slightly down.

Numbers of offshore direct migration applicants have been falling year on year:for example, in 22-23 there were 29,180 Skilled-stream applicants lodged from offshore,dropping to 12,842 in 24-25.

State-nominated visas

— The official data confirmed one point first:the regional categories did not have a disproportionately large share of grants pulled away from them. Our earlier FOI data showed that as of 30 June only about 24,000 491s had been granted, with a further 4,000-5,000 494s, which would put the actual regional grant total at under 30,000 —a few thousand short of the 33,000 allocation?

However, the official statistics this time show 4,265 494s and 28,177 491s granted, for a total of 32,442 — which lines up sensibly with the allocation.

— With the increased invitation quota, in the 24-25 financial yearnew 190/491 lodgementswere certainly higher than in 23-24.

–494 Regional Employer Sponsoredlodgements rose from 4,300+ to 5,200+, and grants rose from 3,600+ to 4,200+, which also reflects the growing mainstream status of employer-sponsored categories

–191Because more 491/494 holders are meeting the requirements to transition to permanent residency,the 24-25 lodgement volume rose by 55.4%,from just over 10,000 to more than 16,000. But grants for the full financial year came in at 6,500 — fewer than 500 more than in 23-24 — making the gap very stark.It currently looks as though 191 grant numbers will see a qualitative lift in this financial year.

Family migration

Partner migration

— Total finalised cases in 24-25 fell 5.8%,with 43,386 820/309s processed, down 3.6%. However, the refusal rate also fell by 27.1%,which is a sizeable drop within the permanent-residency categories. On the reduction in finalisation volumes, the Department has explained that more time is being spent processing older and more complex applications.

— Lodgement numbers, meanwhile, continued to climb,with 68,105 new lodgements across the full financial year, up 4.5%

— Partner migrationThe 820+309 application backlog reached 96,839, an increase of more than 20,000 from 23-24,which is also on the dramatic side for a permanent-residency category.It pays to lodge partner migration applications early.

PS. Last year, 1,097 people applied for partner migration PR viathe family violence provisions, and 480 were granted. If family violence is suffered during a partner-migration application, it is indeed possible to obtain permanent residency even if the relationship breaks down, or to transition to PR early — the key points are proving that family violence occurred and that the relationship was ongoing during the period of abuse.

Visa cancellations

The number of non-character-related visa cancellations has steadily risen each year across the past three financial years: in 22-23 it was 15,000,and by 24-25 it had reached 37,000 — more than doubling.

Non-character-related cancellations are typically caseswhere applicants are found to have submitted fraudulent documents or breached visa conditions.

The biggest reason for the steep three-year rise is that the Departmentestablished a Student Visa Cancellation Section in January 2024, specifically targeting student-visa-related breaches,and we continue to receive similar requests for help — both from students still onshore, and from those who, after departing, are told upon re-entry that their visa has been cancelled because over-limit work was detected.

So for those holding a student visa onshore, think carefully before acting.

Citizenship applications

In the 24-25 financial year, citizenship by conferralapplications fell 7%, though still reaching close to 180,000,, with close to 10,000 citizenship applications refused each year in recent years

Working Holiday visa

Last financial year, Mainland China, India, and Vietnam used a ballot for the WHV. In total,34,161 EOIs were received from Mainland China, equivalent to 6.8 people competing for each place. Indiahad only 1,000 places but received 98,019 submissions,98 people per place.…

Student visa

— As of 30 June 2025, more than 592,000 people were in Australia on a student visa.

— The Department finalised 473,000 student visa applications across the full financial year,of which 87.7% of offshore lodgements were ultimately granted.

— The overall student-visa refusal rate was 18.1%, down 2.2% from 23-24;the offshore higher-education grant rate was 91.3%, an improvement of over 10% from 23-24; the offshore VET grant rate was 53%, up around 6% from the prior financial year, but still well below other course types.

Analysis:Mainland China passport holders applying for student visas have recently been formally downgraded to Level 2. Many VET schools now require English-test results and proof of financial support as a matter of course, and the VET refusal rate is already very high. If you are considering studying in Australia we recommend choosing higher education; for older applicants, or those with a gap, New Zealand is also worth considering.