1. WA issues 1,800 invitations in one round; most popular priority occupations invited at as low as 80 points

WA released its second invitation round for this financial year on Friday afternoon — the first full round after the state received its entire quota allocation. A total of 1,800 invitations were issued, of which the General Schedule 2 channel issued 1,134 (667 subclass 190 and 467 subclass 491);the higher-education Graduate channel issued 216, of which 127 were subclass 190.

Let’s take a look atsome of the Schedule 2 invitation scores(The following are EOI points — these could be either 190 or 491 invitations; the state government did not separate them in its statistics)

Architect 80; Cafe and Restaurant Manager 80; Civil Engineer 95; Civil Engineering Draftsperson and Technician both 80; Conference and Event Organiser 80; Construction Project Manager 80; Early Childhood Teacher 80; Hotel Manager 80; Sales and Marketing Manager 80; QS 80; TESOL 85; Secondary School Teacher 85

Most of this round were invited at 80-85 points; a few building-trades / blue-collar occupations came in lower, for exampleCabinetmaker at 70 points and Bricklayer at 65 points.

The Graduate / higher-education channel had higher invitation scores — likely because fewer invitations were issued, the range of eligible occupations was broader, and the great majority of occupations required 85 points or above to secure an invitation.

In this round, every channel — both 190 and 491 — only invited applicants residing in WA. This year WA requires at least 3 months of residency evidence prior to invitation; the state government has made clear that if a candidate has not lived in WA for 3 months at the time of invitation, the nomination will be refused at processing.

WA has also stated that the December and January rounds will prioritise priority occupations first; non-priority occupations will be invited later in the financial year, but the exact timing is yet to be confirmed.

General Stream Schedule 2 — invitation data for all occupations

2. 189 round issues 10,000; estimated per-occupation invitation counts for popular occupations

The official EOI report for the 13 November round has been released. Alongside confirming the minimum invitation score per occupation, we have cross-referenced Department of Home Affairs SkillSelect data to estimate per-occupation invitation volumes — shared here for reference.

10,000 invitations were issued this round. The occupations with the highest invitation volumes are listed below — together they likely account for over 40% of total invitations.

–Building / construction trades (blue-collar)Continued to be invited uniformly at 65 points. Taking Carpenter and Joiner as an example, the minimum invitation score was 65 points;this round the Carpenter occupational group likely received around 656 invitations. After this round, only 76 candidates at 65 points remain in the pool as at end of November; every other point band has fewer than 20.

If you need information on 26-week Carpentry or Wall and Floor Tiler courses, please contact our consultant below.

–Social WorkerMinimum 75 points for invitation;over 20% of the 75-point band was cleared — Social Worker likely received around 420 invitations this round (71+350)

–Registered NurseFor the entire Registered Nurses category (not only NEC), the minimum was 75 points;around 30% of the 75-point band was cleared — Registered Nurse invitation volume this round may have reached approximately 2,430 (1,000 + 1,430)

–Secondary School TeacherMinimum 75 points;over 15% of the 75-point band was cleared — at least around 460 invitations this round (72 + 387)

–Early Childhood TeacherInvited at 85 points;less than 20% of the 85-point band was cleared — Early Childhood Teacher likely received under 200 invitations this round (50 + 132).By end of November, Early Childhood Teacher already had 1,468 candidates at 80 points (an increase of approximately 120 compared with October).

– Civil Engineer has received zero invitations for two consecutive rounds; candidates may wish to consider obtaining a Draftsperson or Engineering Technician skills assessment — both occupations were invited at 85 points this round, over 40% of the 85-point band was cleared, and approximately 200 invitations (132 + 60) were issued this round.

– In addition, the three major popular streams — Accountant, ICT and Civil Engineer — confirmed received no invitations whatsoever

For further analysis of this 189 round and invitation volumes for other occupations, please see:189 Round Issues 10,000 Invitations | Specific Invitation Counts for the “Four Treasures” and Other Common Occupations This Round — Full Estimate Table Attached! Registered Nurse May Have Received Close to 2,500…

3. VIC requires work both onshore and offshore; SA runs its first round of the financial year + issues official report; TAS delivers its weekly round as expected

VIC issued an ROI round on the 3rd — covering both onshore and offshore, and both 491 and 190. The vast majority were concentrated in priority-sector occupations; offshore invitees tended to have substantial work experience, while onshore invitees overwhelmingly had relevant employment.Data from our clients and information we’ve gathered is as follows:

SA (South Australia)This week SA ran its first invitation round of the financial year. We had just commented that SA was the last state to publish its policies and open its application channels — and it has now accelerated rapidly. SA has committed this year to publishing the official invitation report after every round, and indeed the report was released promptly. It also consolidates the invitations issued during the transitional-quota period in November.

This December round issued 402 invitations — 257 subclass 190 and 145 subclass 491. The highest volume went to Health Professionals, the great majority on 190.The state government had previously indicated in briefings that priority-sector occupations would mostly be granted 190, and non-priority occupations 491. Next highest wasDesign, Engineering, Science and Transport Professionals — 47 subclass 190 and 29 subclass 491 invitations.

SA reports statistics at the 2-digit ANZSCO code level, so specific occupations are not visible in the report;please cross-reference with our internal statistics:

TAS (Tasmania)As usual, TAS runs weekly invitation rounds and publishes the official report quickly. In the round released on 4 December,

*PS: TAS uses its own points system — the scores below are NOT EOI scores

20 subclass 190 invitations were issued, with a minimum invitation score of 49 points (in the orange pass band)

33 subclass 491 invitations were issued, with a minimum invitation score of 40 points (in the orange pass band)

Remaining nomination quota is 962 for subclass 190 and 572 for subclass 491. The pool holds a backlog of 328 subclass-190 ROIs and 232 subclass-491 ROIs; 197 subclass-190 and 60 subclass-491 invited ROIs are awaiting processing. Nominations submitted up to 14 November are currently being processed.

TAS is about to enter the holiday period. The state has indicated that no pre-invitations will be issued over Christmas / New Year. Invitation rounds will resume after the office reopens in early 2026, but no specific date has been provided.

4. Actual state-quota usage by end of November — update for each state

ACT, NSW and NT 190 are all being used relatively quickly — over 20% has already been used;VIC, TAS and WA all show more than 80% of quota remaining — but in reality, all three states have already issued some pre-invitations with many currently in processing, so the actually-usable quota is lower than the headline figure suggests.QLD, NT 491 and SA have genuinely not used much — 80% or even over 90% of quota still remaining.

Heading into December, VIC and SA have both issued invitations, and WA has just issued its round;ACT has also confirmed it will issue invitations in December;TAS will maintain its weekly rounds (except over the Christmas break); NSW will not issue pre-invitations in December, and QLD likely won’t either — and even if any do go out, volumes will not be high.NT is processing applicants through its onshore channel and progress feels noticeably faster than last financial year.

If you would like advice on state-nominated or 189 independent skilled migration — or you want to pursue an additional skills assessment to maximise your chances — please contact our consultants below: