1. SkillSelect update
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has released the two invitation rounds (18 January 2018 and 7 February 2018) results since our last monthly update.
In each round, there were 305 invitations issued. 300 were allocated to subclass 189 visa while the remaining five were for subclass 489 applicants.
The tables below show the invitations allocation by point score:
For 18 January round, DHA continued to clear most of the backlogs for some of the pro-rata arrangement occupations, such as ICT Business and System Analysts, Auditors and Software and Application Programmers. The invitations allocated to these three pro-rata arrangement occupations accounted for approximately 65% of the total invitations of this round.
Among the non pro-rata occupations, Other Medical Practitioners (11) and Social Workers (8) were the two types of occupations which received the most invitations.
For 7 February round, DHA started to allocate more invitations to non pro-rata arrangement occupations. We can see that the proportion allocated to non pro-rata applicants has dropped from more than 80% to approximately 54%. We can also see that several non pro-rata arrangement occupations can get double digit invitations: Other Medical Practitioners (23), Registered Nurses (14), Database and Systems Administrators and ICT Security Specialists (13).
2. No very good news for Accountants...
For 2017/18, the occupational ceiling for Accountants were set at 4785. Up to date there were 2633 invitations for Accountants. However, no invitations were offered in the past three rounds. What’s going on for the Accountants?
Perhaps, you may find the hints from DHA’s webpage. They have added a footnote under the occupational ceilings sub-page and stated that “For Accountants (2211) the occupational ceiling also reflects volumes in other skilled visa categories.” This means that the quota allocated to subclasses 189 or 489 applicants are much less than this figure as the quotas have to be shared among various visa categories.
Even though the DHA did not disclose the number of invitations allocated to other categories, we can get some insights from prior years’ actual results – In 2015/16 and 2016/17, the ceiling for Accountants were capped at 2,500. If such an interpretation is correct, this may imply there will be no further invitation for Accountants in this financial year (i.e. until 30 June 2018).
Although this is just what we interpret from the footnote and previous statistics, it is true that it is getting harder and harder for Accountants to secure an invitation. Therefore, applicants are highly recommended to talk to their registered migration agents to seek for professional advice and seek for alternative options.
3. A snapshot for quota usage
The table below summarises occupations which require pro-rata arrangement:
Occupation | Required points | Total invitations issued for 7 Feb round | Quota filled up | Remaining quota (%) | Approx. Waiting time |
Accountants (2211) | N/A | N/A | 2633 | N/A | Not available |
Auditors (2212) | 80 | 16 | 874 | 453 (34%) | 11 weeks |
Electronics Engineers (2334) | 70 | 4 | 430 | 570 (57%) | 15 weeks |
Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers (2335) | 70 | 21 | 985 | 1,193 (55%) | 15 weeks |
Other Engineering Professionals (2339) | 75 | 12 | 546 | 454 (45%) | Next round |
Software and Applications Programmers (2613) | 75 | 76 | 3,031 | 3,171 (51%) | Next round |
ICT Business and System Analysts (2611) | 75 | 19 | 1,029 | 545(35%) | Next round |
Computer Network Professionals (2631) | 75 | 17 | 639 | 679 (52%) | Next round |
For intended migrants who work in the above eight occupations but with lower points, you may wish to seek advice from a registered migration agent like FortuneChance Migration Advisory. They may provide the feasible solutions to maximise your point scores based on your circumstances.
4. Popular occupations in Hong Kong with low filled up rate
The table below sets out some Hong Kong popular occupations with low filled up rate.
Occupation | Quota for the financial year | No. of invitations up-to-date for 2017/18 | Filled up rate (%) |
Architects and Landscape Architects | 1,381 | 93 | 6.3 |
Civil Engineering Professionals | 2,951 | 345 | 10.5 |
Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers | 2,639 | 49 | 1.9 |
Secondary School Teachers | 7,910 | 159 | 2.0 |
Occupational Therapists | 1,109 | 23 | 2.1 |
Physiotherapists | 1,464 | 35 | 2.4 |
General Practitioners and Resident Medical officers | 3,495 | 108 | 3.1 |
Registered Nurses | 16,741 | 696 | 4.2 |
Psychologists | 1,750 | 22 | 1.3 |
Social Workers | 1,562 | 103 | 6.6 |
The above source is extracted from the Department of Home Affairs’ website: 7 February 2018 invitation round
5. Processing time update
DHA has also updated its estimated visa processing time. As of 16 February 2018, the visa application time for the following visas are as follows:
Subclass 189 (points-tested stream) around 9 – 12 months
Subclass 190 (state nomination) around 9 – 12 months
This is for indicative purpose only. Please bear in mind that processing times are impacted each month by changes in application volumes, seasonal peaks, complex cases, and incomplete applications.
6.State nomination statistics for subclass 190 and state requirement updates
QLD
Due to a high numbers of EOIs, QLD will not be issuing any more invitations for EOIs lodged on or after 27 February 2018 for registered nurses. For details, please refer to: https://migration.qld.gov.au/latest-news/bsmq-update-qsol-registered-nurse/
QLD will also not be issuing any more invitations for EOIs lodged on or after 27 February 2018 for 141111 Cafe or Restaurant Manager (visa subclass 489). (https://migration.qld.gov.au/latest-news/bsmq-update-qsol-finance-manager-cafe-restaurant-manager/)
SA
SA has further raised the high points category requirement starting from 1 March 2018 which requires applications to have at least 90 points. This requirement was changed from 80 to 85 in February 2018.
SA also advised that once the quota is reached, the ‘high points’ category will be closed for the rest of the 17/18 program year (until 30 June 2018).
The occupations listed below are no longer available for nomination under the high points category (this applies to applications submitted on or after 19 February 2018):
- 132211 Finance Manager
- 221111 Accountant (General)
- 221112 Management Accountant
- 221113 Taxation Accountant
- 221213 External Auditor
- 221214 Internal Auditor
- 222112 Finance Broker
- 222199 Financial Brokers nec
- 222211 Financial Market Dealer
- 222299 Financial Dealers nec
- 222311 Financial Investment Adviser
- 222312 Financial Investment Manager
- 225113 Marketing Specialist
Source: http://www.migration.sa.gov.au/news-events/news-releases/2584
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