1. SkillSelect Update
The latest invitation round was conducted on 11 September 2018. The results were as follows:
· Same as the previous round, there were 2500 invitations offered, 2490 were allocated to subclass 189 visa while the remaining ten were for subclass 489 EOI applicants.
· The minimum points to get an invitation remains at 70 points.
· The allocation mix between non-prorata and protata is 33:67
The top 10 occupations to receive an invitation (non-prorata occupations) are as follows:
| Occupations | No. of EOI invitations |
1 | Registered Nurses | 120 |
2 | Civil Engineering Professionals | 109 |
3 | Database and Systems Administrators and ICT Security Specialists | 91 |
4 | Telecommunications Engineering Professionals | 69 |
5 | Electrical Engineers | 56 |
6 | Other Medical Practitioners | 44 |
7 | Management Consultant | 34 |
8 | Chemical and Materials Engineers | 31 |
9 | Secondary School Teachers | 29 |
10 | Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers | 21 |
10 | General Practitioners and Resident Medical officers | 21 |
For the prorata occupations, we see that the minimum points for Electronics Engineers were lowered by 5 points while the points for others remain at previous level. Please refer to the table below for details:
Prorata arrangement occupations | Number of invitation in current round | Minimum points currently processed | Minimum points processed in previous round |
Software and Applications Programmers | 650 | 75 | 75 |
Accountants | 336 | 80 | 80 |
Computer Network Professionals | 194 | 70 | 70 |
Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 159 | 70 | 70 |
ICT Business and Systems Analysts* | 131 | 75 | 75 |
Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers | 120 | 80 | 80 |
Other Engineering Professionals | 63 | 75 | 75 |
Electronics Engineers | 27 | 70 | 75 |
2. Estimated processing time
According to the DHA, the estimated visa application processing time as of 19 September 2018 for the following visas are as follows:
Subclass 189 (points-tested stream) around 9-11 months
Subclass 190 (state nomination) around 6-8 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.
3. State nomination updates
State nomination statistics for subclass 190
The DHA has published the latest state/territory nomination statistics for the new program year as follows:
| Aug 2018 | July 2018 | From July 2018 – Aug 2018 |
QLD | 109 | 73 | 182 |
NSW | 173 | 4 | 177 |
VIC | 292 | 442 | 734 |
WA | 1 | 0 | 1 |
SA | 78 | 60 | 138 |
TAS | 132 | 22 | 154 |
ACT | 66 | 90 | 156 |
NT | 35 | 25 | 60 |
Total | 886 | 716 | 1602 |
State nomination requirement changes
Queensland (QLD)
QLD removed the Accountant (General) (221111) from all the Queensland Skilled Occupation Lists on 17 September 2018 due to high volume of EOI received and the quotas have been filled.
Victoria (VIC)
The VIC Government launched new state nomination procedures for certain streams / occupations starting from 10 September 2018. Changes include:
1) A 12-week processing time was introduced to international PhD graduates and the previous two-week fast track processing service was cancelled; and
2) Expended “invitation-only” procedures to 457 visa holders and applicants holding valid job offers. Exemptions applied to the eligible applicants under the existing Recent Graduate pathway.
Western Australia (WA)
On 25 September 2018, the WA government introduced a new Graduate stream for eligible university graduates who have studied for at least two years in Western Australia at a Western Australian university, and have an available occupation on the new Graduate occupation list for the intended visa subclass. For details, please visit: https://www.migration.wa.gov.au/Pages/Skilled%20Migration%20WA/State-nomination-requirements.aspx
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