On 11 January, 2021, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has opened their 2021 Skilled Migration Program. There are NO changes to the eligibility criteria for the ACT State nomination and the Matric scoring criteria. The ACT has been allocated the following number of State nomination places for the 2020-21 migration year: 702 places for [...]

On 4 January, 2021, Western Australia has announced that their State Nomination will resume in January, 2021. They have also announced that there will be some changes to the nomination criteria which will be inline with the State health and economic recovery priorities. You can find more information on the WA Recovery Plan Initiatives. Following [...]

Starting 1 July, 2021, there will be a number of changes to the Business Innovation and Investment Program visas (Subclass 188 and 132). Below are the top 5 changes you need to know. 1. Three streams will be closed The following 3 streams will be closed: Premium Investor (Subclass 188D) Significant Business History (Subclass 132A) [...]

As of today (10 December, 2020), a number of States have announced on their websites that they have already received, from the Department of Home Affairs, the full allocation for State nomination places for the 2020/21 financial year. Below are the updates from these States. Source: Business in New South Wales website, BSMQ Website, Small [...]

On 27th November, 2020, the occupation of Social Worker has been added to the current Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL). This addition brings the total number of occupations on this list from 17 to now 18. You can visit our previous post for the original announcement of the PMSOL on 2nd September, 2020. The [...]

The Australian government has recently announced that certain Subclass 485 Temporary Graduate Visa (TGV) holders can apply for a second TGV. The new rules will begin in 2021. Who is eligible? TGV holders on the post-study work stream who have graduated from a regional educational institution (or a regional campus of a metropolitan university) and [...]

Invitations Issued this month Visa Subclass Number Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) 30 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – Family Sponsored 80 Invitation Process and Cut Offs Visa Subclass Minimum Points Score Latest Date of Effect Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) 65 Sep 2020 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – Family [...]

Invitations Issued this month Visa Subclass Number Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) 350 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – Family Sponsored 150 Invitation Process and Cut Offs Visa Subclass Minimum Points Score Latest Date of Effect Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) 65 Jul 2020 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – Family [...]

The Australia Federal Budget for 2020-21 has been announced, and the following are the information related to the Department of Home Affairs and the migration program. CATEGORIES 2019-20 2020-21 Difference (#) Difference (%) Migration Program Planning Level 160,000 160,000 0 0 Family Stream 47,732 77,300 29,568 increase 61.9% increase Family Stream – Partner Visa 39,799 [...]

The Australian Government has recently released data relating to the number of approvals granted to travel exemption requests for both inward and outward travel (i.e. to and from Australia). Between the period of 20th March, 2020 and 20th August, 2020, there were 15,801 inwards and 36,426 outwards exemption requests approved. The pie chart below shows [...]