Whilst many industries in the country are seeing improvements in the labour market, a high proportion of positions which require higher education remain unfilled, with vacancy rates for nurses and motor mechanics in the outback sitting above 10 percent.

Employment in Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services increased a whopping 22.3 percent in December 2022 year-on-year, while filled positions in Construction, Transport, Postal and Warehousing increased over 10 per cent.

Regional areas are still experiencing the highest job vacancy rate, but the report found that employers in capital cities are finding it easier to fill positions than in other areas, as people return to major cities after lockdowns and border restrictions.

In capital cities, recruitment difficulty peaked at 75 percent in August 2022 but since declined to 63 percent in December 2022. Regional areas faced similar challenges filling vacancies in 2022.

According to the report, the skills and labour shortage does seem to be easing in some sectors, which is good news for employers. Difficulties in filling positions peaked in August 2022 then steadily declined later in the year

There is still a gamut of jobs to fill in Australia and the report outlined that occupations such as civil engineers, chefs, teachers, marketing professionals, retail managers and software programmers are still in very high demand.

Australia’s total job vacancies reached 444,200 in the November 2022 quarter, down slightly on the previous quarter, but up a significant 46,000 places or 11.6 percent on last year.

Australia is ramping up its migration programme and the government has thrown its weight behind a revamped migration initiative with tens of thousands more visa places and vastly improved visa processing times.

The post Top Twenty Occupations in Australia Revealed: Programmers, Nurses in Very High Demand appeared first on Easy Migrate.

The occupations are varied and include such professions as microbiologist, livestock farmer, even advertising and public relations manager.

Candidates must be offshore and must have an English proficiency plus level in order to be eligible for nomination.

There are other requirements for state nomination, eligible offshore applicants must submit a Registration of Interest (ROI) and applicants must not be over 45 years of age.

In most cases applicants must also undergo a skills assessment to decide whether they have the right skills for this type of visa.

The visas on offer are the Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) and the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (Subclass 491).

South Australia is on the southern coastline of Australia, a relatively short flight from most other capital cities and is a safe, beautiful state.

Its capital city, Adelaide is often referred to as the city of churches and the Barossa valley, home to some of Australia’s best wineries and produce is situated about 75 kms from Adelaide.

Many of the new occupations on South Australia’s Skilled Occupations list are unique to South Australia and present a fantastic opportunity for many migrants, if your occupation has been removed from other state skilled occupations lists, check this one, you may be surprised!

The post New Occupations for SA Skilled Visa Include Sales, Marketing, HR appeared first on Easy Migrate.

Fast Visa Processing Regional Australia

Every month Mr Cyrus Mistry (our principal immigration agent in Australia)  reviews the Department of Home Affairs SkillSelect results. In this months blog, he suggested that; 

“Most applicants with 60 or 65 points are not getting invited at all since last 18 months or so. Many 70-pointers are also not getting invitations for a long time. The solution would be to apply for state-nominations also, in parallel. We have many clients who were waiting for more than a year so, we did a file-review and recommended a suitable state-nomination option. Many of them got invited for permanent residency WITHIN 8-12 WEEKS!”

Today Friday 8th February 2019 Mr David Coleman (Minister of Immigration) has announced Skilled migrants who apply to move to regional Austalia will have their visa applications accelerated under a $19.4 million plan.

“Our officers will be on the ground to discuss regional migration opportunities with regional employers and communities, and also to hear first hand the local labour issues they face. Training and skilling Australians is one of our top priorities, but there is a need for additional workers to supplement the workforce, particularly in regional areas,“ Mr Coleman said.

The Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) officials will travel to regional areas across Australia to help businesses get the skilled workers they require, over the next four years. DoHA will establish priority processing for visas sponsored by employers in regional areas, along with agreements with local councils so they can recruit employees from overseas.

If you would like to find out if you qualify for Regional State Sponsorship or would like to know more about relocating to a regional area of Australia, please make an appointment to speak to us today;

• Book Online
• Email: reception@easymigrate.com
• Telephone: +61 8 9221 4888

The post Migrant visas fast-tracked for regional Australia appeared first on Easy Migrate.

The Department of  Home Affairs (DoHA) has released the analysis of the 11^th September 2018 “Skill Select” invitation results (Expressions of Interest – EOI) for the visa subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) and subclass 489 (Skilled Family Sponsored).

EasyMigrate’s Principal Migration Consultant Mr Cyrus Misty has reviewed these results – commentary below

Broad Overview:

Recent news: Department of Immigration (now DoHA) has announced that from Financial Year 2018-2019 there will be only ONE ROUND OF INVITATIONS PER MONTH, next round will be around 11 October 2018.

Recent news: Department of Immigration (now DoHA) has announced that from 1 July 2018 the “pass mark” has been increased from 60 to 65 points. New applicants can lodge their EOI with 65 points or more. Other applicants who submitted their EOI before 30 June 2018 with 60 points will continue to stay in the queue.

Summary:

It is good to note that The 11^th September 2018 invitation round from Depart of Immigration’s “SkillSelect” division has maintained the same levels as the last invitation round (11 August 2018) – about 2,500 invitations. For the second time since October 2017 (about ten months ago), the number of monthly invitations has touched the “two thousand-plus” mark! 2490 invitations to be exact in the Skilled Independent SC189 subclass and 10 in the Family-Sponsored Subclass 489!

For November 2017 to June 2018, the Department of Immigration (now Department of Home Affairs – DoHA) had released only 305 invitations every fortnight. This level had been static, at about 610 invitations per month.

For July 2018, 1,010 invitations had been issued. This is better than the 610 invitations being issued from Nov 2017 onwards. But still a lot less than the 2,000-odd invitations that were being issued per month before October 2017, but now the number of invitations seem to be regularly above the two-thousand mark in the 11 August 2018 AND the 11 September 2018 SkillSelect results – 2,490 invitations each in the Subclass 189 visa category.

For many months the “Accountants group” of occupations were not invited at all. This is now the sixth round of invitations where DoHA has finally invited Accountants, Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers! For Accountants, the invitation threshold has been steady at 80 points (this round and the last round). The cut-off date is published as 25-05-2018 which means that all “Accountant” applicants with 80 points or more who applied for their Expression of Interest (EOI)  before 25-05-2018 got invited. Please note that the EOI date resets each time there is an “upgrade” or change registered, e.g. additional points for age, extra points for work-experience, successful NAATI test, etc. For the other occupations listed above, the cut-off points-score is also 80, and the cut-off date is 01-05-2018 (in the last round of invitations this was 14-03-2018, so this has moved forward by one and half months).

The total number of invitations for the last financial year (July 2017 to June 2018) was 16,296.

Based on July 2018,  August 2018 and September 2018 figures, the total number of invitations for this financial year (July 2018 to June 2019) could be 6,000 x 3 three-monthly periods = 24,000 which would mean an increase in Subclass 189 and Subclass 489 (Family) invitations compared to the previous financial year 2017-2018. There may be even more invitations planned for the next nine months (October 2018 – June 2019) – let us wait and see.

The slow-down from November 2017 to June 2018 will undoubtedly affect the Department of Immigration’s statistics in the 2018-2019 financial year. I was forecasting a deliberate attempt by DoHA to slow down the “pipeline” in preparation for some dramatic changes to be announced after July/August 2018, but this latest round of invitations may prove I was wrong!

For this latest round of invitations under the subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) visa, 2,490 invitations were issued, at 70 points or above. Only ten invitations were issued to SC489 Family-Sponsored applicants – 5 at 80 points and five at 85 points… so as you can see, the SC489 FAMILY-SPONSORED applicant needs to have scored 70-75 points “independently” plus the 10 points from their family-sponsor. 

On our EasyMigrate website, we have the statistics, and my ongoing analysis for the  October 2017 invitations; the November 2017 invitation round and the December 2017 round are available. January 2018 round, February 2018 round, March 2018 round, April 2018 round, May 2018 Round, the two x June 2018 rounds, the 11th July 2018, 11^th August 2018  invitation rounds are also available on our website. I estimate that the Nov 2017 to June 2018 rounds were only about 30-40% of the usual monthly track-record before October 2017, but from August 2018 the invitations are on par with the good months up to September 2017 in previous years.

Please note that these figures do not include invitations under the state-nominated subclass 190 and state-nominated “Regional” subclass 489.

For this round, most invitations (1,202) were to applicants who have 75 points. Another 545 invitations went to persons with 80 points. 15 invitations were given to applicants having 85 points or more. But the BEST NEWS is that 605 applicants were invited at 70 points!

There were NO INVITES to applicants with 60 or 65 points.

For the occupations subject to pro-rata arrangements, Accountants with 80 points or more got invitations up to an EOI-date of 25-05-2018. “Auditors,” “Company Secretaries” and “Corporate Treasurers” got invited at 80 points, with a cut-off date of 01-05-2018. This is a good development because Accountants had been excluded (or dramatically reduced) since Oct-Nov 2017 invitation-rounds!

Electronics Engineers got invited at 70 points with the date of effect 15-11-2017, this is a significant improvement because, in the last invitation round, only 75-point holders were invited. The cut-off date is published as 15-11-2017!

Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers also got invited at 70 points with a date of effect 18-01-2018. The previous period was December 2017, so this is a good development for Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers.

Other Engineering Professionals got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 03-07-2018. So in this invitation round, 70-point holders have not been invited! I am hoping that the number of “invitations” rises over the next few rounds. Then it will be a good sign for other engineers who are waiting at 70 points and 65 points.

ICT Professionals (Business and Systems Analysts) got invited at 75 points with the visa date of effect 03-07-2018.

ICT Professionals (Software and Application Programmers) got invited at 75 points with the visa date of effect 20-08-2018.  

ICT Professionals (Computer Network Professionals) got invited at 70 points with the visa date of effect 17-01-2018.

So for ICT professionals, there is about 1.5 to 7 month’s waiting in the queue. The good news is only for 75-point holders, EXCEPT for Computer Network Professionals who are getting invited even at 70 points. Again, if the number of invitations at each round goes up for the next financial year (July 2018 – June 2019), then more ICT professionals with 70 and 65 points are likely to be invited.

11 September 2018 Invitation Round

The table below (published by the Department of Immigration – now renamed Depart of Home Affairs – DoHA) shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 11th August 2018:

1 11 September 2018 Invitation Round 

 To find out if you are eligible, please contact our migration agent specialists in Perth, WA on +61 8 9221 4888 or email reception@easymigrate.com

#AustralianMigrationMadeEasy

The post Skill Select EOI Invitation Results for September 11th, 2018 appeared first on Easy Migrate.

The Department of  Home Affairs (DoHA) has released the analysis of the 11^th August 2018 “Skill Select” invitation results (Expressions of Interest – EOI) for the visa subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) and subclass 489 (Skilled Family Sponsored.

EasyMigrate’s Principal Migration Consultant Mr Cyrus Misty has reviewed these results – commentary is given below.

“Broad Overview:

Recent news: Department of Immigration (now DoHA) has announced that from Financial Year 2018-2019 there will be only ONE ROUND OF INVITATIONS PER MONTH, next round will be around 11 August 2018.

Recent news: Department of Immigration (now DoHA) has announced that from 1 July 2018 the “pass mark” has been increased from 60 to 65 points. New applicants can lodge their EOI with 65 points or more. Other applicants who lodged their EOI before 30 June 2018 with 60 points will continue to stay in the queue.

Summary:

The 11^th August 2018 invitation round from Depart of Immigration’s “SkillSelect” division has been “WELCOME NEWS”. For the first time since October 2017 (about nine months ago), the number of monthly invitations has touched the “two thousand-plus” mark! 2.490 invitations to be exact!

For November 2017 to June 2018, the Department of Immigration (now Department of Home Affairs – DoHA) had released only 305 invitations every fortnight. This level had been static, at about 610 invitations per month.

For July 2018, 1,010 invitations had been issued. This is better than the 610 invitations being issued from Nov 2017 onwards. But still a lot less than the 2,000-odd invitations that were being issued per month before October 2017… so it is heartening to see the number of invitations above the two-thousand mark in the 11 August 2018 SkillSelect results – 2,490 invitations.

For many months the “Accountants group” of occupations were not invited at all. This is now the fifth round of invitations where DoHA has finally invited Accountants, Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers! For Accountants, the invitation threshold has dropped from 85 (last round) to 80 (this round), and the cut-off date is published as 15-03-2018 which means that all “Accountant” applicants with 80 points or more who applied for their Expression of Interest (EOI)  before 15-03-2018 got invited. For the other occupations listed above, the cut-off points-score is 80, and the cut-off date is 14-03-2018 (in the last round of invitations this was 16-02-2018, so this has moved forward by one month).

The total number of invitations for the last financial year (July 2017 to June 2018) was 16,296.

Based on July 2018 and August 2018 figures, the total number of invitations for this financial year (July 2018 to June 2019) could be 3,500 x 6 bi-monthly periods = 21,000 which would mean an increase in Subclass 189 and Subclass 489 (Family) invitations compared to the previous financial year 2017-2018. There may be even more invitations planned for the next ten months (Sept 2018 – June 2019) – let us wait and see.

The slow-down from November 2017 to June 2018 will undoubtedly affect the Department of Immigration’s statistics in the 2018-2019 financial year. I was forecasting a deliberate attempt by DoHA to slow down the “pipeline” in preparation for some dramatic changes to be announced after July/August 2018, but this latest round of invitations may prove I was wrong!

For this latest round of invitations under the subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) visa, 2,490 invitations were issued, at 70 points or above. Only ten invitations were issued to SC489 Family-Sponsored applicants – 9 at 80 points and one at 85 points… so as you can see, the SC489 FAMILY-SPONSORED applicant needs to have scored 70-75 points “independently” plus the 10 points from their family-sponsor. 

On our EasyMigrate website, we have the statistics, and my ongoing analysis for the  October 2017 invitations; the November 2017 invitation round and the December 2017 round are available. January 2018 round, February 2018 round, March 2018 round, April 2018 round, May 2018 Round, the two x June 2018 rounds and the 11th July 2018 invitation round are also available on our website. I estimate that the Nov 2017 to June 2018 rounds were only about 30-40% of the usual monthly track-record before October 2017, but from August 2018 the invitations are on par with the good months up to September 2017 in previous years.

Please note that these figures do not include invitations under the state-nominated subclass 190 and state-nominated “Regional” subclass 489.

For this round, most invitations (1,094) were to applicants who have 75 points. Another 453 invitations went to persons with 80 points. 107 invitations were given to applicants having 85 points. Two invitations were given to applicants with 90 points. But the BEST NEWS is that 834 applicants were invited at 70 points!

There were NO INVITES to applicants with 60 or 65 points.

For the occupations subject to pro-rata arrangements, Accountants with 80 points or more got invitations up to an EOI-date of 15-03-2018. “Auditors,” “Company Secretaries” and “Corporate Treasurers” got invited at 80 points, with a cut-off date of 14-03-2018. This is a good development because Accountants had been excluded (or dramatically reduced) since Oct-Nov 2017 invitation-rounds!

Electronics Engineers got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 19-07-2018, so they seem to have waited ONLY TWENTY-TWO DAYS IN THE QUEUE! Unfortunately, this is only for 75 point applicants; all others lost out.

Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers also got invited at 70 points with a date of effect 04-12-2017. The previous period was April 2018 (but for 75 points score), so this is a good development for Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers.

Other Engineering Professionals got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 16-05-2018. So for these occupations, the waiting in the queue has now increased because invitations have started to cover 70 point holders also! I am hoping that the number of “invitations” rises over the next few rounds. Then it will be a good sign for other engineers who are waiting at 70 points and 65 points.

ICT Professionals (Business and Systems Analysts) got invited at 75 points with the visa date of effect 07-04-2018.

ICT Professionals (Software and Application Programmers) got invited at 75 points with the visa date of effect 20-06-2018.  

ICT Professionals (Computer Network Professionals) got invited at 70 points with the visa date of effect 27-09-2017.

So for ICT professionals, there is about 1.5 to 4 month’s waiting in the queue. The good news is only for 75-point holders. Again, if the number of invitations at each round goes up for the next financial year (July 2018 – June 2019), then more ICT professionals with 70 and 65 points are likely to be invited.

11 August 2018 Invitation Round

The table below (published by the Department of Immigration – now renamed Depart of Home Affairs – DoHA) shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 11th August 2018:

To find out if you are eligible, please contact our office on +61 8 9221 4888 or email reception@easymigrate.com

#AustralianMigrationMadeEasy

The post Skill Select EOI Invitation Results for August 11th, 2018 appeared first on Easy Migrate.

South Australia, as well as Tasmania Government, revised the skilled occupations list over the weekend with Tasmania and South Australia publishing their revised lists earlier today.  

South Australia: 

South Australia specifically highlighted occupations which are now seen as classed as “low availability” including: 

• 139914            Quality Assurance Manager
• 263113            Network Analyst
• 411713            Family Support Worker 

Also, 29 occupations were shifted to supplementary list where special conditions include.  Examples of such occupations include: 

• 612115            Real Estate Representative
• 313113            Web Administrator
• 312511            Mechanical Engineering Draftsperson
• 312511            Mechanical Engineering Draftsperson 

South Australia continues to operate using two lists.  A supplementary skilled list contains 297 occupations which are those that have not identified as being in shortage; they are available to limited applicants who can demonstrate employment outcomes or family links to support human capital and economic objectives of South Australia’s participation in the skilled migrant program. The list is available to international graduates of South Australia; skilled migrants who are working in a skilled occupation in South Australia (minimum time periods apply); have immediate family members permanently residing in South Australia who can support their settlement whilst seeking employment; or who demonstrate strong employability qualities (based on scoring very highly on the Department of Home Affairs Points Test). 

For more information on South Australian Skilled Occupations list visit: http://www.migration.sa.gov.au/skilled-migrants/nomination-process 

Tasmania 

Tasmania government committed to processing nomination for subclass 489/190 visas for no fee.  Also, the government confirmed there would be no nomination ceilings applicable to state nominations received from 1 July 2018 and that students with no employment offers will be able to access the Tasmanian Skilled Occupations lists which had further occupations added on 6 August 2018 including: 

131112            Sales and Marketing Manager

252712            Speech Pathologist

261111            ICT Business Analyst

Successful applicants who receive a nomination from the Tasmanian government will receive an additional 10 points for applying for a subclass 489 visa or five points when making an application for a subclass 190 visa.  The usual processing time for the Tasmanian government to issue a nomination is two to eight weeks.

The above news has been sourced from Migration Alliance

The post New Occupations added to the State Lists for Tasmania and South Australia appeared first on Easy Migrate.

The Department of  Home Affairs (DoHA) has released the analysis of the 20^th June 2018 “Skill Select” invitation results (Expressions of Interest – EOI) for the visa subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) and 489 (Skilled Family Sponsored).

EasyMigrate’s Principal Migration Consultant Mr Cyrus Misty has reviewed these results – commentary is given below.

“Broad Overview:

Breaking news: Department of Immigration (now DoHA) has announced that from August 2018 there will be only ONE ROUND OF INVITATIONS PER MONTH, starting around 11 August 2018.

Recent news: Department of Immigration (now DoHA) has announced that from 1 July 2018 the “pass mark” has been increased from 60 to 65points. New invitations will only go to applicants with 65 points or more.

For the last eight months, the Dept of Immigration (now Department of Home Affairs) has once again released only 305 invitations. This level has been static since November 2017. For many months the “Accountants group” of occupations were not invited at all. This is now the third round of invitations where DOHA has finally invited Accountants, Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers! Accountants who score 80 points or more have been invited, and the cut-off date is published as 03-02-2018 which means that all “Accountant” applicants with 80 points or more who applied for their Expression of Interest (EOI)  before 03-02-2018 got invited. For the other occupations listed above, the cut-off date is 13-02-2018 (in the last round of invitations this was also 13-02-2018, so this has stayed “static”).

The total number of invitations for this financial year (July 2017 to June 2018) has been 16,296. I was hoping for a substantial increase in the number of invitations for this fiscal year (July 2017 – June 2018) … but it has not happened. There may be more invitations planned for the next financial year (July 2018 – June 2019) – let us wait and see.

I have said this before, and I think it is still relevant: Why only 305 invitations at each round? Why did this start happening from November 2017? To me, the “November 2017” date has significance because Dept of Immigration takes about eight months to process SC189 / 489-Family-Sponsored applications. It would not affect their statistics till June 2018!! But this slow-down will certainly affect their statistics in the 2018-2019 financial year. So is this a deliberate attempt to slow down the “pipeline” in preparation for some dramatic changes to be announced after July/August 2018? I hope I am wrong, but I expect dramatic changes will be published August 2018 onwards!

Once again for this latest round of invitations under the subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) visa, only 300 invitations were issued, at 75 points or above. Only five invitations were issued to SC489 Family-Sponsored applicants – 3 at 80 points and 2 at 85 points… so as you can see, the SC489 FAMILY-SPONSORED applicant needs to have scored 70-75 points “independently” plus the 10 points from their family-sponsor. 

As I have mentioned in my previous newsletter, This is a decrease of about 2250 invitations per month compared to the October 2017 invitations; it is about 1105 invitations less than the November 2017 round. The December 2017 round, January 2017 round, February 2017 round, March 2018 round and April 2018 round and the May 2018 Round and the two x June 2018 rounds. All of these have been very low with the number of invitations, with only 610 invitations per month (305 invitations x 2 invitation-rounds each month). I estimate that the current rounds are only about 25-30% of the usual monthly track-record before October 2017.

Please note that these figures do not include invitations under the state-nominated subclass 190 and state-nominated “Regional” subclass 489.

For this round, most invitations (174) were to applicants who have 75 points. Another 74 invitations went to persons with 80 points. 49 invitations were given to applicants having 85 points. 3 invitations were given to applicants with  90 points.

There were NO INVITES to applicants with 60, 65 or 70 points.

As I have mentioned before – when the number of invitations is so low, then anomalies creep in – let me explain. I estimate that about 15% of the “invitations” usually do not get taken up (because of the applicant’s changed circumstances). These “invitations” expire after 60 days and lead to a “re-invite” in the next round of invitations (maximum two invites). When the number of invitations is reduced by DIBP to a paltry 300 (instead of the usual 2000-3000 per month), then these “re-invitations” tend to skew the results and give inaccurate statistics.

For the occupations subject to pro-rata arrangements, Accountants with 80 points or more got invitations up to an EOI-date of 03-02-2018. “Auditors,” “Company Secretaries” and “Corporate Treasurers” also got invited at 80 points, with a cut-off date of 13-02-2018. This is a good development because Accountants had been excluded (or dramatically reduced) since Oct-Nov 2017 invitation-rounds!

Electronics Engineers got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 12-06-2018, so they seem to have waited ONLY EIGHT DAYS IN THE QUEUE! Unfortunately, this is only for 75 point applicants; all others lost out.

Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers also got invited at 75 points with a date of effect 12-04-2018.

Other Engineering Professionals got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 12-04-2018. So for these occupations the waiting in the queue has now increased to about TEN WEEKS but only for 75-point holders! As the number of “invitations” increase over the next few rounds, this is a good sign for other engineers who are waiting at 70 points and 65 points.

ICT Professionals (Business and Systems Analysts) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 26-02-2018.

ICT Professionals (Software and Application Programmers) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 05-04-2018.  

ICT Professionals (Computer Network Professionals) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 01-05-2018.

So for ICT professionals, there is about 1.5 to 4 month’s waiting in the queue. The good news is only for 75-point holders. Again, if the number of invitations at each round goes up for the next financial year (July 2018 – June 2019), then more ICT professionals with 70 and 65 points are likely to be invited.

20 June 2018 Invitation Round

The table below (published by Department of Immigration – now renamed Depart of Home Affairs – DoHA) shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 20th June 2018:

Invitations issued on 20 June 2018

The post Skill Select EOI Invitation Results for June 20th, 2018 appeared first on Easy Migrate.

“Broad Overview:

Breaking news: Department of Immigration (now DoHA) has announced that from 1 July 2018 the “pass mark” has been increased from 60 to 65 points. New invitations will only go to applicants with 65 points or more.

For the last seven months, the Dept of Immigration (now Department of Home Affairs) has once again released only 305 invitations. This level has been static since November 2017! After many months of harsh policy where no Accountants were invited, this is the second round of invitations where DOHA has finally invited Accountants, Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers! Accountants who score 80 points or more have been invited, and the cut-off date is published as 31-01-2018 which means that all “Accountant” applicants with 80 points or more who applied for their Expression of Interest (EOI)  before 31-01-2018 got invited. For the other occupations listed above, the cut-off date is 13-02-2018 (in the last round of invitations this was 12-02-2018, so it has “inched” forward by only one day!).

The total number of invitations for this financial year (July 2017 to June 2018) has been 15,991. I was hoping for a substantial increase in the number of invitations for this fiscal year (July 2017 – June 2018) … but I have not seen this happen. There may be more invitations planned for next financial year (July 2018 – June 2019) – let us wait and see.

I have said this before, and I think it is still relevant: Why only 305 invitations at each round? Why did this start happening from November 2017? To me, the “November 2017” date has significance because Dept of Immigration takes about eight months to process SC189 / 489-Family-Sponsored applications so it would not affect their statistics till June 2018!! But this slow-down will certainly affect their statistics in the 2018-2019 financial year. So is this a deliberate attempt to slow-down the “pipeline” in preparation for some dramatic changes to be announced in July 2018? I hope I am wrong, but I expect dramatic changes will be published in July 2018!

Once again for this latest round of invitations under the subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) visa, only 300 invitations were issued, at 75 points or above. Only five invitations were issued to SC489 Family-Sponsored applicants – 3 at 80 points and 2 at 85 points… so as you can see, the SC489 FAMILY-SPONSORED applicant needs to have scored 70-75 points “independently” plus the 10 points from their family-sponsor. 

As I have mentioned in my previous newsletter, This is a decrease of about 2250 invitations per month compared to the October 2017 invitations; it is about 1105 invitations less than the November 2017 round. The December 2017 round, January 2017 round, February 2017 round, March 2018 round and April 2018 round and the May 2018 Round. All of these have been very low with the number of invitations, with only 610 invitations per month (305 invitations x 2 invitation-rounds each month). I estimate that the current rounds are only about 25-30% of the usual monthly track-record before October 2017.

Please note that these figures do not include invitations under the state-nominated subclass 190 and state-nominated “Regional” subclass 489.

For this round, most invitations (172) were to applicants who have 75 points. Another 100 invitations went to persons with 80 points. 28 invitations were given to applicants having 85 points. In this invitation round, no one scored 90-95 points.

There were NO INVITES to applicants with 60, 65 or 70 points.

As I have mentioned before – when the number of invitations is so low, then anomalies creep in – let me explain. I estimate that about 15% of the “invitations” usually do not get taken up (because of the applicant’s changed circumstances). These “invitations” expire after 60 days and lead to a “re-invite” in the next round of invitations (maximum two invites). When the number of invitations is reduced by DIBP to a paltry 300 (instead of the usual 2000-3000 per month), then these “re-invitation” tend to skew the results and give inaccurate statistics.

For the occupations subject to pro-rata arrangements, Accountants with 80 points or more got invitations up to an EOI-date of 31-01-2018. “Auditors,” “Company Secretaries” and “Corporate Treasurers” also got invited at 80 points, with a cut-off date of 13-02-2018. This is a good development because Accountants had been excluded (or dramatically reduced) since Oct-Nov 2017 invitation-rounds!

Electronics Engineers got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 30-05-2018, so they seem to have waited ONLY ONE WEEK IN THE QUEUE! Unfortunately, this is only for 75 point applicants; all others lost out.

Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers also got invited at 75 points with a date of effect 30-05-2018.

Other Engineering Professionals got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 11-04-2018. The new date 11-04-2018 is quite significant – waiting in the queue is now about SEVEN WEEKS but only for 75-point holders! As the number of “invitations” increase over the next few rounds, this is a good sign for other engineers who are waiting at 70 points and 65 points.

ICT Professionals (Business and Systems Analysts) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 20-02-2018.

ICT Professionals (Software and Application Programmers) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 28-03-2018 – this date has hardly changed since the last invitation-round.

ICT Professionals (Computer Network Professionals) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 24-04-2018.

So for ICT professionals, there is about 1.5 to 4 month’s waiting in the queue. The good news is only for 75-point holders. Again, if the number of invitations at each round goes up for the next financial year (July 2018 – June 2019), then more ICT professionals with 70 and 65 points are likely to be invited.

06 June 2018 Invitation Round

The table below (published by Department of Immigration – now renamed Depart of Home Affairs – DoHA) shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 6th June 2018:

Invitations issued on 6 June 2018

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The Department of  Home Affairs (DoHA) has released the analysis of the 23^rd May 2018 “Skill Select” invitation results (Expressions of Interest – EOI) for the visa subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) and 489 (Skilled Family Sponsored). EasyMigrate’s Principal Migration Consultant Mr Cyrus Misty has reviewed these results:

“Broad Overview: Once again the Dept of Immigration (now Department of Home Affairs) has released only 305 invitations which is the same as the invitation-rounds since November 2017! After many months of harsh policy where no Accountants were being invited, DOHA has finally invited Accountants, Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers in this latest round of invitations! Accountants who score 80 points or more have been invited and the cut-off date is published as 17-01-2018 which means that all “Accountant” applicants with 80 points or more who applied for their Expression of Interest (EOI)  before 17-01-2018 got invited. For the other occupations listed above, the cut-off date is 12-02-2018.

The total number of invitations for this financial year (July 2017 to May 2018) has been 15,686. I was hoping for a substantial increase in the number of invitations for this fiscal year (July 2017 – June 2018) … but I am beginning to lose hope. There may be more invitations planned for next financial year (July 2018 – June 2019) – let us wait and see.

I have made the above “optimistic” statement, but my thoughts and fears are as follows: Why only 305 invitations at each round? Why did this start happening from November 2017? To me, the “November 2017” date has significance because Dept of Immigration takes about eight months to process SC189 / 489-Family-Sponsored applications so it would not affect their statistics till June 2018!! But this slow-down will certainly affect their statistics in the 2018-2019 financial year. So is this a deliberate attempt to slow-down the “pipeline” in preparation for some dramatic changes to be announced in July 2018? I hope I am wrong, but I expect dramatic changes will be published in July 2018!

Once again for this latest round of invitations under the subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) visa, only 300 invitations were issued, at 75 points or above. Only five invitations were issued to SC489 Family-Sponsored applicants – 4 at 80 points and one at 85 points… so as you can see, the SC489 FAMILY-SPONSORED applicant needs to have scored 70-75 points “independently” plus the 10 points from their family-sponsor. 

As I have mentioned in my previous newsletter, This is a decrease of about 2250 invitations per month compared to the October 2017 invitations; it is about 1105 invitations less than the November 2017 round. The December 2017 round, January 2017 round, February 2017 round, March 2018 round and April 2018 round. All of these have been very low with the number of invitations, with only 610 invitations per month (305 invitations x 2 invitation-rounds each month). I estimate that the current rounds are only at about 25-30% of the usual monthly track-record before October 2017.

Please note that these figures do not include invitations under the state-nominated subclass 190 and state-nominated “Regional” subclass 489.

For this round, most invitations (192) were to applicants who have 75 points. Another 95 invitations went to persons with 80 points. 11 invitations were given to applicants having 85 points. Two invites went to persons with 90-95 points.

There were NO INVITES to applicants with 60, 65 or 70 points.

As I have mentioned before – when the number of invitations is so low, then anomalies creep in – let me explain. My estimate is that about 15% of the “invitations” usually do not get taken up (because of the applicant’s changed circumstances). These “invitations” expire after 60 days and lead to a “re-invite” in the next round of invitations (maximum two invites). When the number of invitations is reduced by DIBP to a paltry 300 (instead of the usual 2000-3000 per month) then these “re-invitation” tend to skew the results and give inaccurate statistics.

For the occupations subject to pro-rata arrangements, Accountants with 80 points or more got invitations up to an EOI-date of 17-01-2018.  “Auditors”, “Company Secretaries” and “Corporate Treasurers” also got invited at 80 points, with a cut-off date of 12-02-2018. This is a good development because Accountants had been excluded (or dramatically reduced) since Oct-Nov 2017 invitation-rounds!

Electronics Engineers got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 17-05-2018, so they seem to have waited ONLY ONE WEEK IN THE QUEUE! Unfortunately, this is only for 75 point applicants; all others lost out.

Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers got invited at 75 points with a date of effect 16-05-2018.

Other Engineering Professionals got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 03-04-2018. The new date 03-04-2018 is quite significant – waiting in the queue is down to SIX WEEKS but only for 75-point holders! As the number of “invitations” increase over the next few rounds, this is a good sign for other engineers who are waiting at 70 points and 65 points.

ICT Professionals (Business and Systems Analysts) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 18-02-2018.

ICT Professionals (Software and Application Programmers) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 26-03-2018.

ICT Professionals (Computer Network Professionals) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect 18-04-2018.

So for ICT professionals, there is about 1 to 3 month’s waiting in the queue. The good news is only for 75-point holders. Again, if the number of invitations at each round goes up for the next financial year (July 2018 – June 2019) then more ICT professionals with 70, 65 and 60 points are likely to be invited.

23 May 2018 Invitation Round

The post Skill Select EOI Invitation Results for May 23rd, 2018 appeared first on Easy Migrate.

The Department of Immigration has released the analysis of the 21st March 2018 round results (Expressions of Interest – EOI) for the visa subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) and 489 (Skilled Family Sponsored). EasyMigrate’s Principal Migration Consultant Mr Cyrus Mistry has reviewed these results:“Broad Overview: For the sixth time in succession, the number of invitations provided by the Dept of Immigration is very low and disappointing.  – only 305 which is the same as the last round of invitations! Once again, not a single “Accountant” was invited! The total number of invitations for this financial year (July to March 2018) has been 14,466 so I expect that in the remaining financial year (April-June 2018) it is likely that there will be some increase in the number of invitations provided by the Department of Immigration… but I am beginning to lose hope.

Once again for this latest round of invitations under the subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) visa, only 300 invitations were issued, at 70 points or above. Only five invitations were issued to SC489 Family-Sponsored applicants – 4 at 80 points and 1 at 75 points. 

As I have mentioned in my previous newsletter, This is a decrease of about 2250 invitations per month compared to the October 2017 invitations,  it is about 1105 invitations less than the November 2017 round. The December 2017 round, January 2017 round, and February 2017 round and March 2018 round have all been very low with the number of invitations, with only 610 invitations per month (305 invitations x 2 invitation-rounds each month). My estimate is that the current rounds are only at about 25-30% of the usual monthly track-record before October 2017.

Please note that these figures do not include invitations under the state-nominated subclass 190 and state-nominated “Regional” subclass 489.

For this round, most invitations (193) were to applicants who have 75 points. Another 50 invitations went to persons with 80 points. 10 invitations were given to applicants having 85 points or more.

47 applicants were invited at 70 points. There were NO INVITES to applicants with 60 or 65 points.

As I have mentioned before – when the number of invitations are so low, then anomalies creep in – let me explain. My estimate is that about 15% of the “invitations” usually do not get taken up (because of the applicant’s changed circumstances). These “invitations” expire after 60 days and lead to a “re-invite” in the next round of invitations (maximum two invites). When the number of invitations is reduced by DIBP to a paltry 300 (instead of the usual 2000-3000 per month) then these “re-invitations” tend to skew the results and give inaccurate statistics.

For the occupations subject to pro-rata arrangements, Accountants did not get any invitations on 21^st March 2018. I am hoping that DIBP recommences invitations for “Accountants” soon. Accountants have been excluded (or dramatically reduced) since Oct-Nov 2017 invitation-rounds!

Electronics Engineers got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 20-03-2018, so they seem to have waited ONLY ONE DAY IN THE QUEUE! Unfortunately, this is only for 75 point applicants, all others lost out.

Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers got invited at 70 points with a date of effect 14-11-2017.

Other Engineering Professionals got invited at 75 points with the date of effect 09-03-2018. The new date 09-03-2018 is quite significant – waiting in the queue is down to TWO WEEKS but only for 75-point holders! As the number of “invitations” increase over the next few rounds, this is a good sign for other engineers who are waiting at 70 points and 65 points.

ICT Professionals (Business and Systems Analysts, Software Programmers and Network Professionals) got invited at 75 points with visa date of effect ranging between 07-02-2018 and 16-03-2018 – about 1 month’s waiting in the queue, but the good news is only for 75-point holders.

21 March 2018 Invitation Round

The table below (published by Department of Immigration – now renamed Depart of Home Affairs – DoHA) shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 21 March 2018.

Invitations issued on 21 March 2018

The post Skill Select EOI Invitation Results for March 21st, 2018 appeared first on Easy Migrate.