An occupation ceiling is a limit on the number of invitations that can be issued through SkillSelect each year. They are based on a percentage of stock employment figures for each occupation.
Stock employment figures are provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and represent the number of people employed in Australia in each occupation.
The ceilings ensure the skilled migration programme is not dominated by a narrow group of occupations and is applied to the following Australian Visa Classes.
- Skilled independent visas
- Skilled regional sponsored visas
- Skilled or business state or territory sponsored visas.
Earlier today, we flagged that the Occupations Ceiling had been reached For Engineering and Computer Related Roles. This means that those applicants looking to emigrate to Australia under these professions will NOT receive an invitation to apply within the current Australian Migration Year which runs through to 30 June 2016.
After this point, your occupation will need to appear on the soon to be published 2017 – 2018 Skilled Occupation List (SOL) to qualify for an Australian skill based Visa.
At the time of typing (18th April 2017), there are many other occupation groups which are reaching the occupations ceilings. The following groups may be reaching their ceilings in the next rounds of invitations:
If you’re looking to apply for an Australia Skilled based visa under any of these occupations the number of invitations remaining are limited so you might need to wait until the 2017 – 2018 migration year before you receive an invitation to apply.
