The Australia government has released the results of the August 2019 Skillselect invitation round highlighting a worrying drop in the number of invitations offered. No explanation yet from the department of home affairs why such a drop from 1000 invites in July 2019.
One possibility is that with around 20,000 undecided 189 applications currently lodged with the Australian migration department, that is already the whole of the reduced 2019/2020 visa program for that category. So to keep processing times from blowing out the Australian migration department may have decided to drastically reduce the number of new 189 invites.
August Skillselect invitations round
Invitations issued on 11 August 2019
The table below shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 11 August 2019.
| Visa subclass | Number |
|---|---|
| Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) | 100 |
| Skilled Regional (provisional) visa (subclass 489) | 100 |
The following graph shows the points for clients who were invited to apply in the 11 August 2019 round.
Invitation process and cut offs
The highest ranked applicants by points score are invited to apply for the relevant visa. For applicants who have equal points scores, the time at which they reached their points score for that subclass (referred to as the date of effect) determines their order of invitation. Expressions of Interest with earlier dates of effect are invited before later dates.
Compared to last month, the minimum points score required for 189 Visa applications has risen to 85 points vs 80 points in July
| Visa subclass | Minimum points score | Latest date of effect |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) | 85 | 01/08/2019 9:41pm |
| Skilled Regional (provisional) visa (subclass 489) | 80 | 21/01/2019 12:10pm |
Point scores and the dates of effect cut off for the pro rata occupations in the 11 August 2019 invitation round.
Due to high levels of demand, and in keeping with previous years, the below occupation groups will be subject to pro rata arrangements to ensure availability of invitations across the program year.
SkillSelect first allocates available places to Skilled – Independent visas (subclass 189) and then the remaining to Skilled – Regional (Provisional) visas (subclass 489). If all places are taken up by subclass 189 visas then there will be no invitations issued for subclass 489 visas in these occupations.
| Occupation ID | Description | Minimum points score | Latest date of effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2211 | Accountants | 90 | 20/07/2019 8:54pm |
| 2212 | Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers | 85 | 11/03/2019 7:14pm |
| 2334 | Electronics Engineer | 85 | 15/07/2019 2:50pm |
| 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 85 | 31/07/2019 3:21pm |
| 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals | 90 | 7/08/2019 4:41pm |
| 2611 | ICT Business and System Analysts | 85 | 30/07/2019 12:04pm |
| 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers | 85 | 31/07/2019 7:57pm |
| 2631 | Computer Network Professionals | 80 | 14/07/2019 8:37pm |
Invitations issued during 2019-20 program year
With the low number of invitations issued during August, the current number of invitations sits at 1300 for the 2019 – 2020 migration year.
Let’s hope we see more applicants receiving invitations next month.
