The Department has recently published the information for the April 11th Skillselect Invitation Round.
Only 50 invitations were issued under the subclass 189 visa stream and 50 under the subclass 491 stream, totaling 100 places. Both streams required a minimum of 95 points to receive an invitation.
Accountants still require higher points to receive an invitation – 100 points under independent skilled subclass 189 visa stream; whilst certain engineering professionals and ICT business analysts require 105 points to receive an invitation under family sponsored regional temporary subclass 491 visa.
| Subclass | Occupation ID | Description | Minimum points score | Latest date of effect |
| 189 | 2211 | Accountants | 100 | 25/03/2020 8:33PM |
| 189 | 2212 | Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers | 95 | 16/01/2020 6:41PM |
| 189 | 2334 | Electronics Engineer | 95 | 20/03/2020 8:36PM |
| 491 | 2334 | Electronics Engineer | 95 | 18/03/2020 9:45PM |
| 189 | 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 95 | 18/03/2020 10:04PM |
| 491 | 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 105 | 19/11/2019 7:50PM |
| 189 | 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals | 95 | 23/03/2020 12:45AM |
| 491 | 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals | 105 | 11/12/2019 5:17PM |
| 189 | 2611 | ICT Business and System Analysts | 95 | 13/03/2020 4:10AM |
| 491 | 2611 | ICT Business and System Analysts | 105 | 2/04/2020 3:20PM |
| 189 | 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers | 95 | 24/03/2020 3:15PM |
| 491 | 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers | 95 | 10/04/2020 7:12PM |
| 189 | 2631 | Computer Network Professionals | 95 | 21/03/2020 10:25AM |
The Department specified the 2019-2020 Migration program planning levels to have 16.652 places available; however, with the current global crisis with COVID-19, it’s unlikely that this figure will be met especially in light of the current increase in unemployment in Australia.
Based on our calculation, the Department has issued 8.650 invitations in total under the independent skilled visa scheme, including both permanent and temporary visas.
It appears that there are still over 8.000 unallocated places for the financial year ending 30 June 2020. We have two invitation rounds left for this financial year, but it’s unlikely that that planning levels will be met due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The table, below, is a summary of the skilled occupations and the occupation ceiling, with the number of invitations that have been issued under the occupation for the current financial year and places remaining up until 30 June 2020.
| Occupation | Occupation Ceiling | Total of Invitations | Remaining | |
| 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers* | 8,748 | 1926 | 6,822 |
| 2211 | Accountants* | 2,746 | 654 | 2,092 |
| 2611 | ICT Business and Systems Analysts* | 2,587 | 608 | 1,979 |
| 2631 | Computer Network Professionals* | 2,553 | 599 | 1,954 |
| 2544 | Registered Nurses | 17,509 | 567 | 16,942 |
| 2332 | Civil Engineering Professionals | 3,772 | 519 | 3,253 |
| 2621 | Database and Systems Administrators and ICT Security Specialists | 2,887 | 489 | 2,398 |
| 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers* | 1,600 | 381 | 1,219 |
| 2212 | Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers* | 1,552 | 371 | 1,181 |
| 2333 | Electrical Engineers | 1,000 | 319 | 681 |
| 2321 | Architects and Landscape Architects | 2,171 | 284 | 1,887 |
| 2633 | Telecommunications Engineering Professionals | 1,000 | 259 | 741 |
| 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals* | 1,000 | 237 | 763 |
| 2334 | Electronics Engineers* | 1,000 | 223 | 777 |
| 2331 | Chemical and Materials Engineers | 1,000 | 119 | 881 |
| 2345 | Life Scientists | 1,000 | 87 | 913 |
| 2725 | Social Workers | 2,128 | 85 | 2,043 |
| 2539 | Other Medical Practitioners | 1,250 | 82 | 1,168 |
| 2421 | University Lecturers and Tutors | 3,407 | 76 | 3,331 |
| 2336 | Mining Engineers | 1,000 | 62 | 938 |
| 2414 | Secondary School Teachers | 8,052 | 61 | 7,991 |
| 3122 | Civil Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians | 1,000 | 60 | 940 |
| 3513 | Chefs | 2,738 | 55 | 2,683 |
| 2531 | General Practitioners and Resident Medical officers | 3,550 | 48 | 3,502 |
| 2341 | Agricultural and Forestry Scientists | 1,000 | 44 | 956 |
| 2612 | Multimedia Specialists and Web Developers | 1,000 | 41 | 959 |
| 2342 | Chemists, and Food and Wine Scientists | 1,000 | 37 | 963 |
| 2241 | Actuaries, Mathematicians and Statisticians | 1,000 | 35 | 965 |
| 2411 | Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers | 2,294 | 34 | 2,260 |
| 2247 | Management consultant | 5,269 | 28 | 5,241 |
| 2713 | Solicitors | 4,650 | 27 | 4,623 |
| 2349 | Other Natural and Physical Science Professionals | 1,000 | 21 | 979 |
| 2723 | Psychologists | 1,832 | 18 | 1,814 |
| 2322 | Cartographers and Surveyors | 1,000 | 17 | 983 |
| 2346 | Medical Laboratory Scientists | 1,505 | 17 | 1,488 |
| 3212 | Motor Mechanics | 6,399 | 16 | 6,383 |
| 1331 | Construction Managers | 4,983 | 15 | 4,968 |
| 2512 | Medical Imaging Professionals | 1,203 | 13 | 1,190 |
| 2525 | Physiotherapists | 1,784 | 13 | 1,771 |
| 2245 | Land Economists and Valuers | 1,000 | 11 | 989 |
| 2527 | Speech Professionals and Audiologists | 1,000 | 10 | 990 |
| 3123 | Electrical Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians | 1,000 | 9 | 991 |
| 2343 | Environmental Scientists | 1,472 | 8 | 1,464 |
| 2347 | Veterinarians | 1,000 | 7 | 993 |
| 2243 | Economists | 1,000 | 6 | 994 |
| 2524 | Occupational Therapists | 1,082 | 5 | 1,077 |
| 2533 | Internal Medicine Specialists | 1,000 | 5 | 995 |
| 3423 | Electronics Trades Workers | 1,313 | 5 | 1,308 |
The increased unemployment rate in Australia may adversely impact the number of invitations in the following two invitation rounds.
As we can see from the table above, none of the skilled occupations have reached their occupation ceiling for the current financial year.
With reference to the current Pandemic, and with a prediction of the high demand for medical practitioners, nurses, psychologists during and after COVID-19, we expect more invitations to be issued under these occupations in the following rounds to address the needs of the Australian community.
Migration Downunder will continue to update you once further information becomes available.
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