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3-Monthly 29 October 2021 Skill Select Round and State Nomination Results
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SkillSelect EOI Invitation Round Results plus State-Nominated Invitation results are for:
- Skill Select EOI Invitation Round is for people who lodged an Expression of Interest (EOI)
- The two GSM visa subclasses are 189 (Skilled Independent) (Australian Permanent visa) and subclass 491 (Skilled Family Sponsored) (Australian Provisional visa).
- The two State-nominated visa subclasses are 190 (Skilled State-nominated) (Australian Permanent visa) and subclass 491 (Skilled State Nominated Regional) (Australian Provisional visa).
- State invitations for Business Owners and Investors: subclass 188 Business Innovation and Investment.
- State invitations for Business Owners and Investors: subclass 132 Business Talent (permanent visas).
EasyMigrate is a leading Australian migration agency, based in Perth, Australia. Mr Cyrus Mistry (Founding Partner of EasyMigrate) has reviewed SkillSelect EOI Invitation Round Results – see his comments below.
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Quarterly Skill Select Tables : Invitations issued on 29 October 2021
Tables:
| Visa subclass | Number of invitations issued |
|---|---|
| Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) | 200 |
| Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) Family-Sponsored | 200 |
For Non-Pro rata occupations the Department of Immigration has announced points cut-off as per the table below:
| Visa subclass | Minimum points score | All EOIs submitted before |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) | 90 | Nov/2020 |
| Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) Family Sponsored) | 80 | Apr/2020 |
For Pro-rata occupations the Department of Immigration has announced points cut-off as per the table below:
| Subclass | ANZSCO Group | Description | Minimum points score | All EOIs submitted prior to: (cut-off) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 189/491 | 2211 | Accountants | N/A | N/A |
| 189/491 | 2212 | Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers | N/A | N/A |
| 189/491 | 2334 | Electronics Engineer | N/A | N/A |
| 189 | 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 90 | Nov/2020 |
| 491 | 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | N/A | N/A |
| 189 | 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals | N/A | N/A |
| 491 | 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals | N/A | N/A |
| 189/491 | 2611 | ICT Business and System Analysts | N/A | N/A |
| 189/491 | 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers | N/A | N/A |
| 189/491 | 2631 | Computer Network Professionals | N/A | N/A |
Invitations issued during recent months:
| Month | Number of Invitations – Subclass 189 Independent | Number of Invitations – Subclass 491 Family-sponsored |
|---|---|---|
| March 2019 | 1490 | Old SC489 – 10 |
| April 2019 | 100 | Old SC489 – 10 |
| May 2019 | 100 | Old SC489 – 10 |
| June 2019 | 100 | Old SC489 – 10 |
| July 2019 | 1000 | Old SC489 – 100 |
| Aug 2019 | 100 | Old SC489 – 100 |
| Sept 2019 | 100 | Old SC489 – 100 |
| Oct 2019 | 1500 | 0 |
| Nov 2019 | 250 | 0 |
| Dec 2019 | 250 | New SC491 - 200 |
| Jan 2020 | 1000 | 300 |
| Feb 2020 | 1000 | 500 |
| March 2020 | 1750 | 300 |
| April 2020 | 50 | 50 |
| May 2020 | 550 | 100 |
| June 2020 | 170 | 30 |
| July 2020 | 500 | 100 |
| August 2020 | 110 | 90 |
| Oct 2020 | 30 | 80 |
| January 2021 (quarterly) | 200 | 163 |
| April 2021 (quarterly) | 500 | 160 |
| July 2021 (quarterly) | 500 | 250 |
| OCtober2021 (quarterly) | 200 | 200 |
| TOTAL (2020-2021 Program Year) | 700 | 450 |
Invitations issued for State Nominated SC190 and Regional State-nominated SC491 (October 2021 results have been published):
| State | Number of Invitations – Subclass 190 State Nominated | Number of Invitations – Subclass 491 Regional State Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| ACT (Canberra) | 51 | 121 |
| New South Wales | 248 | 112 |
| Northern Territory | 37 | 68 |
| Queensland | 0 | 0 |
| South Australia | 126 | 236 |
| Tasmania | 132 | 211 |
| Victoria | 122 | 46 |
| Western Australia | 188 | 29 |
| TOTAL (June 2021) | 904 | 833 |
| State | Number of Invitations – Subclass 188 Business Innovation | Number of Invitations – Subclass 132 Business Talent |
|---|---|---|
| ACT (Canberra) | < 20 | 0 |
| New South Wales | 100 | 0 |
| Northern Territory | 0 | 0 |
| Queensland | 0 | 0 |
| South Australia | 50 | 0 |
| Tasmania | 0 | 0 |
| Victoria | 31 | 0 |
| Western Australia | < 20 | 0 |
| TOTAL (June2021) | 192 | 0 |
Nominations by State and Territory Governments – 2020-21 total activity
The number of intending migrants who received nominations from State and Territory Governments from 1 July 2020 to the end of June 2021 is shown in the following table:
| Visa subclass | ACT | NSW | NT | Qld | SA | Tas. | Vic. | WA | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) | 802 | 3,272 | 500 | 944 | 1,589 | 991 | 1,140 | 1,030 | 10,538 |
| Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) State and Territory Nominated | 598 | 1,656 | 500 | 901 | 1,763 | 1,670 | 206 | 209 | 7,503 |
| Business Innovation and Investment (provisional) visa (subclass 188) | 23 | 2,068 | <20 | 1,065 | 374 | <20 | 558 | 246 | 4,355 |
| Business Talent (Permanent) visa (subclass 132) | <20 | 33 | <20 | 300 | 587 | <20 | 42 | 85 | 1,062 |
| Total | 1,425 | 7,029 | 1,016 | 3,210 | 4,313 | 2,679 | 2,216 | 1,570 | 23,485 |
| Visa subclass (2021-22 Activity) | ACT | NSW | NT | Qld | SA | Tas. | Vic. | WA | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) | 204 | 463 | 143 | <20 | 523 | 254 | 773 | 487 | 2,848 |
| Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) State and Territory Nominated | 470 | 348 | 279 | 0 | 913 | 560 | 131 | 116 | 2,817 |
| Business Innovation and Investment (provisional) visa (subclass 188) | <20 | 119 | 0 | 0 | 189 | 0 | 37 | <20 | 365 |
| Total | 679 | 930 | 422 | <20 | 1,625 | 814 | 941 | 618 | 6,030 |
Please note that as from December 2020 the Department of Immigration (DoHA) is only issuing “invitations” on a quarterly basis.
There were 200 invitations published for this July 2021 invitation round for SC189 applicants, with a cut-off date of November 2020 and a minimum points-score of 90 points. The previous invitation round (July 2021) had 500 invitations for Skilled Independent (SC189) at 80 points.
In July 2021, the previous cut-off for Skilled Regional Family Sponsored (SC491) was 65 points. This time (Oct 2021 round) – 200 SC491 Family Sponsored applicants were invited, starting at 80 points with cut-off date April-2020.
The “boom” months were between September 2018 and November 2018 at 4,350 invitations per month.
In the October 2018 invitation round, 70-point holders were also invited for SC189, but not anymore. The October 2020 Budget had placed substantial restrictions / quotas on various visa classes. This had reduced the available quota for invitations.
For pro-rata Occupations:
For SC189 Independent Visa: Accountants, Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers were not invited at all.
For SC491 Family-sponsored Visa: Accountants, Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers were not invited at all.
For SC189 Independent Visa: Electronics Engineers were not invited at all.
For SC491 Family-sponsored Visa: Electronics Engineers were not invited at all.
For SC189 Independent Visa: Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers were invited at 90 points, with cut-off date November 2020.
For SC491 Family-sponsored Visa: Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers were not invited at all.
For SC189 Independent Visa: Other Engineering Professionals were not invited at all.
For SC491 Family-sponsored Visa: Other Engineering Professionals were not invited at all.
For SC189 Independent Visa: ICT Business and System Analysts, Software and Application Programmers, Computer Network Professionals were not invited at all.
For SC491 Family-sponsored Visa: : ICT Business and System Analysts, Software and Application Programmers, Computer Network Professionals were not invited at all.
Historical Analysis
The number of monthly invitations used to hover around the “two thousand-plus” around 2017 good months. They went lower between November 2017 to June 2018 at about 305 “SkillSelect” invitations per fortnight for the EOI applicants!
From July 2018 the invitations were on par with the good months in previous year (2017).
The two rounds of October 2018 and November 2018 EXCEEDED our expectations at 4,340 invitations.
But the December 2018 round and January 2019 halved to 2,500 invitations. February 2019, March 2019 were FURTHER REDUCED to 1,500 invitations, and April 2019 plus May 2019 plus June 2019 invitations were a disappointing 100 invitations only.
July 2019 invitations had bounced back to 1,000 invitations. But August 2019 and September 2019 had fallen back to just 100 invitations! October 2019 invitations looked much better at 1,500 invitations. But November 2019 round was very poor at 250 invitations. The December 2019 was not much better – 250 invitations for SC189 and 200 invitations for SC491-Family-Sponsored.
The January 2020 and February 2020 invitations were better with 1,000 SC190 invitations and 300 to 500 SC491-Family-Sponsored invitations. The March 2020 round was good at 1,750 invitations for SC189 and 300 invitations for SC491. April 2020, May 2020 and June 2020 rounds were also very low.
The total number of invitations for the financial year (July 2019 to June 2020) was 7,780 for SC189 Independent and 1,480 for SC491 Family-Sponsored.
The total number of invitations for the financial year (July 2020 to June 2021) was 1,690 for SC189 Independent and 743 for SC491 Family-Sponsored, as follows:
Last Program year (July-2020 to June-2021): July 2020 had 600 invitations. August 2020 had 200 invitations. Sept 2020 was better than the previous – at 350 invitations for SC189 and 150 invitations for SC491 Family Sponsored (total 500 invitations). Then the Dept of Home Affairs changed their invitation rounds to “quarterly” instead of monthly. The quarterly invitation (January 2021) included 200 invitations for SC189 and 163 invitations for SC491 Family Sponsored visas giving a total of 363 invitations. The quarterly round (April 2021) had 500 invitations for SC189 and 160 invitations for SC491 Family Sponsored (total 660 invitations).
New Financial year 2021-22: Previous quarterly round (July 2021) had 500 invitations for SC189 and 250 invitations for SC491 Family Sponsored (total 750 invitations).
Current quarterly round (Oct 2021) had 200 invitations for SC189 and 200 invitations for SC491 Family Sponsored (total 400 invitations).
Cyrus Mistry Comments
Invitation rounds for Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) and Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – Family Sponsored visas are now anticipated to be run each quarter (three monthly). Next round is expected in January 2022. Dates for the rounds are subject to change.
Invitation numbers in each round may vary depending on the number of applications being processed by the Department.
Note: State or territory government nominations for Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) will not be impacted by the departmental invitation rounds.
The Government is closely monitoring migration and visa settings to ensure they are consistent with public health measures, are flexible and do not displace job opportunities for Australians, so that Australia can effectively respond to the immediate and subsequent impacts of COVID-19. As such, targeted invitation rounds have occurred since May 2020.
Recent developments around the word regarding the Coronavirus is having an effect on Dept of Immigration decision-makers. As the “migration program” especially in the GSM and State-Nominated subclasses are “long term” processes taking 12-24 months to be finalised, we hope that the DoHA management keeps these subclasses ongoing and unaffected. But the number of invitations issued in recent rounds is poor.
Because of the COVID19 pandemic, the current rounds of invitations have been drastically cut. But with the opening of international borders as from November 2021 onwards, we expect that migration-levels will return to “normal” levels in a few month’s time.
The effect of “re-invitation” continues to plague the SkillSelect invitations program. In my previous articles, I had mentioned about the impact of “re-invitation”. Many applicants have changed to other countries or changed their plans but have not removed their Expressions of Interest (EOI). So they get invited, but they do not apply within the next 60 days. These applicants usually get “re-invited” as per Dept of Immigration rules one more time! I estimate this figure to be as high as 30-40% in many occupations. This severely affects the program. For example, out of the 1,000-odd invitations in January 2020 only about 600-800 may have taken it up, 200-400 “invites” were wasted! This is something that the Department of Home Affairs has not been able to tackle yet.
Please keep in mind that for the SC491 FAMILY-SPONSORED visa, the applicant needs to have scored 50 points “independently” plus the 15 points from their family-sponsor (if invitations are starting at 65 points). From 16 November 2019 onwards the new Subclass 491 Regional Family-Sponsored visa has come into effect, replacing the SC489 family-Sponsored.
Our EasyMigrate website has statistics for previous SkillSelect Invitation Round Results. My ongoing analysis commencing October 2017 invitation round and right up to the most recent invitation rounds are all available on our website.