On 1 July 2018 the minimum points required for the Subclass 189
Skilled Independent, Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated, and Subclass
489 Skilled Regional (Provisional) increased from 60 to 65. In
addition, the Department of Home Affairs are now issuing
invitations for these visas once a month instead of every two
weeks.
Below is a summary of the invitation round issued on 11 August
2018.
Total number of invitations issued:
- Subclass 189 – 2490
- Subclass 489 (Family Steam) – 10
Invitations issued by point score:
- 90 points – 2
- 85 points – 107
- 75 points – 1094
- 70 points - 834
For the subclass 189 visa there is some good news, and that is invitations were issued to those applicants scoring 70 points who had submitted an Expression of Interest on or before 6.16 AM on 30 May 2018. Despite this, there are still some occupations where the demand is high and therefore the points score is high.
These include:
| Occupation | Minimum Point Score | Date of effect (invitations issued up to) |
| Accountants | 80 | 15/03/2018 4.05 PM |
| Auditors, Company Secretaries, Corporate Treasurers | 80 | 14/03/2018 9:40 PM |
| Electronics Engineer | 75 | 19/07/2018 4:13 PM |
| Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 70 | 04/12/2017 11:13 AM |
| Other Engineering Professionals | 75 | 16/05/2018 4:08 PM |
| ICT Business and Systems Analysts | 75 | 07/04/2018 3:25 AM |
| Software Applications and Programmers | 75 | 20/06/2018 8:32 PM |
| Computer Network Professionals | 70 | 27/09/2017 12:29 PM |
For the subclass 489 visa, this visa is still quite competitive with invitations being issued to those who scored more than 80 points and had submitted an Expression of Interest on or before 10.10 PM on 24 June 2018.
We will provide an update on the September invitation round as soon as the statistics are available.
This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.
