Visa applicants who were working as software and application programmers, registered nurses and accountants received the highest number of permanent residency visas under the Skill stream in 2020-2021.
For international students and workers seeking to live and work in Australia permanently, the top five occupations that received permanent residencies in 2020-2021 are below:
- Registered nurses received 3,670 places, higher than any other occupation across the Skill stream
- Software and applications programmers were a close second with 3,121 places
- Accountants received 2,065 places
- ICT business and system analysts received 1,106 permanent visas
- Civil engineer professionals got 1,106 places
The highest number of places in the Skill stream was granted to applicants who applied under the Employer Sponsored category (subclass 186), which had an outcome of 23,000 places.
In this category, software and applications programmers received the highest number of visas, followed by registered nurses, accountants, ICT business and systems analysts, university lecturers, and tutors.
Under the State and Territory Nominated category (subclass 190) - the second most popular visa type - nurses received the highest number of permanent visas, followed by software programmers, accountants, ICT analysts, general practitioners, and resident medical officers.
Meanwhile, the highest number of Global Talent visas were granted to applicants with experience in the future-focused fields like DigiTech (34%), followed by the health industry (23%) and energy sector (17%).
The Government has announced further measures to support the return of international students and graduates, bolstering the international education industry by:
- Allowing Temporary Graduate visa holders, who have been unable to travel to Australia because of COVID-19 international border restrictions, to apply for a replacement visa.
- Increasing the length of stay on Temporary Graduate visas in the Masters by Coursework and Vocation Education and Training (VET) streams.
- Simplifying the requirements for Temporary Graduate visa applicants for VET sector graduates; and
- Extending the existing measure for student and temporary graduates to recognize time spent offshore studying online to count towards qualifying for a Temporary Graduate visa application.
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