Victoria State Nomination update 26 November 2020
Victoria Business Nomination Remain Closed 26 November 2020 - 188 visa and 132 visa
Business innovation and investor visa nomination applications (subclass 188A, 188B, and 188E streams and subclass 132A and 132B streams) remain closed to new applications as announced on 26 November 2020. Significant Investor (subclass 188C) visa nominations have opened on 30 November 2020 in Victoria.
Victoria Skilled Migration - 491 visa and 190 visa
The Department of Home Affairs has confirmed that Victoria continues to use the interim allocation places beyond 5 October 2020.
By 02 October 2020, Victoria's temporary allocation for 2020-21 were:
- 600 places for skilled subclass 190
- 200 places for skilled subclass 491
- 400 places for the business innovation and investment program
Victoria has received more than 2,400 registrations of interest received from skilled migrants, and more than 480 application from business migrants.
On 26 November 2020, Victoria has annouced that the skilled program (subclass 190 and subclass 491) remain closed to new applications. They continue to select high calibre skilled migrants for nomination from the pool of Registration of Interest submissions.
Once Victoria receives confirmation of its full 2020-21 nomination allocations for the skilled and business migration programs, it would reopen its 2020-2021 nomination for 491 visa and 190 visa soon.
It will only select applicants to apply for Victorian visa nomination if their Registration of Interest demonstrates they are working in health or medical research and contributing to Victoria’s economic recovery and/or health response.
New South Wales Nomination 2020-21 Financial Year Update 11 December 2020
NSW government has accnounced they have received final nomination allocation for FY20-21 from the Department of Home Affairs.
190 visa nominations
Invitation rounds for subclass 190 visa nomination are still ongoing. In line with Home Affairs' direction, NSW will only invite applicants currently in selected health, ICT and engineering occupations, and who currently reside in NSW.
134211 Medical Administrator
134212 Nursing Clinical Director
134214 Welfare Centre Manager
233911 Aeronautical Engineer
233913 Biomedical Engineer
233916 Naval Architect
233999 Engineering Professionals nec
254411 Nurse Practitioner
254412 Registered Nurse (Aged Care)
254413 Registered Nurse (Child and Family Health)
254414 Registered Nurse (Community Health)
254415 Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency)
254417 Registered Nurse (Disability and Rehabilitation)
254418 Registered Nurse (Medical)
254421 Registered Nurse (Medical Practice)
254422 Registered Nurse (Mental Health)
254423 Registered Nurse (Perioperative)
254424 Registered Nurse (Surgical)
254425 Registered Nurse (Paediatric)
254499 Registered Nurses nec
261111 ICT business Analyst
261112 Systems Analyst
261311 Analyst Programmer
261312 Developer Programmer
261313 Software Engineer
262112 ICT Security Specialist
263111 Computer Network and Systems Engineer
312311 Electrical Engineering Draftsperson
312312 Electrical Engineering Technician
312999 Building and Engineering Technicians nec
491 visa nominations
Regional Development Australia (RDA) offices will begin assisting NSW Treasury manage the subclass 491 visa in early February 2021.
491 visa nomination is currently closed. NSW Government's limited number of interim nomination places for the 2020–21 financial year have been exhausted. NSW is awaiting the allocation of places from the Home Affairs for the rest of the financial year.
On 17 November 2020, NSW has annouced new Subclass 491 state nomination requirements for the remainder of the financial year. Changes include adding Regional Development Australia (RDA) offices to assit NSW treasury with NSW sucbclass 491 nominating applications & three streams to get NSW nomination (1.Living and working in regional NSW; 2. Recently completed study in regional NSW; 3. Living and working outside of regional NSW)
If you want to know more about NSW 491 visa nomination criteria, please find out in our recent blog:
NSW announced updated 491 state nomination requirements/ Including new opportunities for offshore
Business visa program
NSW will begin accepting direct applications in early February 2021 for all Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) streams, and the Business Talent (Permanent) visa (subclass 132) Significant Business History stream.
South Australia Interim State Nomination Remain Open
As to 14 December 2020, SA government has anounced they have received final nomination allocation for FY20-21 from the Department of Home Affairs.
Advanced notice regarding any program changes will be provided, and any enquiries regarding the program opening dates and requirements will not be responded to.
The Skilled & Business Migration office will close at 3:00pm on Wednesday, 23 December 2020 for the holiday period. We will reopen at 9:00am on Monday, 11 January 2021. Online enquiries will remain open during this time and will be responded to upon return.
Immigration South Australia (now called 'Move to South Australia') have confirmed that they will be using their interim allocation of nominations for the Subclass 491 visa and Subclass 190 visa to prioritise economic recovery and public health efforts in South Australia.
Priorities are being given to:
- High quality applications within the Business Innovation and Investment Program, with those who have already lodged an ‘Intention to Apply’ given priority consideration.
- Applicants critical to supporting South Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including individuals providing critical or specialist medical services, critical skills required to maintain the supply of essential goods and services; or delivering services in sectors critical to Australia’s economic recovery.
- Early consideration to onshore applicants that satisfy the above criteria.
The process will involve reviewing Expressions of Interest in the Department of Home Affairs' SkillSelect system. They will then invite certain applicants to apply for state nomination.
More details about South Australia's new nomination process and state nomination requirements are available here.
Move to South Australia Update
South Australia has released information about its new nomination procedure and change of name from "Immigration SA" to "Move to South Australia".
Read more here: https://www.workvisalawyers.com.au/news/all/move-to-south-australia-replaces-immigration-sa-requirement-changes.html
Australian Capital Territory State Nomination Pending for Final Allocations
The next Canberra Matrix invitation round is expected to be held on or before 1 January 2021, pending on the final 2020/21 allocation of nomination places.
Applicants will be eligible only if you are Canberra residents and your occupations are on the ACT Critical Skills List (available at http://www.canberrayourfuture.com.au/workspace/uploads/documents/act-critical-skills-list-aug-20.pdf)
To be eligible for a Subclass 190 visa, you will need to be working in ACT full-time for at least 26 weeks.
To be eligible for a Subclass 491 visa, you will need to be working in ACT part-time for at least 13 weeks.
Latest round State Nomination round in ACT:
457 / 482 visa holders:
- 190 nomination: 4 invitations
- 491 nomination: nil
Matrix nominating Critical Skill Occupations:
- 190 nomination: 66 invitations
- 491 nomination: nil invitations as interim allocation is met.
ACT Critical Skills List
ACT has removed a few occupations from its list, e.g. Electronic Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Communication Engineer and Web Designer, etc.
Caps will also be placed to all occupations each month, from 5 places to 20 places. ICT professionals have the most places, followed by construction project managers and medical and health professionals.
Tasmania State Nomination Remain Open Until Futher Notice
- directly assisting in Tasmania’s COVID-19 response directly engaged by Tasmanian Government
- providing critical or specialist medical services or delivering medical supplies potentially associated with COVID-19 response. This includes all general nursing and medical positions with the Tasmanian Health Service
- directly involved in the supply of essential goods and services (medical technology, critical infrastructure, telecommunications, engineering and mining, supply chain logistics, agricultural technology, food production, and the maritime industry) including highly skilled and specialised roles in:
- infrastructure engineering and maintenance such as dams, large-/high-complexity bridges, irrigation schemes, transport logistics planning and maintenance
- agriculture such as artificial insemination technicians, wool classers, livestock pregnancy scanners
- the supply of essential goods and services which would be in jeopardy without the applicant.
*This does not include lower level positions such as retail workers, harvest labour, delivery drivers, or warehouse staff.
- delivering services in sectors critical to economic recovery such as financial technology, large scale manufacturing, film and television production and emerging technology which:
- must be high-value/highly-skilled/
specialised roles - would normally include a significant and recognised contribution to export income, significant flow-on employment and economic benefits, high-value national/ international exposure.
*This will not generally include small scale, locally-oriented operations.
In addition, Tasmania will accept new applications from people employed in:
- health and allied health occupations, including in private and not-for-profit sectors
- senior support workers/enrolled nurses/registered nurses in aged, disability and community care (minimum diploma qualified).
Note: Chefs and Cooks – Now included in interim program
The scope of these priority areas may change as the needs of Tasmania’s economy evolves.
What to do in your application for Tasmania state nomination?
Other than meeting the minimum requirements for the chosen nomination category, applicants need to demonstrate that they are critical to supporting Tasmania's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery.
Applicants must provide a letter of support from their employer clearly explaining how their role is critical to providing medical services, the supply of essential goods and services, or delivering services in sectors critical to Tasmania’s economic recovery. If an applicant cannot show that their role is critical, it will not be supported for nomination.
North Territory State Nomination update
North Terriotary State Nomination Changes from 11 December 2020
North Territory government has accnounced they have received final nomination allocation for FY20-21 from the Department of Home Affairs. They have started issuing state nomination to those successful nomination applicants who submited their EOI before 01 December 2020.
NT government has advised that its state nomination program is expected to reopen early in the New Year for onshore applicants, the program remains close for offshore applicnts if international border restrictions still stay in place.
The Northern Territory (NT) has used up all allocations for state nomination during the interim arrangement. Therefore, the NT Government is currently unable to issue nominations under the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program. Now, NT government is waiting for further notice and new allocations for the remaning 2020/2021 from the Federal Government. Until then, all new applications for NT GSM program would be suspended.
Any GSM nomination applications received before 1 December 2020 will continue to process and assess. However, even if you have met all NT state nomination requirements and your nomination application is sucessful，you won't receive an invitation until more allocations offered by the Federal government.
QUEESLAND State Nomination - Update on 11 December 2020
Queensland government has accnounced they have received final nomination allocation for FY20-21 from the Department of Home Affairs.
QLD skilled program remains closed remains closed but process the backlog of applications from 29 September – 05 October 2020 interim quota opening. Queensland government advises that QLD skilled program will reopen at the end of January 2021, you need resubmit a new EOI while QLD reopen their skilled program next year if you have not received an invitation before 25 December 2020.
QLD business program is now OPEN from 10 December 2020.
QLD will first assess EOI from 29 September 2020 to 05 October 2020, then from 6 October – 9 December 2020, and finally 10 October 2020 onwards.
WA remains closed.
At Work Visa Lawyers, we are always doing our best to be up to date with developments. Being active members of the MIA, the peak professional body for RMAs and Immigration Lawyers, the Law Society of South Australia, the Law Council of Australia, the Australia China Business Association (ACBC) and Business SA, is part of our commitment in staying informed with the latest in Australian immigration.
We welcome any emails with news in relation to migration policy at state/territory or federal levels and look forward to sharing such information.
Contact us on (08) 8351 9956 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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2020-21 NSW Subclass 491 Occupation List updated on 15 December 2020
