ACT and NSW SKILLED NOMINATION PROGRAM CLOSED

tune09

(This news came form an agency, I am looking for an official government site for confirmation)

"The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has recently announced that their Skilled Nomination program closed on 25 March 2014. The closure is a result of their program targets being met for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. It has been confirmed that the ACT will not accept any further applications for skilled nomination under the Skilled Nominated Visa Subclass 190 until the program reopens in July 2014. The only exception to this rule is for potential applicants currently residing in Canberra who may be able to meet the limited criteria in place for onshore applicants."

"Whilst closing the program on 25 March 2014, the ACT has confirmed that any applications submitted before that date will continue to be processed in queue order. However, due to the large number of applications which were received prior to the introduction of their new Occupation List in late February 2014, it is expected that the processing time for all sponsorship applications in the pipeline will take at least 4-6 months."

"The ACT now joins New South Wales in reaching their program targets under the Skilled Nominated Visa Subclass 190 for this financial year. All other states and territories are continuing to accept applications for sponsorship both under the Skilled Subclass 190 and the Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa Subclass 489. Although the visa requirements remain the same, each state and territory has its own process for selecting candidates for nomination."