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1 July 2020 Migration update for Skilled visas

1 July 2020 Migration update for Skilled and Business visas

The Department of Home Affairs has advised State and Territory Government’s they would not be receiving nomination allocations for skilled visa subclasses 491 and 190 on 1 July 2020. As a result most States and Territories have announced that their skilled migration programs will remained closed until further notice.

Due to the COVID-19, the date for Federal Budget 2020-2021 has been delayed by the Federal Government – it will be handed down in Parliament on 6 October 2020.

Victoria

The Victorian Government’s state nomination program will remain temporarily closed while we await the Commonwealth Government’s allocation of state nomination places for 2020-21.

In the meantime, you will not be able to apply for the following state nomination visas:

Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491)visa
Skilled Nominated (subclass 190) visa
Business Innovation stream (subclass 188A) (Provisional) visa
Investor stream(subclass 188B) (Provisional) visa
Significant Investor stream (subclass 188C)(Provisional) visa
Entrepreneur stream (subclass 188E) (Provisional) visa
Significant Business History (subclass 132A)(Permanent) visa
Venture Capital Entrepreneur (subclass 132B) (Permanent) visa

We will notify you when the 2020-21 Victorian state nomination program reopens after further advice from the Commonwealth Government.

You can still lodge your Expression of Interest (EOI) through the Commonwealth’s Department of Home Affairs SkillSelect system. An EOI will be required before you can apply for a Victorian visa nomination.

Book a Consultation to discuss your visa options

South Australia

Our Skilled and Business Migration programs are scheduled to re-open from early August 2020. This will be dependent on the Commonwealth Government’s allocation of state nomination places for program year 2020-21.

Queensland

BSMQ has been advised by the Department of Home Affairs (HA) that it will not be in a position to open the 2020/21 migration program on 1 July 2020.

As a consequence, BSMQ’s business and skilled migration program will remain closed on 1 July 2020 until further notice. Please note: BSMQ will not be accepting any Expressions of Interests (EOIs) submitted on Skillselect from 1 July 2020.

Tasmania

The Australian Government has not yet allocated nomination quotas to the states and territories for the 2020-2021 program year. While applications for state nomination by Tasmania remain open and will continue to be considered, no nominations can be made in SkillSelect until quotas are allocated.

Migration Tasmania currently does not have an indication of the size of the 2020 -2021 nomination quota and cannot guarantee all eligible applicants will be nominated.

Further updates will be provided as soon as additional information becomes available.

ACT, NT and WA have not provided further updates.

1 July 2020 immigration update for Skilled visas

	Subclass 190	Subclass 491	Subclass 188 and 132 visas
Australian Capital Territory	Closed	Closed	Closed
Victoria	Closed	Closed	Closed
New South Wales	Closed	Closed (491 Stream 1 opened from 15 to 26 June)	Closed
Northern Territory	Closed	Closed	Closed
Queensland	Closed	Closed	Closed
South Australia	Closed, to advise date of opening for onshore applicants	Closed	Closed
Tasmania	Closed	Closed	Closed
Western Australia	Closed	Closed	Closed

Occupations in demand

Priority is being given to occupations in sectors critical to the coronavirus response, such as medical, infrastructure, trade workers over other occupations.
It is likely applicants working in critical sectors will be given priority in the new financial year. From those, onshore are likely to receive priority processing.

Processing times

The Department of Home Affairs have advised that visas continue to be processed during the coronavirus pandemic, though some applications may take longer as international shutdowns have made it difficult to source supplementary information like health and character checks

Visa Application Charge changes

No Visa application charge increases were announced however there is an increase in credit card surcharge fees:

If you pay for your visa application charges, sponsorship or nomination fees by credit card or by PayPal, a surcharge may apply. The current surcharge rates are:

American Express — 1.40%
Diners Club International — 1.99%
JCB — 1.40%
Mastercard* — 1.40%, previously 1.32%
PayPal — 1.01%
Union Pay — 1.90%
Visa* — 1.40%, previously 1.32%

* The surcharge will also apply to Debit Visa cards and Debit Mastercards when making payments.

Australia is expecting to record a significant drop in net migration levels due to the coronavirus pandemic

Australia’s overseas migration intake is expected to shrink by more than 85 per cent this financial year (2020-2021) due to widespread travel bans brought on by the coronavirus.

In the previous year, Australia’s population grew by 239,600 from net overseas migration, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data. Net overseas migration numbers take into account how many people enter Australia and stay for more than 12 months, compared to how many people leave the country for the same period. The federal government expects net migration to fall to just 36,000 in 2020-21.