Happy new (financial) year!!!

Yes, the new financial year in Australia has started and with it a new migration program. The government has maintained the same planning level of 160,000 places as last year. So another 79,600 skilled visa applicants and 77,300 family visa applicants will be granted permanent residency until 30 June 2022. One of these places might be yours!

State Allocation

As always, we anxiously wait for the states to release their own migration programs to distribute the 26,830 places reserved for the state nomination 190/491 in that year. And the biggest winners are… South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT, who have all considerably increased their quota and will now be able to nominate 5200, 7640, 3300 and 2000 applicants respectively. A big boooooo to Western Australia, Queensland and the NT which haven’t added not EVEN ONE new place for their program. Shame on you!!

State Nomination programs

Some states have not wasted any time and have already started issuing invitations, while some others are taking their time in revising their lists and requirements. As of today, this is how each state has been managing their programs:

• Victoria: the program is open since 7 July 2021. The program will only be available for candidates already living and working in Victoria, and for those who are working using STEMM skills: Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths or Medical Science.
• Western Australia: new lists and requirements have been released, go check it out! Only applicants currently residing in Australia and who have a contract of employment for 12 months in WA are eligible for nomination. 
• ACT: Canberra is already inviting candidates through the Canberra Matrix. They have also released a new Small Business Owner pathway, for businesses that have a minimum turnover of $200,000 per annum.
• New South Wales: the state nomination program remains closed, and no announcements have been made about when the program will resume.
• Tasmania: There are no updates from Tasmania regarding the re-opening of the state nomination program in 2021-22 migration year yet.
• South Australia: the program is scheduled to reopen in the week commencing 19 July 2021. We will post further updates here as soon as they are available.
• Queensland: The Queensland State Migration Program is closed and will remain closed until further notice.
• Northern Territory: The program remains open for new applicants who live in the NT but offshore applications remain closed while the national border restrictions stay in place.

Download the list of occupations of all States in Australia and the requirements of the States to sponsor applicants for the skilled visas 190 and 491: https://bit.ly/MigrationListAUS2021

PMSOL

One big news that circulated the web a couple of weeks ago was the inclusion of 22 new occupations to the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL), including Chef, Accountant and Civil Engineer. This was indeed excellent news, but it is important for everyone to understand when the PMSOL is used for. Unless you fit in one of the scenarios below, the new PMSOL might not be so important for you at the moment:

• You are being sponsored by an Australian employer in one of these occupations: your visa will be processed faster
• You are outside of Australia and has applied for a temporary employer-sponsored visa in one of these occupations: you can apply for travel exemption to enter Australia.

Despite the above, it is always good to know that your occupation is in high demand in Australia, isn’t it? It might be an indication that soon there might be better visa prospects for your occupation, and employability (and salaries) should also increase.

Visa application fees

The Department of Home Affairs has increased all visa application fees from 1st July 2021. If you want to know how much the fee is for the visa you are planning to apply for, you can use our Visa Fee Estimator tool here: https://sevenmigration.searchmyanzsco.com.au.

What about the borders?

I am glad to finally announce that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. The government has announced a 4-phase national plan to transition the country to a “post-vaccination setting”, which will mean uncapped inbound arrivals for all vaccinated persons, without quarantine at phase 4. That is indeed great news, but we still have a loooooooooooooooong way to go, as we are still only in the 1st phase.

See you next time!