25. Mar, 2021

Australian immigration: update on skilled migration visa nomination programs

Most Australian states and territories continue to accept applications for their skilled visa nomination programs with a strong focus on occupations that fill critical skills needed to support the country’s economic recovery from COVID-19.

The Australian jurisdictions are picking up the pace to fill the remaining places in their programs with skills that support their economic recovery and health response.

In Victoria, Health occupations continue to feature strongly in the skilled nomination program from the Registration of Interest (ROI) that were selected to apply for Skilled Nominated Subclass 190 and the Skilled Regional Sponsored Subclass 491 visa categories. This is due to the requirement that the applicant’s skill set supports the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, in New South Wales, the Regional Development Australia (RDA) offices continue to accept and assess applications for the Skilled program.

NSW is currently targeting skilled migrants in select health, engineering and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) occupations. In February, the state expanded its occupation list for Subclass 190 to include 10 more professions related to the field of engineering, paving more permanent migration pathways for potential migrants in fields other than those related to health and technology.

In 2019-20, 80 per cent of the primary visa applicants within the Skill Stream of the Migration Program were already in Australia at the time of application.

Mr Abul Rizvi, the former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration, said it comes as no surprise that states are focusing on onshore applicants at a time when the country’s international borders remain firmly closed. Once the borders reopen, that balance will shift back again towards including offshore applicants.

It is expected that the Australian Borders will reopen in end of June 2021.