Immigration

Immigration cap lowered Following months of posturing on the issue of growing congestion in Sydney and Melbourne, the Federal Government announced in March this year that it will cut back Australia’s annual permanent immigration intake to 160,000. The intake has been capped at 190,000 since 2011 but the actual intake fell to just over 162,000 in 2017-18

Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa (489) ATTENTION – SRS 489 Visa EOI’s OPEN Expression of Interests for the Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa (489) program on the NSW Mid North Coast will close at 11.59pm ESDT on Thursday 22 August 2019. Any EOIs received after 11:59pm Thursday 22 August 2019 will not be processed or accepted. The Skilled Occupation list for the NSW Mid North Coast can be found

Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa (489) EOI’s CLOSE AT 11.59PM TODAY – THURSDAY 8 AUGUST 2019 DUE TO AN UNPRECEDENTED VOLUME OF EOI’S Expressions of Interest for the Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa (489) program on the NSW Mid North Coast will close at 11.59pm ESDT on Thursday 8 August 2019. EOIs received after 11:59pm Thursday 8 August 2019 will not be processed or accepted. EOI’s for occupations

Invitations issued on 11 August 2019 The table below shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 11 August 2019. Visa subclass Number Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) 100 Skilled Regional (provisional) visa (subclass 489) 100 During 2019-20 program year the following numbers of invitations have been issued: 11 August 2019 results The following

State and Territory nominations 2019-20 program year Nominations by State and Territory Governments – July 2019 The number of intending migrants who received nominations from State and Territory Governments in July 2019 is shown in the table below: Visa subclass ACT NSW NT Qld SA Tas. Vic. WA Total Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) 137

Occupation ceilings An ‘occupation ceiling’ might be applied to invitations issued under the independent, skilled regional (provisional) visas. This means there will be a limit on how many EOIs can be selected for skilled migration from an occupation group. This ensures that the skilled migration program is not dominated by a small number of occupations.

Some important changes and updates that have happened or are scheduled to happen shortly. NEW FEE STRUCTURE Please note that the fees for the Migration Skills Assessment services will apply from 1st September 2019. Click here to download and see the new fee structure. NEW NATIONAL MANAGER OF SKILLS ASSESSMENT  Engineers Australia will continue to

General News Applications for all subclass 489 visa’s are now closed, applications will NOT be opening in September as the migration team are preparing to introduce the new subclass 491 visa in October. The Orana Skills List is expected to remain the same for the new subclass 491 visa and is available

CANBERRA MATRIX – INVITATION ROUND Invitation date: 2 September 2019 Number of Invitations Issued: 111 Matrix score range: All Matrix submitted with 130 to 70 points   The next invitation round will be held on or before 18 September 2019.   Source: http://www.canberrayourfuture.com.au/portal/migrating/article/canberra-matrix-invitation-round/

Skilled Regional (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 489) Skilled Regional (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 489) Central West nominations are currently closed again due to the high number of registrations we have received. At this time we are unable to advise when nominations will reopen. If you have already submitted your registration it will be assessed and RDACW will