Australia – SkillSelect Invitation Round 11 September 2020
October 27, 2020
Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has just released information on the 11 September 2020 SkillSelect Invitation Round. Invitation Rounds were for the Subclass 189 & Subclass 491 – Family Sponsored visas (Subclass 491 – State or Territory Nominated visa is not impacted by the invitation rounds). The invitation round figures also do not include invitations issued for the Subclass 190 and Business Innovation & Investment visas.
In this changed pandemic scenario, the Australian government has been closely monitoring the impact on the economy & trying to ensure that migration & visa policies are consistent with public health measures and protection of job opportunities for Australians.
The latest invitation round results bring out the following points that would be worth noting & give us an indication of where migration & visa polices will be heading in the short term.
The below chart shows the number of invitations that were issued, and the minimum points at which these invitations were issued for this invitation round :
| VISA SUBCLASS | Number of visas issued | Minimum Points Score Cut-off |
| Skilled Independent (Subclass 189) visa | 350 | 65 |
| Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (Subclass 491) – Family Sponsored visa | 150 | 75 |
A significant feature of this invitation round was that there were no invitations issued for the pro-rata occupations such as Accountants, Auditors/Company Secretaries/ Corporate Treasurers, Electronics Engineers, Industrial/Mechanical/Production Engineers, Other Engineering Professionals, ICT Business & System Analysts, Software & Applications Programmers & Computer Network Professionals.
Invitation were issued for the following occupations/unit groups :
- Medical Laboratory Scientists
- Registered Nurses
- Other Medical Practitioners
- Specialist Physicians
- Psychologists
In the Migration Program year 2020-21, below is the total invitations that have been issued since the beginning of the program year in July 2020 :
| VISA SUBCLASS | TOTAL INVITATIONS (since July 2020) |
| Skilled Independent (Subclass 189) visa | 960 |
| Skilled Regional (Provisional) (Subclass 491) – Family Sponsored visa | 340 |
| TOTAL | 1300 |
It is evident that Australian migration policies, at least in the short term, will be guided by Australia’s response to the pandemic. Any change in circumstances can only be expected as & when there is an improvement in the COVID-19 situation or a vaccine is developed to counter the adverse affects of the coronavirus.
