The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has released its Skilled Visa eNews for July 2019 with the following announcements:
- For the program year 2019-2020, the DHA planning level has been set at 160,000 places with 2019 rebalancing to reduce the Skilled Independent category and prioritise Employer Sponsored, Regional and State and Territory Nominated visa categories. The focus of the Migration Program continues to be on high quality skilled migrants.
- The Global Talent-Independent (GTI) Program which was announced in December 2018 will identify high-calibre candidates at the top of their profession through active targeting and promotion in Australia and overseas. The program will include up to 5,000 permanent migration places (including primary and secondary applicants) for the 2019-20 program year.
- The Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491) visa will commence on 16 November 2019. The Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489) visa will cease at 11:59pm on 15 November 2019.
10 September 2019
– last day for states and territory governments to nominate and for invitations to be issued for a sc 489 visa
– last day to lodge an EOI in SkillSelect for a sc 489 visa
15 November 2019
– last day for those invited to apply to lodge a sc 489 visa application
16 November 2019 onwards
– may start to lodge an EOI for the sc 491 visa
– state and territory governments can nominate and issue invitations for a sc 491 visa
– those invited to apply may lodge sc 491 visa applications
Throughout this period, nominations, invitations, EOIs and applications for sc 189 or 190 visas are not affected.
- Changes to Visas for General Practitioners Initiative are summarised in https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/skilled-migration-program/recent-changes/visas-for-gp-initiative
- Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMA) which give regional employers access to a broader range of overseas workers than is available through the standard TSS visa program and ENS, are now available in the following locations:
– Northern Territory
– Great South Coast, Victoria
– WA Goldfields, Western Australia (Goldfields)
– Regional South Australia
– Adelaide City
– Orana NSW
– Far North QLD
For further details, visit: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/skilled-migration-program/skilled-visa-newsletters
If you are interested in applying for an Australian visa, please email us at [email protected] or call Diana at (02) 8297 6767 or mobile 0434236236 (within Australia) OR +612 8297 6767 (overseas).