Latest Subclass 189 and 491 Invitation Round Analysis

The latest invitation rounds for Skilled Independent Visa (subclass 189) and Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) has been released. Every month the Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) releases information regarding the number of invitations issued during each month. The September month has seen an increase in the number of invitations issued as compared to the previous month.

September 2020 round

In September, 350 subclass 189 visas invitations were issued. For subclass 491, the DoHA issued 150 invitations.  Compare to the August invitation round, this is an increase of 240 and 60 invitations, respectively.

Visa Types	August	September	Change
Subclass 189	110 invites	350 invites	240 increase
Subclass 491	90 invites	150 invites	60 increase

The overall points to receive an invitation has also dropped during this month.

Subclass 189 – The lowest score to receive an invitation was 65 points. This is a dramatic drop from the previous month, where the lowest score to receive an invitation was 90. 65 points is the lowest for the whole year.

Subclass 491 – 75 points remained to be the lowest score to receive an invitation for a subclass 491 visa. There has been no change since last month. The 75 points includes the extra 15 points awarded to subclass 491 visa.

Whilst there is a drop in points to receive an invitation, many people who received the invitations are in targeted sectors. This is in line with the government aims to attract migrants to help with post-COVID-19 recovery.

Similarly, there are many applicants with higher points, e.g. 90/95 that did not receive an invitation during this round as their occupation is not considered to be essential services.

Accountants, auditors, some IT and engineering occupations are listed as N/A. As such, it is likely that no invitations were issued for these occupation groups.

Visa Types	Minimum points for August	Minimum points for September	Change
Subclass 189	90 points	65 points	Decrease by 25
Subclass 491	75 points	75 points	No Change

October 2020 round

The October 2020 invitation round has been released. The number of invitations issued for subclass 189 and subclass 491 have dropped dramatically in comparison to the September month. Only 30 invitations were issued for subclass 189 visas and 80 invitations were issued for subclass 190 visas.

Visa Types	September	September	Change
Subclass 189	350	30	Decrease by 320
Subclass 491	150	80	Decrease by 70

For the 2020-21-year program, the October invitation round is the lowest so far.

Visa Types	July	August	September	October
Subclass 189	500	110	350	30
Subclass 491	100	90	150	80

Now let’s look at the invitation cut offs points. Similar to September, the lowest score to receive an invitation for subclass 189 was 65 points. For subclass 491, the minimum points score has dropped to 65 points. Bearing in mind that for subclass 491 visa, the applicant is given an extra 15 points.

The drop in the points is likely because the government is only inviting applicants in critical sectors who can help with post-COVID- 19 recovery. For this reason, we can also see that there are no data available for accountants, auditors, some engineers, and IT professionals.

Visa Types	August	September	October
Subclass 189	90	65	65
Subclass 491	75	75	65

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