Queensland Releases State Migration Plan

By Mark Webster
9 December 2010

Queensland yesterday released its State Migration Plan. Under a State Migration Plan, a state can sponsor applicants for either a:

  • Skilled Sponsored - permanent visa; or
  • Skilled Regional Sponsored - 3 year provisional visa

Queensland's State Migration Plan consists of 3 distinct lists which apply to:

  • People applying offshore for a Skilled - Sponsored visa (subclass 176);
  • International students applying onshore for a Skilled - Sponsored visa (subclass 886); and
  • Skilled - Regional Sponsored applicants (either onshore or offshore)

Subclass 176 (Offshore, Skilled - Sponsored)

The list for offshore Skilled - Sponsored applicants consists of 35 occupations. Occupational categories included in the list include:
  • Engineers
  • Pharmacists
  • Medical Practitioners
  • Nurses
  • ICT Business Analysts
  • Psychologists
  • Social Workers

Most occupations on the offshore Skilled - Sponsored list require a minimum of 5 years of experience. However, medical professions require 3 in general, whereas geotechnical and mining engineers require a minimum of 7 years.

Subclass 886 (Onshore, Skilled - Sponsored)

The list for international students applying onshore for skilled - sponsored is much shorter at a mere 8 occupations.

The onshore list is limited to:

  • Medical Laboratory Scientists
  • Radiographers and Sonographers
  • Radiation Therapists and Nuclear Medicine Technologists
  • Dentists
  • General Medical Practitioners

No minimum work experience is specified for the onshore Skilled - Sponsored list.

Skilled - Regional Sponsored

The list for the provisional Skilled - Regional Sponsored visa consists of 84 occupations. In addition to occupations mentioned above, the fields are also available:
  • Management Accounting
  • Teachers
  • Various allied health professions such as Physiotherapists, Audiologists, Speech Pathologists
  • Most Medical Practitioner Specialist occupations
  • Software and Applications Programmers
  • Aircraft Maintenance Engineers

In general, the minimum amount of work experience required for the Skilled - Regional Sponsored list is 3 years in the occupation. There are a few exceptions to this:

  • Medical practitioners and specialists, as well as most allied health professions require at least 2 years, whereas GPs require 1 year
  • Secondary School Teachers require 2 years of experience
  • IT Business Analysts require at least 5 years, and Software and Applications Programmers require at least 7
  • Only one year is required for Radiographers, Sonographers, Radiation Therapists, Nuclear Medicine Technologists, Psychologists and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers

English Language Requirements

The vast majority of occupations on the relevant lists require a minimum of 7 in each of the 4 components of IELTS.

Some require an even higher level of English, for instance:

  • Social Workers - minimum of 8
  • Pharmacists - overall 7.5, minimum of 7
However, IT professionals require only a minimum of 6 in each components, and engineers applying for the regional sponsored visa require an overall score of 7 in IELTS with a minimum of 6 in each component.

Conclusion

The Queensland State Migration Plan will be of most benefit to offshore applicants with a significant amount of work experience, and a high level of English language ability.

It will be particularly difficult for international students to obtain a nomination from Queensland, due to the high level of work experience required for most occupations and limited occupations available for the onshore Skilled - Sponsored program.

Feel free to contact us if you wish to discuss applying for general skilled migration.

References

Onshore Skilled - Sponsored (subclass 886) List
Offshore Skilled - Sponsored (subclass 176) List
Skilled - Regional Sponsored (subclasses 475 and 487 3 year Provisional) List

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