Rollercoaster Round: SkillSelect November

Following the high of the October round, the second-last round for 2019 is a roller-coaster dip with a low quota of invitations, down to just 250 places. Following the introduction of the new Regional Skilled visa on 16 November, it will be interesting to see the numbers for the December round for the family-sponsored stream of the 491.

85 points was the minimum score to obtain and invitation this round, with the most recent EOI to receive an invitation lodged at the end of October.

Pro-rata occupations:

Pro-rata occupations are classified as those for which there is more demand for places than there are places available. Competition for invitations is therefore quite fierce, and it is almost impossible to receive an invitation without a very high points score.

For the 11 November 2019 invitation round, the scores for pro-rata occupations were as follows:

Occupation ID	Description	Minimum Points Score	Latest date of EOI
2211	Accountants	90	10/04/2019 5:53pm
2212	Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers	85	19/06/2018 3:18pm
2334	Electronics Engineer	85	21/10/2019 12:14am
2335	Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers	95	10/11/2019 6:56pm
2339	Other Engineering Professionals	85	29/10/2019 7:53am
2611	ICT Business and System Analysts	80	23/10/2019 12:15am
2613	Software and Applications Programmers	85	31/10/2019 9:45am
2631	Computer Network Professionals	85	28/10/2019 9:19pm

How was the quota shared?

The November round results show that Software and Applications Programmers again received the most invitations - 57 out of the 250 - being just over 22% of the entire round! Civil Engineering professionals follow at 37 invites, Registered Nurses with 24 invites, and Accountants with just 19 invites.

Interestingly, there were also a couple of invitations for Solicitors, Physiotherapists, and Agricultural and Forestry Scientists.

Our Advice

With the introduction of the amended points test on 16 November 2019, Acacia will be interested to learn the new required points scores to achieve an invitation.

Applicants with partners should consider whether the partner can add points to the application for competent English and/or a skill assessment.

State Nomination - particularly for regional Australia - should be seriously considered as part of a pathway to permanent residency. Being 'regional' does not necessarily mean being in outback Australia; there are plenty of major towns and hubs for migrants to settle in.

Our Migration Advisors have been inundated with enquiries about the new visas and points, but there are some Skype/telephone appointments available for consultations in December. Book online now.