Australia:189 and 491 Family invitation round September 2020

The September 2020 round has been released. How many points do you need for your Visa?

In September 2020 only 350 invitations were issued for subclass 189, which is up from 110 in August 2020.

Despite the higher number of invitations, there are many people who have lodged their Expression of Interest (EOI) and are still waiting for an invitation, even with high point scores.

150 invitations were also issued in September 2020 for subclass 491 Family Sponsored, which is up from 90 in the month of August 2020.

The May to September rounds has been different from every round for the last few years. The major difficulty in analysing the results is the lack of transparency in which occupations are getting invited and which occupations have missed out. The overall points scores required for an invitation have dropped dramatically – however are in very targeted areas.

Importantly not all applicants that achieved the appropriate score received invitations. This is line with a statement made by the acting Immigration Minister recently in which he indicated the skilled occupations may be selected by occupations in most need.

• For subclass 189 – in September the lowest score anyone required was 65 (that includes occupations in most need in Australia such as nurses, doctors and other allied health).
• For subclass 491 – Family – Most occupations required 75 points – that includes 15 points provided by family for these visas.
• However there are many people waiting for invitations with 90/95 plus points who did not get an invitation who had occupations not considered essential services.
• Accountants, External Auditors and some Engineers and IT for 189 and 491 Family simply stated NA on the Department of Home Affair’s website. That may mean that none of these occupations were invited.

If you don’t know how you can achieve the points required for the subclass 189 visa or you may not have a “critical sector” occupation you need to ensure you are planning your migration strategy.

To get advice on your visa options and learn how you can navigate your way through the migration maze book in a consultation with a registered migration agent today.

The full release is below:

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skillselect/invitation-rounds