2017 April

05 Apr 2017 High points nomination From 9am (Australian Central Standard Time) on 19 April 2017 the requirement for high points nomination will increase from 80 to 85 points. This change is in response to the overall quota being achieved under the existing 80 points requirement. This change will not affect applications lodged prior to

April 10, 2017 By Official BSMQ Business and Skilled Migration Queensland (BSMQ) has temporarily suspended the acceptance of all applications for Queensland Skilled Visa Nominations under the State Nominated scheme Subclass 190 & 489, due to having reached our DIBP allocated ceiling.  BSMQ will advise shortly as to when the nomination process will reopen.   If

On 18 April 2017, the Government announced that the Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457 visa) will be abolished and replaced with the completely new Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa in March 2018. The TSS visa programme will be comprised of a Short-Term stream of up totwo years and a Medium-Term stream of up to four

The Australian Government is strengthening the requirements to become an Australian citizen, by: Increasing the general residence requirement, Applicants will be required to demonstrate a minimum of four years in Australia as a permanent resident immediately prior to applying for citizenship, with a maximum of 12 months outside of Australia in this time period. This

​​​​​​​​​​The table below shows the number of invitations issued in the SkillSelect invitation round on 12 April 2017. Invitations issued on 12 April 2017 Visa Subclass Number Skilled – Independent (subclass 189) 800 Skilled – Regional Provisional (subclass 489) 29 During 2016-17 the following numbers of invitations have been issued: Invitations issued during 2016-17 Visa subclass Jul

Nominations by State and Territory Governments – March 2017 The number of intending migrants who received nominations from State and Territory Governments in March 2017 is shown in the table below: Visa subclass ACT NSW NT Qld SA Tas. Vic. WA Total Skilled – Nominated (subclass 190) visa 101 901 52 149 299 71 524 31

The table below shows the occupation ceilings for the 2016-2017 programme year for each occupation on the list of eligible skilled occupations by four-digit ANZSCO code unit group, and the number of invitations that will be issued in this programme year. Occupation ceiling values are based on a percentage of stock employment figures for each