Critical Skills and Sectors
According to the government’s COVID19 website, critical skills are required to maintain the supply of essential goods and services in the following industries:
Critical Skills
- Agriculture
- Critical infrastructure
- Engineering
- Food production
- Maritime industry
- Medical technology
- Mining
- Primary industry
- Religion or theology
- Supply chain logistics
- Telecommunications
Sectors critical to the public health and economic recovery include:
Critical Sectors
- General medical
- Air ambulance
- Medical evacuations
- Delivery of critical medical supplies
- Emerging technologies
- Film, media and television production
- Financial technology
- Large scale manufacturing
State Nominations
While interim allocations provide a welcomed relief, they do come with strings attached. Based on the directions from the Department of Home Affairs, the State and Territory Governments can only approve nominations for applicants with skills that are critical to the economic recovery. According to South Australia (SA) government’s news release, nomination application will be prioritised according to the following criteria:
- Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) applicants with high quality applications
- General Skilled Migration (GSM) applicants with critical skills needed to support SA response to the COVID19 pandemic
Although, other States and Territories have not provided any updates yet, further guidance should be available on their websites shortly. It is expected that limited GMS and BIIP nominations will resume by the end of August 2020. As mentioned in the previous post, the full allocations for state and territory nomination programs will be determined in October 2020 as part of the 2020-21 Budget.