Skilled Migration Process

State Nominations During Coronavirus
August 7, 2020

State Nominations During Coronavirus

COVID-19 has a significant impact on the Australian Migration Program, as a whole, and on the State and Territory nominated visa programs, in particular. All State and Territory nomination programs have been closed since 1 July 2020 and will remain closed until the federal government allocates nomination places for 2020-21 migration year as part of the 2020-21 Federal budget. However, due to the focus on the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020-21 budget was deferred until October 2020. Therefore, State and Territory governments are unable to nominate applicants for skilled nominated and regional visas as well as any business visas.
Australia State Nominations During Coronavirus

Current Status

The status of all the states and territories is shown below and is based on the latest updates published on various nomination authorities websites.

Australian Capital Territory
The Canberra Matrix used for skilled migration applications cannot be accessed and will be back online when the 2020-21 ACT nomination guidelines are published. The guidelines were expected to be published on or before 1 August 2020, but are delayed until further notice. The Business Innovation and Investment Program is currently suspended and any submitted application will not be processed.
New South Wales
Applications for nomination under the Business Innovation and Investment Program and the Skilled Work Regional visa are closed and will reopen only when FY2020-21 nomination quotas are allocated. Invitation rounds for the Skilled Nominated visa will also commence at the same time.
Northern Territory
Onshore General Skilled Migration (GSM) nomination applications and all Business Investment and Innovation Program nomination applications are accepted and assessed, but no nominations can be issued until FY2020-21 nomination quotas are allocated. Offshore GSM nomination applications remain closed until further notice.
Queensland
The business and skilled migration programs will remain closed until FY2020-21 nomination quotas are allocated.
South Australia
The skilled and business migration programs were planned to re-open in early August but according to the latest advice will remain closed until FY2020-21 nomination quotas are allocated.
Tasmania
The Business migration program is currently closed to new applicants. Applications for skilled migration program remain open and will continue to be accessed, but no nominations can be made until FY2020-21 nomination quotas are allocated.
Victoria
The skilled and business nomination programs remain closed to new applications until FY2020-21 nomination quotas are allocated.
Western Australia
Invitation rounds have been paused. The skilled and business nomination programs will resume after FY2020-21 nomination quotas are allocated.

Although, State and Territory nomination programs are currently closed, they will continue to be part of the Migration Program and will play an important role in Australia’s economic recovery. It is expected that the federal government will consider changes to the State and Territory nominations quotas as part of the 2020-21 Budget. And one can only hope that it will also announce how state/territory nominations will be managed in the lead up to the October Budget.

2019-20 Statistics

The planning numbers allocated to each state and territory by federal government vs visa applications lodged in the migration year 2019-20 are shown* in the following tables.

Subclass 190 visa
  • ACT – 1,200 – 2,602
  • NSW – 3,000 – 4,700
  • NT – 400 – 666
  • QLD – 1,000 – 2,118
  • SA – 1,250 – 2,430
  • TAS – 1,200 – 1,702
  • VIC – 2,500 – 4,488
  • WA – 2,250 – 1,806
Subclass 489/491 visas
  • ACT – 200 – 384
  • NSW – 2,745 – 1,795
  • NT – 600 vs 989
  • QLD – 1,250 vs 1,977
  • SA – 3,750 – 6,101
  • TAS – 1,800 – 3,378
  • VIC – 1,043 – 1,463
  • WA – 1,000 – 307
*Nomination allocations do not align with the number of visa applications because:
  • Nominations are for primary applicants only, while visa applications count both primary and secondary applicants.
  • Visa application may occur in a different program year than the initial nomination.

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