Border closures on the 20 March 2020 have already significantly impacted on the net overseas migration – the number of people that come to Australia in a year. In comparison to 2018-19, the financial year of 2019/20 is expected to show falls by 30% and it is expected that numbers decrease even further in the current financial year of 2020/21.

According to a press release from Immigration to the Migration Institute of Australia, the 2020-21 visa ceiling will stay at the same levels that were set for the 2019/20 financial year, which in practice is a total of 160,000 places, including:

• 108,682 places for the Skill stream.
• 47,732 places for the Family stream.
• 236 places for the Special Eligibility stream.
• 236 places for the Special Eligibility stream.

State Nomination programs

Even though the numbers above have been announced, the number of visas available to grant for the State and Territory-nominated Skilled Visas and Business/Investment Visas, have not been allocated yet, which makes it impossible for the states and territories to approve nominations for the following visa Subclasses:

• Skilled State/Territory Nominated Permanent Visa (subclass 190);
• Skilled Temporary Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491);
• Business Innovation and Investment Visa Subclass 188.

Targeted invitation rounds have continued each month during the pandemic to address critical sectors and help Australia recovery post COVID-19 but it looks like we will have to wait until October

The annual allocations for these subclasses are normally released in May, during the Budget, but due to the Pandemics the Budget announcement has been postponed to October.

As reported by the Migration Institute of Australia, the existing 2019-20 Migration Program settings, including the program size and composition, will remain in place until otherwise advised, because the Government’s current focus is dealing with the immediate health and economic impacts of COVID-19.

Source: Migration Institute of Australia