End of Year - December 2019 SkillSelect Analysis
The 2019 year ended with a final round of 450 places; 250 for the Subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa, and 200 for the new Skilled Work Regional (Family Sponsored) visa.
95 points was the minimum score to obtain an invitation this round, with the most recent EOI to receive an invitation for a Subclass 189 lodged at the end of November, and for the 491 Family Sponsored, the beginning of December.
Pro-rata occupations:
For occupations with more demand for places than there are places available, Immigration has been issuing invitations on a pro-rata basis. Competition for invitations is strong, and it is impossible to receive an invitation without a very high points score.
For the 11 December 2019 invitation round, the scores for pro-rata occupations were as follows:
| Occupation ID | Description | Minimum Points Score | Latest date of EOI |
| 2211 | Accountants | 100 (SC189) | 19/11/2019 9:53pm |
| 2212 | Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers | 95 (SC189) | 27/05/2019 4:07pm |
| 2334 | Electronics Engineer | 95 (SC189) | 30/11/2019 1:27am |
| 2334 | Electronics Engineer | 100 (SC491) | 04/12/2019 3:32pm |
| 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 95 (189) | 29/09/2019 4:36pm |
| 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals | 95 (SC189) | 18/11/2019 10:50am |
| 2611 | ICT Business and System Analysts | 95 (SC189) | 27/11/2019 3:23pm |
| 2611 | ICT Business and System Analysts | 95 (SC491) | 18/11/2019 6:20pm |
| 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers | 95 (SC189) | 30/11/2019 1:27am |
| 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers | 85 (SC491) | 29/11/2019 10:10pm |
| 2631 | Computer Network Professionals | 95 (SC189) | 29/11/2019 9:55am |
| 2631 | Computer Network Professionals | 95 (SC491) | 02/12/2019 7:18pm |
Which occupations received invitations?
An analysis of the December round results reveal that Software and Applications Programmers again received the most invitations at 79, followed by Accountants with 34 invites, Computer Networking professionals and Registered Nurses both with 32 invites, and Civil Engineering Professionals with 31 invites.
Agricultural and Forestry Scientists doubled their total invitations for the year by seven invites in the December round, Special Education Teachers have finally added to their invitations following nil invites for most of 2019 (though the number remains less than 5), and two Chefs received invites in this round bringing their total to 10 for 2019.
Our Advice
The amended points test introduced on 16 November has raised the minimum points to be competitive for a Subclass 189 invitation, so the Regional visas and State Nomination are your best options.
Each State and Territory of Australia has different requirements, and you can find an overview of these in our recent
blog.
