In an announcement by the Department of Home Affairs [DHA] today, the Pass points for General Skilled Migration Program for subclasses 189 [Skilled- Independent Permanent], 190 [Skilled- Nominated Permanent] and 489 [Skilled- Regional Sponsored (Provisional] have been increased from 60 to 65, with effect from 1 July 2018.
The implications of the increase in the pass points would be as follows:
• Those waiting for an ‘invitation to apply’ under subclass 189 [Skilled- Independent Permanent], typically Engineering Professionals and Accountants [to name a couple] would be in for a major disappointment as they would now need to either increase their cumulative point score or route their applications through state nomination or sponsorship.
• Regional areas of Australia will get a flip as many applicants would need additional points to reach the 65-point mark. A sponsorship for subclass 489 would give the applicant the much needed 10 points in order to make it to the 65- points pass mark.
• The DHA clearly seems to direct the inflow of migrants to spread out into the low population regional areas that would ensure a balance of migration population evenly as opposed to the current cluttering in Sydney, Melbourne and other metropolitan cities of Australia.
In a broader sense, the decision to increase the pass points to 65 is good as the DHA’s stand on ensuring the quality of migrants coming into Australia is affirmed.
This change in policy does not affect the visa applications that have either been lodged and the applicants who have already received invitations to apply for visas.