July 16, 2020 News Highlight: - The Department of Home Affairs of Australia (DHA) released its first invitation round on July 14 for the financial year 2020-2021 - The DHA has finally advised  all the immigration agents that the existing migration programs settings for immigration to Australia for the current year 2019-2020 will continue to operate in the same manner - Most of the states across Australia have stopped accepting the applications under the state nomination especially for the visa subclass 491 and 190 visas for June, thereby raising the concern among eligible applicants that the Australian immigration programs were being put on hold.   The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) of Australia announced first round of invitation for the new financial year, where some eligible and talented applicants were being invited to apply for the Subclass 189 Visa   As the ongoing pandemic situation across the globe has disrupted the plans for immigration to Australia, a vast majority of the potential applicants and the professionals in the migration industry have escalated concern that the General Skilled Migration Program of the Australian Government has been closed for a temporary basis. The immigration consultants perceives that the invitation rounds that have took place on July 14, which was the financial year’s first round of invitation, clearly indicates that the subsequent monthly process for the invitations will continue. The immigration agents have further confirmed that the applicants from both the social as well as non-social sectors have been succeeded in receiving the invitations. The invitations that are being issues in the recent round have mainly been accepted in the engineering professions and the other good thing is that the point score requirement has also been reduced a little. Earlier the point score requirement was 95 but with this round of invitation, even those individuals that were having 90 points have also received the invitation. Most of the states across Australia have ceased accepting the applications under the state nomination for the Subclass 491 and also for Subclass 190 Visa in the June month mainly because of the absence of any announcement being received by the Department of Home Affairs about the migration programs for the financial year 2020-21 or the related Skilled Occupation List.   However, the DHA has finally released an advice for the immigration agents that the ongoing 2019-2020 migration program settings will continue to operate in the same manner for a considerable period of time, until any further take on changes in the same. This also implies that the 2020-21 planning cap will be retained for 160,000 places and the level being set for the 2019-20 immigration programs for Australia, until further notice will be made by the Department of Home Affairs. Out of the total 160,000 places that were being announced for the 2019-20 financial year, a total of 108,682 places are already reserved under the skill stream; 47,732 places are reserved for the Family Stream; 236 are intact for the Special Eligibility Stream and some 3,350 for the Child Visa.   According to the DHA suggestion, the composition and the size of the immigration programs will not see any changes for now. The immigration agents are prospecting that moving further; the direction of the migration programs for Australia will be determined with respect to the economic response towards the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department of Home Affairs wants to devise a rather new program, keeping in mind the fact that the economy of the Australian subcontinent is to a vast extent dependent on migration of international migrants. However, the implementation of this new program will depend overall on the response of the pandemic situation.   The ceilings are not changing, but most probably the priorities around them will be reshaped, Even for the Subclass 189 and Subclass 190 visa, the upcoming invitation rounds will be more focused towards the skills and talents that are in requirement by the Australian employers with respect to the current global situation. For example, candidates that possess critical skills that includes nurses and doctors have more priority over others. The government has also clarified that the immigration and visa settings are being closely monitored in order to ensure that they are flexible and do not replace the opportunities in the employment sector for the Australians thriving in the country so that Australia can skillfully deal with the near and also the post-recovery impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.   To Stay Updated on Australia Immigration News, Subscribe to Immigration Experts NEWSLETTER: https://www.immigrationxperts.com/newsletter/ We request you to fill up our Free Evaluation Form and take the initial step towards your Visa and Immigration Process. We are available for ONLINE! 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