General Skilled Migration visa pass mark increased to 65 points from 1 July 2018
/The 1 July 2018 changes keep rolling in. This time the pass and pool mark for any General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa will increase from 60 to 65 points for any visa application where an invitation is issued from 1 July 2018. Any invitation issued before 1 July 2018 will not require the visa applicant to have 65 points. This affects:
- Subclass 489 - Skilled - Regional (Provisional) visas,
- Subclass 189 - Skilled – Independent visas, and
- Subclass 190 - Skilled – Nominated visas.
The reason for the increase is said to be the high level of interest and high calibre of prospective applicants.
While the minimum points to score an invitation for 189 visas and 489 visas sponsored by an eligible relative have inched up from 70 to 75 points this programme year, this may seem inconsequential. However, as this also applies to 190 and 489 visas nominated by a State or Territory where invitations are not issued based on where an applicants claimed points are ranked, this amendment has serious repercussions for those unable to meet the new threshold.
Interestingly, the pool and pass mark for a number of repealed general skilled migration visas have been maintained, which means there are still some old applications still to be processed by the Department of Home Affairs, or appeals to run their course at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal or in various Commonwealth courts. These visas were closed to new applicants from 1 July 2013, z year after the introduction of the current SkillSelect visas.