The May 2020 and June 2020 invitation rounds for the Subclass 189 – Skilled – Independent visa and Subclass – Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visas sponsored by an eligible relative have been published. Shockingly, the race for the highest points in an Expressions of Interest (EOI) to receive an invitation is out and a “targeted” approach is in.

The May and June invitation rounds have seen an uptick of issued invitations from the dismal April 2020 round where a collective 100 invitations were issued. May 2020 saw 550 invitations for 189 visas and 100 invitations for 491 visas sponsored by an eligible relative. June saw 170 invitations for 189 visas and 30 invitations for 491 visas sponsored by an eligible relative.

What has been unprecedented, however, is that Home Affairs have done away with issuing invitations for the EOIs with the highest points, which has been the criteria for invitations issued since the SkillSelect system for 189 and 489/491 visas sponsored by an eligible relative commenced on 1 July 2012. The existing policy of the invitation system for these visas are very clear:

Invitations are issued to the EOIs with the highest points scores first then to EOIs with the earliest dates of submission until:

the occupation ceiling is reached for one or more occupation group

the maximum number of invitations is reached for the subclass, or

there are no further eligible EOIs available in SkillSelect.

Instead, Home Affairs issued this caveat on their website:

The Government is closely monitoring migration and visa settings to ensure they are consistent with public health measures, are flexible and do not displace job opportunities for Australians, so that Australia can effectively respond to the immediate and subsequent impacts of COVID-19. As such, targeted invitation rounds occurred in May and June 2020.

This approach is reflected in the published information. The minimum points for a 189 visa dropped from 95 points in April to 85 points in May and June. Even more drastic, the minimum points for a 489 visa dropped from 95 points in April to 70 points in May and June. Unless many people decided to withdraw their EOIs, it would have been likely that the minimum points for May and June would have at least remain unchanged, if not increased due to the dearth of invitations issued in April.

The big question in all this is: who or what was “targeted”? Given that the pro-rated occupations of accountants, engineers, and computer professionals have an “N/A” for minimum points score and latest date of effect month, most likely EOIs nominating these occupations did not receive an invitation.

The pro-rated occupation group of 2339 Other Engineering Professionals does record a minimum points score and date, so it is likely some EOIs in these occupations did receive an invitation. One of the occupations in this unit group is 233913 Biomedical Engineer. In the current climate, it is easy to see the benefit of granting permanent visas for these skilled professionals.

An additional guess would be those nominating occupations under the unit group of 2544 Registered Nurses, and perhaps other medical-related occupations.

Home Affairs is also likely to have tweaked the playing field to those in Australia for 491 visas. With current travel restrictions in place, 189 visa holders do not require a travel exemption as they are permanent residents, but 491 visa holders would.

Those aggrieved by this change may be wondering whether this is legal. Section 495A of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) allows the Minister to use a computer program under his control to make decisions on the Minister’s behalf. That computer program can be subject to change, or alternatively, the control to make a decision can be placed back to the Minister or a delegate.

One can ponder whether the “targeted” approach may become the new norm. The issue with changing the rules of the game is that confidence in the system may erode.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.