“The Department will run quarterly invitation rounds for the remainder of 2020-21 program year. The next invitation round will run in January 2021,” announced the department on its website.
Highlights:
- The Department will run quarterly invitation rounds for the remainder of 2020-21 program year.
- Invitation rounds for Skilled Independent visas have been run each month so far.
- The next invitation round will run in January 2021.
Invitation rounds for Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) and Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) – Family Sponsored visas have been run each month so far.
However, the last round in 2020 was organised in October.
SBS Hindi had reported earlier that no skilled invitations were reported since October 2020, leaving visa hopefuls anxious. This was the last round published on the DoHA website with 110 invitations.
Immigration law expert and former deputy secretary of the Department of Home Affairs Abul Rizvi is of the view that the move not to organise invitation round could be deliberate.
Listen to the interview with Abul Rizvi:
LISTEN TO
Australian immigration program: No skilled invitations reported since October
SBS Hindi
15/12/202004:51
He says it would be consistent with the way the past governments have managed migration during periods of very high unemployment.
"In the 1991 recession government cut the migration programme very significantly. In 1982-83 recession it did the same, and in the recession of the mid-70s, it did the same.
"There's a long history of the government cutting the migration programme when unemployment is very high," said Mr Rizvi.
The Department of Home Affairs says the 2020-21 Migration Program provides flexibility for the responsible Minister to adjust skilled migration planning levels as circumstances require.
Source: Department of Home Affairs
“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 have occurred since May 2020,” a DoHA spokesperson told SBS Hindi earlier this month in an emailed response.
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