The government announced on 16 September 2020, the outcomes of the 2019-20 Migration Program. The permanent residency intake for this period was 140,366. Of the total intakes, seventy per cent of the visas were granted through the skilled program. That is, 95,842 visas were granted for people in the skill stream.
The breakdown of the skill stream is as follows:
| Employer Sponsored | 29,261 |
| Skilled Independent | 12,986 |
| Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional | 8,372 |
| Skilled Work Regional | 15,000 |
| State/Territory Nominated | 21,495 |
| Business Innovation and Investment | 4,420 |
| Global Talent | 4,109 |
| Distinguished Talent | 200 |
The Employer Sponsored category had an outcome of 29,261 places against a planning level of 30,000 places. Employer Sponsored visas comprised 30.5 per cent of the Skill stream outcome in 2019–20;
State/Territory of Intended Residence
Where applicants have specified the state/territory they intended to reside, they have indicated (these are ordered from highest to lowest):
Top occupations
Now let’s take a look at the top occupation groups which were granted permanent residency.
The top groups are:
- Professionals – 59.6% of the visas were granted to professionals. They include professionals in the health, ICT, education, arts, and media industry.
- Technicians and Trade Workers– 17% are trade workers, engineers, and IT technicians.
- Managers – 9% are hospitality managers, retail managers and company executives.
- Community and Personal Service Workers – 2% of the visas were granted to community workers and social workers.
- Clerical and Administrative Workers – 1% are administrative staffs.
Top Occupations for Skilled Independent visas
In 2019-20, a total of 12,986 subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa were granted to applicants. The top occupations were:
- Software engineer (580 grants)
- Accountant (399 grants)
- Developer programmer (284 grants)
- Computer network and systems engineer (237 grants)
- Mechanical engineer (223 grants)
- registered nurses nec (219 grants)
- ICT security specialist (212)
- ICT business analyst (183)
- Medical Practitioners nec (180 grants)
- Civil Engineer (153 grants)
- Electrical engineer (104 grants)
- General practitioner (93 grants)
Top Occupations for Skilled Regional visas
2019-20 saw the introduction of the new regional visas(sc491 and sc494) During the 2019-20 period, 8,372 visas were granted to Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional and 15,000 for Skilled Work Regional. In total, 23,372 applicants received a regional visa. The top occupations for this group were:
- Related: Major Partner Visa Changes, Family-Employer-Business Visas Prioritised Within 160,000 Places
- Related: 2019-2020 Migration Numbers and Study Australia Updates
- Related: New Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List announced
- Related: 2019 – 2020 Year Migration Program – General Skilled Migration
- Related: Skilled Occupations List
- Related: PMSOL
- Related: Global Talent visa invitation numbers by nationality
- Source 1
- Source 2
‘Legacy 457 Worker’ Age Limit Exemption for 186 Permanent Visa
Upcoming immigration changes 2023
Dual Citizenship in Australia
Benefits of Australian Permanent Residency
Medical examinations waived for certain visas in Australia