On 24 August 2023, the Australian Government announced that the migration planning level for the 2023-24 permanent Migration Program, which has been set at 190,000 places. This is a slight reduction of 5000 places compared to the 2022–23 permanent Migration Program planning level of 195,000 places.
It is worth noting, however, that we can see significant decrease in the state nomination quota compared to the previous year for all the states and territories.
By comparing between the nomination allocations for fiscal year 2022 – 2023 and 2023 – 2024, it is observed that the total state nomination allocations for subclass 190 and 491 in the 2023-2024 have decreased by about 73% compared to last year, 62416 quotas for 2022 – 2023 while just only 16700 places are allocated for this financial year.
For example, the ACT receives 1200 spots for both 190 and 491 state nominations in this financial program, which is only equal to 30% of ACT 2022-2023 nomination allocation. Meanwhile, Western Australia (WA) recently causes a stir by announcing a total of 2350 seats for the 190 and 491 visa program, which is nearly 71% reduction in nomination allocation compared to last year.
This allocation is significantly lower than anticipated. The Department of Home Affairs has advised that reductions have been enacted across the entire State and Territory Nominated Program due to the large number of visa applications on-hand following the high quotas and subsequent number of nominations issued in 2022-23.
This allocation is intended to support an ongoing influx of visa applicants, without undue impact on visa processing times and the potential delays in arrival in Australia for those already in the pipeline.
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