The Federal Budget has been deferred until 4 October 2020 due to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic. This has implications for all government departments dependent on the financial allocations made as part of the Budget decisions. An economic and fiscal update will be provided by the Treasurer on 23 July 2020.
It is expected that the Department will consider changes to the Migration Program Planning Levels for 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 situation and higher levels of unemployment within the Australian workforce.
Migration numbers and state/territory nomination places have also been impacted, as well as the announcement of any changes to the occupation lists.
In the interim, the Department has indicated that the 2019-20 Migration Program settings will remain in place until further notice and will also shortly announce how state/territory nominations will be managed in the lead up to the October Budget
States & Territories migration programs
The General Skilled Migration (GSM) program for the 2019/20 financial year has now closed.
The State and Territories nomination program will remain temporarily CLOSED until the Commonwealth Government allocates state nomination places for 2020-21. State & Territory governments, therefore, have no ability to nominate applicants in visa subclass 190 & visa subclass 491.
Business visa programs are also closed in all states。
