Australia welcomes thousands of skilled migrants from all over the world every year. However, in an effort to protect the employment opportunities of the Australian citizen, occupation ceilings are being set. It is meant to limit the number of invitations to be issued through SkillSelect per year for certain occupations.

Occupational ceilings are relevant to applications under Skilled Independent visas, Skilled Regional Sponsored visas, and Skilled or Business State or territory sponsored visas. Please take note that you won’t receive an invitation through SkillSelect if your occupation has reached the maximum quota.

Read on for a summary of the changes for the 2016-17 program year.

For Accountants and Auditors

The quota is set to 2,500 in the new program year for accountants — a bit the same of last year’s 2525 so expect almost the same waiting times and minimum point scores for accountant. On the other hand, the quota for auditors has increased from 1,000 to 1,431.

For IT Professionals

Due to a high level of demand for IT professionals, ICT Business and Systems Analysts and Software and Applications Programmers has been subjected to pro rata this year. For the next program year, it might be going to be tough for IT professionals as some occupations have reduced their quota. Computer Network Professionals’ ceiling is reduced by 28%, from 1,986 of last year to a quota of 1,426 of this new program year. ICT Business and Systems Analysts’ ceiling is also reduced from 1,536 last year to 1,482 this year. On a lighter note, Software and Applications Programmers quota has gone up by 4% — last year’s 5,364 to 5,662 quota this year.

For Engineers

Some of the occupations under this group have increased its quota. One of these is the Engineering Manager occupation, which they have increased to 1,407 from 1014 of last year. Also, Electrical Engineer occupation’s ceiling was also increased by 2% – from 1,230 to 1,254 for this year. The following however have reduced their quota for this new program year:

• Civil Engineering Professionals – from 2,970 last year to 2,174 this year (reduced by 27%)
• Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers – from 1,788 last year to 1,539 (reduced by 14%)

While Mining Engineers has been removed to the 2016-17 Skilled Occupation List (SOL), Electronics Engineers, Telecommunications Engineering Professionals and Other Engineering Professionals have no changes on their quota with 1,000 apiece.

Below is a comparison table of the set quota for the other occupations for 2016-17: