Skilled Visa Grants and Refusals 2014-15 to 2019

Skilled Visa Grants and Refusals 2014-15 to 2019.

A Freedom of Information request, released in January 2020, has shown that the numbers of Skilled Visa grants has been reducing over the years between 2014 and 2019.

The grant numbers have dropped from an average of about 10,300 per month, down to about 8,600 per month, between the 2014-15 and 2018-19 years.

The grant numbers for 2019-2020 so far, do look very similar to the last two years, although it may not be comparable to the previous full year figures.

In the same Freedom of Information request, the numbers of refusals have increased substantially, going from an average of about 400 per month in the earlier years, up to just under 1,000 per month in 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The refusal numbers for 2019-20 does look much higher, at about 1,200 per month, but again, as that is not a full year, it may not be comparable to the previous full year figures.

The number of applicants still waiting for their application to be decided, has varied between about 90,000 and 103,000 at the end of each financial year.

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These figures for Skilled Visa grants are only for the major streams, and do NOT include the Business Investment & Innovation, Distinguished or Global talent numbers.

Skilled Visas Granted.

The Total numbers of Skilled visas granted each year.

2014-15: 123,757 (An average of 10,313 per month)
2015-16: 123,778 (An average of 10,315 per month)
2016-17: 118,068 (An average of 9,839 per month)
2017-18: 104,616 (An average of 8,718 per month)
2018-19 103,105 (An average of 8,592 per month)
2019-20 48,000 (An average of 9,600 per month)

These numbers are broken down between the different Skilled visa streams as follows:

The numbers of Employer Sponsored visas granted each year.

2014-15: 36,914 (An average of 3,076 per month)
2015-16: 36,883 (An average of 3,074 per month)
2016-17: 38,911 (An average of 3,243 per month)
2017-18: 29,582 (An average of 2,465 per month)
2018-19 33,269 (An average of 2,772 per month)
2019-20 20,187 (An average of 4,037 per month)

The numbers of Skilled Independent visas granted each year.

2014-15: 44,880 (An average of 3,740 per month)
2015-16: 44,720 (An average of 3,727 per month)
2016-17: 42,852 (An average of 3,571 per month)
2017-18: 39,417 (An average of 3,285 per month)
2018-19 34,483 (An average of 2,874 per month)
2019-20 4,694 (An average of 939 per month)

The numbers of State/Territory Nominated visas granted each year.

2014-15: 21,848 (An average of 1,821 per month)
2015-16: 21,652 (An average of 1,804 per month)
2016-17: 19,561 (An average of 1,630 per month)
2017-18: 20,790 (An average of 1,733 per month)
2018-19 16,949 (An average of 1,412 per month)
2019-20 10,429 (An average of 2,086 per month)

The numbers of Regional Skilled Work visas granted each year.

2014-15: 8,000 (An average of 667 per month)
2015-16: 8,129 (An average of 677 per month)
2016-17: 6,340 (An average of 528 per month)
2017-18: 8,551 (An average of 713 per month)
2018-19 9,347 (An average of 779 per month)
2019-20 7,079 (An average of 1,416 per month)

The numbers of Regional Skilled Employer Sponsored visas granted each year.

2014-15: 12,115 (An average of 1,010 per month)
2015-16: 12,394 (An average of 1,033 per month)
2016-17: 10,404 (An average of 867 per month)
2017-18: 6,276 (An average of 523 per month)
2018-19 9,057 (An average of 755 per month)
2019-20 5,611 (An average of 1,122 per month)

Skilled Visas Refused.

The Total numbers of Skilled visas refused each year.

2014-15: 4,909 (An average of 409 per month)
2015-16: 3,203 (An average of 267 per month)
2016-17: 4,942 (An average of 412 per month)
2017-18: 11,254 (An average of 938 per month)
2018-19 11,327 (An average of 944 per month)
2019-20 5,449 (An average of 1,090 per month)

These numbers are broken down between the different Skilled visa streams as follows:

The numbers of Employer Sponsored visas refused each year.

2014-15: 667 (An average of 56 per month)
2015-16: 812 (An average of 68 per month)
2016-17: 1,719 (An average of 143 per month)
2017-18: 5,149 (An average of 429 per month)
2018-19 3,173 (An average of 264 per month)
2019-20 1,423 (An average of 285 per month)

The numbers of Skilled Independent visas refused each year.

2014-15: 2,347 (An average of 196 per month)
2015-16: 991 (An average of 83 per month)
2016-17: 1,160 (An average of 97 per month)
2017-18: 1,268 (An average of 106 per month)
2018-19 1,729 (An average of 144 per month)
2019-20 479 (An average of 96 per month)

The numbers of State/Territory Nominated visas refused each year.

2014-15: 639 (An average of 53 per month)
2015-16: 471 (An average of 39 per month)
2016-17: 460 (An average of 38 per month)
2017-18: 488 (An average of 41 per month)
2018-19: 551 (An average of 46 per month)
2019-20 (First 5 months only): 128 (An average of 26 per month)

The numbers of Regional Skilled Work visas refused each year.

2014-15: 549 (An average of 46 per month)
2015-16: 352 (An average of 29 per month)
2016-17: 284 (An average of 24 per month)
2017-18: 365 (An average of 30 per month)
2018-19 602 (An average of 50 per month)
2019-20 268 (An average of 54 per month)

The numbers of Regional Skilled Employer Sponsored visas refused each year.

2014-15: 707 (An average of 59 per month)
2015-16: 577 (An average of 48 per month)
2016-17: 1,319 (An average of 110 per month)
2017-18: 3,984 (An average of 332 per month)
2018-19 5,272 (An average of 439 per month)
2019-20 3,151 (An average of 630 per month)

Refusals as a percentage of Grants plus Refusals, each year.

2014-15: 3.8%
2015-16: 2.5%
2016-17: 4.0%
2017-18: 9.7%
2018-19 9.9%
2019-20 10.2%

Skilled Visa Applications on Hand as at 30th June.

2015: 89,967
2016: 76,185
2017: 103,033
2018: 104,999
2019: 89,732

Skilled Visas on Hand as at 30th November 2019: 78,490

Source (PDF File 1.7MB): homeaffairs.gov.au/…/fa-191000624.PDF

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The information we give is based on personal experiences, reading and formulation of available statistics.
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