At the beginning of 2019, Australia unexpectedly delivered bad news to immigration applicants, as the quota for state government sponsorship had been filled. Starting from February 8, Queensland will suspend the issuance of invitations for skilled and business immigration EOI, and no new invitations will be issued for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. In addition to this unfortunate news, some good news has also emerged. With South Australia, New South Wales, and Western Australia reopening investment immigration applications, Victoria has also announced that it will reopen on February 18!
Closure of Business Immigration in Queensland, Australia on February 8
Everyone must remember several significant announcements at the beginning of January 2019: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia successively closed the most profitable investment immigration channels, which provided the highest benefits to the government. Although they later announced reopening, Queensland sounded an alarm for us: the sudden announcement of closure on February 8! The reason for this closure is similar to that of the previous closure in New South Wales, which is due to the fact that the state government sponsorship quota for the 2018-19 fiscal year has been exhausted, requiring a new application to the federal government for an increase in new quotas. From July 2017 to the end of June 2018, two states had exhausted their nomination quotas, indicating the high demand for Australia's business investment immigration program.
Although only two months have passed in 2019, this is not the first time Queensland has announced a closure of a program:
1. On January 2, 2019, Queensland announced the closure of the venture capital immigration program;
2. On January 25, 2019, Queensland venture capital announced the reopening of applications, allowing applications for categories 188B, 188C, and 132, while 188A was not accepting applications. The period between this closure and reopening lasted only two weeks. According to the Queensland Department of Immigration, the new state sponsorship channel will not reopen until July 1, 2019, meaning that applicants who were prepared to submit but have not yet done so will have to wait several more months.
