Last night DHA invited MANY 491 EOIs in PRO RATA occupations.
They had previously stated on 19/11/2019
“Thank you for your enquiry There has been no change to this policy for the 491 visa. ‘If all places are taken up by subclass 189 visas then there will be no invitations issued for subclass 491 visas in these occupations”
We have confirmed with them today and they have not changed this policy
“As previously advised there is no change in policy. SkillSelect automatically invites individuals based on the parameters set for each round, this may see pro-rata occupations included in the s/c 491 invitation rounds.”
So what happened ? Well it was sort of a fluke of statistics. Clearly it was a low 189 total invitation round. Here is an example of how then some Pro rata occupations can accidentally get an invite for a 491 family sponsored visa like last night ..
– Let’s say that 50 places had been allocated to the 2613 group for the 189 round.
– After 35 had been invited DHA had then used up ALL their 500 places allocated for the 189s in this round
– That leaves 15 places for the 2613 that can fall into the 491 Family sponsored category for this December round
That seems to be what has happened last night. This can only happen when there is a very low number of total 189 invites (say 500 or less) and does not happen when the 189 is more at more than that
So it was good luck to those pro rata people who got a 491 invite and shows it is always worth having a ticket in the draw. Even though DHA have confirmed today that Pro Rata occupations will not normally get an invite for this category