Why Timing Matters when Applying for State Sponsorship

In this column, we will look at the number of migrants allocated to the State by the Australian Federal Government every fiscal year and the importance of timing when applying for a State Sponsorship.

According to our previous column, ‘2023 Federal Prospects Budget’ uploaded on April 20, 2022, we can see that the number of the Business Investment visa was decreased by 4,000 more from the previous year, 13,500 places, with 9,500 places now.

My L, planning to immigrate to Australia on a 188 Business Visa from Korea, read our columns and had his first consultation with us through Kakao Talk on March 28.

During the consultation, due to time constraints such as preparing documents, we expected to apply after July 1, 2022, when the next fiscal year starts. However, After the announcement of the 2023 Federal Budget on March 30, of 4,000 places decreasing in the 188 Business Visa, our Mosaic Team strongly recommended Mr L to apply before the end of this fiscal year 2022 despite the short time frame. Based on Mosaic Migration’s long experience and belief in putting customers as our top priority, Mr L accepted our proposal. On April 14, we signed a 188-business visa client service agreement and officially started filling out questionnaires and preparing documents.

Mr L, who actively prepared for the EOI application in a short time, submitted his EOI (Expression of Interest) on May 4, and the Queensland State Government accepted the Initial Invitation on May 10. The Nomination was approved two weeks after the Invitation to lodge on May 23 without any further questions or additional document requests. The case has been processed very quickly and receiving a nomination after 5 weeks of signing the Client agreement is rare.

During the whole period of receiving the Nomination and signing the Client Agreement Contract on May 23, 2022, we could never have face-to-face consultation because Mr L was in Korea. But thanks to trusting in our company and actively following our suggestions, we were able to get good results in a short amount of time.

The deadline for State Sponsorships for each visa may vary as each State receives a State Quota from the Federal Government and must exhaust all places within the Fiscal Year. For example, on May 6, 2022, the State of QLD announced that they would no longer accept EOI (Expression of Interest) for Provisional Skilled Immigration Programs (subclass 190 and subclass 491). However, since the Business and Investment visas did not meet their allotted amount this year, Mr L could get State Sponsorship on May 10.

For reference, Victoria has no longer received applications after 5 pm April 29. And In the case of South Australia, they announced on June 7 that they would no longer accept applications for state Sponsorship of the fiscal Year 2022 on these dates for the following visas.

• Business Visa until June 9, 2022, 4:00 pm
• Investment Visa and Large investment visas until June 2, 2022, 4:00 pm
• Offshore Sponsorship for Independent Skills Immigration until June 9, 2022, 4:00 pm
• Onshore applications until June 23, 2022, 4:00 pm

As such, each State may not receive an invitation for EOI (Expression of Interest) and State Sponsorship for that Fiscal Year at any time, even before the end of the fiscal year, if the allotted places are met. Therefore, when preparing for visas that need State Sponsorship like the subclass 188 Business and Innovation Visa, the timing of submitting the EOI (Expression of Interest is also very important.

The new Fiscal Year begins on July 1, 2023 but given the past three years that States have started accepting letters EOIs in October and November, we are not sure when the State will begin receiving EOI in the new Fiscal Year 2023. A few states are still accepting EOI in fiscal 2022 for Business investment visas, so we hope those who wish to file in the fiscal year 2022, with about a month left, do as soon as possible.

In the next column, we will discuss the 407 visa.