2020-2021 Occupation Ceilings Released
The Department of Home Affairs has published the occupation ceilings for the 2020-2021 migration year.
What are the occupation ceilings?
Occupation ceilings apply to invitations issued under the Skilled (subclass 189) visa and Skilled Regional (subclass 491) visa via the family sponsored stream. Essentially it means that the Department puts in place a ‘limit’ on how many people can be invited for each of the visas. This measure is to ensure that the skilled migration program is not ‘dominated’ by a small number of occupations and invitations are issued ‘across the board’ for various occupations.
Once a particular occupation ceiling has been reached no further invitations will be issued to people who have lodged an Expression of Interest (EOI) for that occupation until the occupation ceilings are reset in the new migration year.
Invitations are then issued to other EOI’s in the system based on other occupations even if their points score is less than those EOI’s in the occupations that have reached the occupation ceiling.
Do occupation ceilings apply to any other visas?
No. The occupation ceilings only apply to the Skilled (subclass 189) visa and the Skilled Regional (subclass 491) visa via the family sponsored stream.
The occupation ceilings do not apply to State or Territory Nominated, Employer Sponsored or Business Innovation & Investment visa subclasses.
Occupation Ceilings for the 2020-2021 migration program year are as follows:
| Occupation ID | Description | Occupation Ceiling Value |
| 1331 | Construction Managers | 7,415 |
| 1332 | Engineering Managers | 1,474 |
| 1341 | Child Care Centre Managers | 1,000 |
| 1342 | Health and Welfare Services Managers | 1,666 |
| 1399 | Other Specialist Managers | 4,188 |
| 2111 | Actors, Dancers and Other Entertainers | 1,000 |
| 2112 | Music Professionals | 1,000 |
| 2121 | Artistic Directors, and Media Producers and Presenters | 1,000 |
| 2211 | Accountants* | 1,000 |
| 2212 | Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers* | 1,619 |
| 2241 | Actuaries, Mathematicians and Statisticians | 1,000 |
| 2243 | Economists | 1,000 |
| 2245 | Land Economists and Valuers | 1,000 |
| 2247 | Management Consultants | 4,526 |
| 2321 | Architects and Landscape Architects | 1,452 |
| 2322 | Cartographers and Surveyors | 1,000 |
| 2331 | Chemical and Materials Engineers | 3,919 |
| 2332 | Civil Engineering Professionals | 1,348 |
| 2333 | Electrical Engineers | 1,348 |
| 2334 | Electronics Engineers* | 1,000 |
| 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers* | 2,682 |
| 2336 | Mining Engineers | 1,000 |
| 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals* | 1,000 |
| 2341 | Agricultural and Forestry Scientists | 1,000 |
| 2342 | Chemists, and Food and Wine Scientists | 1,000 |
| 2343 | Environmental Scientists | 1,295 |
| 2344 | Geologists, Geophysicists and Hydro-geologists | 1,000 |
| 2345 | Life Scientists | 1,000 |
| 2346 | Medical Laboratory Scientists | 1,536 |
| 2347 | Veterinarians | 1,000 |
| 2349 | Other Natural and Physical Science Professionals | 1,056 |
| 2411 | Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers | 3,321 |
| 2414 | Secondary School Teachers | 8,716 |
| 2415 | Special Education Teachers | 1,721 |
| 2421 | University Lecturers and Tutors | 5,042 |
| 2512 | Medical Imaging Professionals | 1,161 |
| 2514 | Optometrists and Orthoptists | 1,000 |
| 2519 | Other Health Diagnostic and Promotion Professionals | 1,000 |
| 2521 | Chiropractors and Osteopaths | |
| 2524 | Occupational Therapists | |
| 2525 | Physiotherapists | |
| 2526 | Podiatrists | |
| 2527 | Speech Professionals and Audiologists | |
| 2531 | General Practitioners and Resident Medical officers | |
| 2533 | Internal Medicine Specialists | |
| 2534 | Psychiatrists | 1,000 |
| 2535 | Surgeons | 1,000 |
| 2539 | Other Medical Practitioners | 1,168 |
| 2541 | Midwives | 1,333 |
| 2544 | Registered Nurses | 17,859 |
| 2611 | ICT Business and Systems Analysts* | 2,273 |
| 2612 | Multimedia Specialists and Web Developers | 1,000 |
| 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers* | 8,405 |
| 2621 | Database and Systems Administrators and ICT Security Specialists | 2,667 |
| 2631 | Computer Network Professionals* | 2,245 |
| 2633 | Telecommunications Engineering Professionals | 1,000 |
| 2711 | Barristers | 1,000 |
| 2713 | Solicitors | 4,535 |
| 2723 | Psychologists | 1,545 |
| 2725 | Social Workers | 1,862 |
| 3122 | Civil Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians | 1,000 |
| 3123 | Electrical Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians | 1,000 |
| 3132 | Telecommunications Technical Specialists | 1,000 |
| 3211 | Automotive Electricians | 1,000 |
| 3212 | Motor Mechanics | 5,205 |
| 3222 | Sheetmetal Trades Workers | 1,000 |
| 3223 | Structural Steel and Welding Trades Workers | 4,866 |
| 3232 | Metal Fitters and Machinists | 6,335 |
| 3233 | Precision Metal Trades Workers | 1,000 |
| 3241 | Panelbeaters | 1,000 |
| 3311 | Bricklayers and Stonemasons | 1,712 |
| 3312 | Carpenters and Joiners | 6,812 |
| 3322 | Painting Trades Workers | 1,452 |
| 3331 | Glaziers | 1,000 |
| 3332 | Plasterers | 1,452 |
| 3334 | Wall and Floor Tilers | 1,000 |
| 3341 | Plumbers | 5,861 |
| 3411 | Electricians | 8,021 |
| 3421 | Airconditioning and Refrigeration Mechanics | 1,581 |
| 3422 | Electrical Distribution Trades Workers | 1,000 |
| 3423 | Electronics Trades Workers | 2,047 |
| 3513 | Chefs | 2,256 |
| 3611 | Animal Attendants and Trainers | 1,239 |
| 3941 | Cabinetmakers | 1,694 |
| 3991 | Boat Builders and Shipwrights | 1,000 |
| 4523 | Sports Coaches, Instructors and Officials | 1,262 |
| 4524 | Sportspersons | 1,000 |
Occupations with an asterix (*) mean that they are subject to pro-rata arrangements. Pro-Rata arrangements means that the invitations will be evenly spread across the full migration program year.
The occupation of ‘Accountants’ (ANZSCO – 2211) the occupation ceiling also reflects volumes in other skilled visa categories