Part 2.
Why Australia Now Selects Fewer People and Tests Them More

In Part 1, I started with the conclusion: for many migrants, skilled work in Australia now matters more than ever, and points alone are often no longer enough.

This article explains why the system has moved this way in practice – not as a matter of stated policy, but as a result of how migration is now administered, risk-managed, and evidenced.

As before, this reflects my professional reading of how GSM and employer-sponsored pathways are operating on the ground. It is not a statement of Government intent, and it is not advice. That distinction matters.

Selection pressure has increased, not disappeared

Australia has not abandoned skilled migration. What it has done is narrow the field.

Invitation rounds, particularly for the independent GSM visa (subclass 189), now show three consistent features:

• a limited set of occupations that are invited repeatedly
• point thresholds that are significantly higher than the minimum 65 points
• strong concentration around roles where labour demand is real

This alone tells us something important. When fewer people are selected, the system must rely on stronger signals to justify those selections – in other words, it requires clearer and more reliable evidence, and supports more rigorous scrutiny.

As a side consequence, Australian skilled work experience is more likely to withstand that scrutiny than overseas experience, because it is easier to verify and benchmark against local standards.

As a result, points, by themselves, no longer provide a sufficient basis for selection, and increasingly play a secondary role in competition for an invitation, as reaching high points has become difficult without Australian work experience and at least Proficient English – which, in practice, is itself hard to achieve without being a native speaker or having lived in Australia for a significant period of time.

Points test versus invitation reality

The points test still defines eligibility. But invitation rounds determine outcomes.

When invitation cut-offs regularly sit in the high-80s, 90s, or higher, it becomes clear that many applicants cannot realistically reach competitiveness without Australian-based factors. In theory, points can be built through age, English, overseas experience, partner credentials, and other bonuses.

In practice, Australian skilled employment is one of the few levers that can move the total decisively – and do so in a way that decision-makers are comfortable defending.

This does not make Australian work experience mandatory in law. But it increasingly makes it decisive in practice.

What invitation rounds quietly tell us about demand

Another pattern becomes visible when occupations invited in recent rounds are grouped.

They tend to cluster around:

• healthcare and medical professions
• certain IT and engineering roles
• selected science and education occupations
• highly skilled trades, often at lower point thresholds

These are occupations that are in genuine demand worldwide. For many other occupations, invitations are rare, thresholds are extreme, or both. The effect is that only a narrow group can realistically compete offshore without Australian work experience, while most others are pushed – implicitly – toward proving themselves first.

Skills assessments as an early filter

Before points, before invitations, there is another gate that often determines outcomes: skills assessment.

For GSM visas, a positive skills assessment is not optional. Without it, an applicant cannot lodge a valid expression of interest, regardless of demand or points potential.

In practice, many applicants discover that obtaining a positive assessment is far more difficult than expected. This is not because Australian work experience is formally required in all cases, but because assessment authorities increasingly look for evidence that aligns closely with Australian standards of:

• role level and responsibility
• recency and continuity of employment
• supervision, independence, and scope of duties
• credibility and verifiability of documentation

For some people, offshore experience alone does not meet those expectations – particularly where roles are informal, poorly documented, outdated, or structured very differently from Australian practice.
In those cases, Australian skilled work becomes the practical way to bridge the gap, even though it is not always stated as a requirement.

This means that, for some applicants, migration options do not disappear at the invitation stage – they disappear much earlier.

Why testing now happens before selection

Taken together, these elements explain the broader shift. The system now relies heavily on pre-selection testing:

• through skilled employment
• through salary and market evidence
• through sustained work at the required level
• through assessments that mirror Australian practice

From an administrative perspective, this reduces risk. It produces evidence that is current, measurable, and defensible. It also aligns migration outcomes more closely with labour market outcomes.

Selection still happens – but only after testing has already occurred.

The practical consequence for planning

The most important implication is strategic, not legal.

Many people still plan migration as though eligibility naturally leads to selection. Increasingly, the system works the other way around: selection follows proof.

For migrants, this means that study choices, first jobs, and early visa decisions matter far more than they once did. For employers, it means sponsorship is no longer peripheral – it has become one of the system’s main tools for verifying skills before permanency is considered.

Understanding this dynamic explains why GSM feels more competitive, why employer-sponsored visas have become central for many occupations, and why early assumptions often fail.

In the next article, I will look more closely at GSM itself – how invitation rounds really operate, what they reveal about demand, and why meeting the criteria is no longer the same as being selected.

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