Planning Levels
Migration Planning Levels refers to the total number of migration places i.e. the TOTAL NUMBER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY VISA GRANTS planned for the Financial Year (FY). Each grant consumes one place from the planning level. The place is consumed when visa is granted, regardless of when the visa was lodged, lodgement could be in the same FY, or the previous FY or anytime in the past.
For example: FY2023-24 Subclass 190 planning level is 30,400 places. If a family of 3 (husband, wife and child) gets a 190 grant today, it will consume 3 places from the planning level, leaving (30,400 - 3) = 30, 397 places.
Therefore, the total number of visa grants for subclass 189, 190 and 491, in any FY, is generally limited by the planning levels for that FY.
Note: The planning level is not the same thing as State Nomination Allocation (which is discussed further).
State Nomination Allocation
State Nomination allocation refers to the TOTAL NUMBER OF PRIMARY APPLICANTS a state can nominate (for Subclass 190 and 491) in the FY. State Nomination refers to a Full Invite, not a preinvite. Each FY, DHA will allocate a certain number of state nomination places to each state. The state nomination allocation is generally in sync with FY planning levels.
For example: For FY2023-24, total Subclass 190 state nomination allocation is 10, 300 and Subclass 491 allocation is 6400, which is distributed between states and territories.
A Full 190 or 491 Invite means the state will nominate the applicant in SkillSelect and the applicant will receive an Invitation to Apply Visa (ITA). Each time a state nominates an applicant, it will consume one place from its state nomination allocation. The applicant will then lodge the visa and the visa application may contain more than one applicant (primary + secondary). This means, whenever the visa is granted, the grant will now consume places (equal to number of applicants in visa application) from the planning level of the FY in which the grant takes place.
For example: For FY2023-24, VIC has a Subclass 190 State Nomination of 2700 places. Let's say VIC issues a full invite to an applicant, and the applicant has a skilled partner. After issuing full invite VIC will have 2700 - 1 = 2699 nomination places left. The applicant will now lodge the 190 visa and include the skilled partner in the visa application. Whenever the visa gets granted, it will consume 2 places (1 primary + 1 partner) from the planning level of the FY in which the grant takes place.