South Australia’s Skilled Migration Program: The ICT Myth, Occupations, Allocation, and February Invitation Round

For months, the noise has been relentless: “ICT has no pathway.” It’s been repeated often enough that many applicants have started treating it as fact. But South Australia’s own numbers tell a very different story. As of February 2026, South Australia still holds close to 50% of its Subclass 491 allocation. That alone should make serious applicants pause. States don’t sit on half their allocation unless they’re being selective, strategic and very clear about what they want. According to the SA nomination breakdown (YTD): ICT Professionals account for 27% of South Australia’s Subclass 491 portfolio. That makes ICT the single largest occupational grouping within the 491. The February 2026 invitation round alone, 38 ICT applicants were invited exclusively by South Australia. If ICT truly had “no pathway”, this concentration wouldn’t exist. February tells you where SA is actually heading. February’s round was revealing; not because it was loud, but because it was precise.

Alongside ICT, South Australia extended invitations to applicants from:

• Business, Human Resource & Marketing Professionals

• Legal, Social and Welfare roles

• Engineering and technical niches

• Construction and trade-linked occupations aligned to local demand

  
  

South Australia is quietly building a skills ecosystem, not chasing headlines. ICT sits at the centre of that system; supporting health, education, infrastructure, energy, defence, and digital transformation projects already underway. We are expecting a relatively large subclass 189 invitation round this month with a broad range of occupations to be invited. After the 189 round, it's likely that states will have a follow up large round as well with relatively lower cut-off points for invitations. Stay tuned for latest update. At Newsted, we have deep understanding of Australia's Education, Migration and demography.

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