Australia’s New Points System: What Has Actually Changed
Australia’s points test has not changed. The rules in force today commenced on 16 November 2019 and Schedule 6D has not been amended since. The Government announced in the 2026–27 Budget that it will reform the test — but that announcement sets no start date, no pass mark and no weighting, and nothing has followed it.
Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation No. 288, Endnotes 3 and 4 — Legislation and Amendment history (opens in a new tab) verified 31 Jul 2026
- Checked against the Federal Register
- Rules verified 31 Jul 2026
What the 2026–27 Budget actually announced
On 12 May 2026 the Government said it would reform the points test. Here is the announcement, in full, from the Budget’s own measures paper.
“The Government will reform the permanent migration points test to better identify migrants who drive productivity and Australia's long-term prosperity. Almost two-thirds of permanent skilled migrants are currently selected through points tested visas. The points test will be optimised to select better educated, higher-skilled and younger migrants overall.”
That is the entire published substance. Three sentences: a commitment, a statistic and a direction of travel. There is no start date, no pass mark, no criterion, no weighting and no draft instrument in either Budget paper — searched end to end, the phrase “pass mark” appears in neither, and no points figure is attached to the measure anywhere. The Home Affairs portfolio budget statements, published the same day, do not mention the points test at all.
The contrast sits in the same measure. Beside the points-test paragraph the Government fixed the year’s permanent Migration Program at a specific number of places, with a specific allocation to the skill stream — precise, because that had been decided. The paragraph next to it names no figure, because that has not been.
What has followed the announcement is nothing. The department’s points-test review page has not been updated since February 2026, which is before the Budget. Its index of discussion papers was refreshed in June 2026 and lists exactly one points-test paper: the discussion paper of 24 April 2024, whose submission period closed the following month. No consultation paper, no exposure draft, no amending instrument.
The points test in force today, and every time it has changed
The current test commenced on 16 November 2019, when the last amendment to Schedule 6D took effect. Schedule 6D is the general points test — every criterion and every value sits in it — and its amendment history is printed in the endnotes of the regulations’ current compilation, Compilation No. 288 (F2026C00667), compilation date 1 July 2026.
- Schedule 6D
-
ad. 2012 No. 82am No 233, 2013; F2016L01390; F2016L01391; F2018L00741; F2019L00578
“ad.” is the register’s abbreviation for added by, “am” for amended by.
Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation No. 288, Endnotes 3 and 4 — Legislation and Amendment history (opens in a new tab) verified 31 Jul 2026
Read it as a sentence and it says: added once, amended five times, last in 2019. That is worth setting against a claim repeated across the search results — that the points test has been untouched since it was introduced, or that a reform now would be the first rewrite since then. It would not be the first. It would be the sixth amendment.
| Instrument | Register ID | Registered | Commenced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Migration Amendment Regulation 2012 (No. 2) | F2012L01105 (opens in a new tab) | 29 May 2012 | In parts |
| Migration Amendment (Skills Assessment) Regulation 2013 | F2013L01817 (opens in a new tab) | 21 Oct 2013 | In parts |
| Migration Legislation Amendment (2016 Measures No. 3) Regulation 2016 | F2016L01390 (opens in a new tab) | 6 Sep 2016 | In parts |
| Migration Amendment (Entrepreneur Visas and Other Measures) Regulation 2016 | F2016L01391 (opens in a new tab) | 6 Sep 2016 | In parts |
| Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2018 | F2018L00741 (opens in a new tab) | 8 Jun 2018 | In parts |
| Migration Amendment (New Skilled Regional Visas) Regulations 2019 | F2019L00578 (opens in a new tab) | 8 Apr 2019 | 16 Nov 2019 |
Registration is when an instrument becomes public, not when it takes effect, and the two are weeks or months apart. Most of these commenced in parts — schedule by schedule, on different days — and which part of each reached Schedule 6D is not something this page has established, so it does not say; each register ID above links to that instrument, where its own commencement table does. The one that is unambiguous is the one that matters: the endnotes record the last instrument’s first two schedules commencing on 16 November 2019, the day the test you are scored against today began to apply. It restructured partner points and introduced the subclass 491.
Since then the register has recorded nothing. The regulations’ current compilation carries no end date and no unincorporated amendments — the register’s way of saying that no later compilation is scheduled, and that no amending instrument sits registered and waiting to commence.
Is the 65-point pass mark becoming 70?
No. The pass mark is 65 points, it is set by a separate instrument from the points table, and that instrument has never been amended in the years since it was made. Searching the Federal Register for every instrument that has ever specified a pool and pass mark returns five: four are repealed predecessors and one is in force. There is no successor, made or registered.
The higher figure circulating on page one has no published source. It appears in neither Budget paper, on no departmental page, and in no instrument. Five of the nine articles read for this page state it anyway, three of them as though it were settled.
Migration (LIN 19/210: Pool and Pass Marks for General Skilled Migration Visas) Instrument 2019, s 6 (opens in a new tab) verified 31 Jul 2026
Where the confusion is understandable is that 65 has never been the score that gets people invited. It is the threshold to enter the pool, and a round can clear well above the floor. That distinction deserves a real answer rather than a rumour, which is why the second half of the question belongs with the published invitation round results — where the figures the department has actually issued are set out round by round, and where you will also find why a single national cutoff is no longer published at all.
What has changed — and what has not
Here “nothing has changed” needs saying more carefully, because it is true of the points test and not true of everything a person planning an application relies on. Two things have moved in the last three years, and neither of them is the reform.
| What | Last changed | Kind of change | Anything to act on? |
|---|---|---|---|
| The criteria and their point values (Schedule 6D) | 16 November 2019 | Commenced law | No. Unchanged for over six years. |
| The pass mark and pool mark | 16 November 2019 | Commenced law | No. The instrument that sets it has never been amended. |
| The scoring mechanics — highest item per part, and the employment cap | 16 November 2019 | Commenced law | No. Regulation 2.26AC and item 6D51. |
| What counts as competent, proficient and superior English | 2015 | Commenced law | No. The definitions themselves. The scores that reach them are the next row. |
| Which tests are accepted, and the score each level needs | 7 August 2025 | Commenced law | Yes — PTE Academic became per-component; four tests were added. |
| Results from tests sat before that date | 7 August 2025 | Commenced law | Yes — The old scores were preserved for them, with an outer limit. |
| What the department publishes as a round cutoff | December 2023 | Publication practice — not a rule change | Yes — The single per-round minimum stopped being published. |
| A replacement points test | Has not happened | Announced only | No. Announced 12 May 2026. No commencement date has been set. |
The one that catches people is English. The points did not move: proficient English is worth what it was worth, and so is superior. What moved is the score that reaches them. On 7 August 2025 a new instrument replaced the one that had specified test scores since 2015, and PTE Academic stopped being a flat number across all four components. Anyone still working towards the old figure is working towards a threshold that no longer exists for a test sat today — while their existing result, if they sat it before that date, is still assessed against the old scores. Both halves are easy to get wrong, and the English points page works through both, test by test.
The second is subtler, because it is not a rule change at all — it is a change in what the department publishes. Results issued up to May 2023 headed each subclass with one figure for the whole round; from December 2023 onwards that heading is simply gone, and it has not come back. So the number people mean when they say the cutoff has risen has had no published value for years. What the department does still publish, every round, is the minimum score invited for each occupation.
Everything else is unchanged and has been since 16 November 2019: the criteria, the values, the rule that only the highest-scoring item in each part counts, the cap on combined employment points, and the pass mark. You can see all of them, scored against your own circumstances, on the Australia PR points calculator.
What would have to happen before a new points test applied to you
Nothing on this page is a forecast and this section is not one either. It is a description of the machinery, so that the next time an article announces a start date you can check it for yourself in a few minutes.
- An instrument has to be made. The points test lives in a schedule to the Migration Regulations, so changing it means an amending regulation; changing the pass mark means a new instrument replacing the current one. Neither exists.
- It has to be registered. Everything with legal effect appears on the Federal Register of Legislation, with a date, before it applies to anyone. Nothing points-related has been registered.
- The compilation’s version list changes shape. While no amendment is pending, the current version of the regulations carries no end date. When one is registered that open end date closes and a future version appears. It is still open.
- The endnote line grows. Schedule 6D’s amendment history gains a sixth reference. It has read the same since 2019, and byte for byte the same on every check this site has run.
- Only then is there a new points test — and only from its commencement date, which is a property of the instrument rather than of a financial year.
None of these has happened. Each is checkable by anyone on a public register, and this site re-checks all of them on a schedule: the last verification was 31 July 2026, and how that check works is published too.
If you are sitting on 65 points right now
The abstract question is easier to see through a profile. Take a graduate of twenty-nine: a bachelor degree, two years of study in Australia behind them, three years working in their nominated occupation since going home, no partner applying, and competent English.
| Criterion | Their position | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Age at time of invitation | 25 to under 33 | 30 |
| English language ability | Competent English | 0 |
| Skilled employment outside Australia | At least 3 years (36 months) | 5 |
| Skilled employment in Australia | Less than 1 year | 0 |
| Educational qualification | At least a bachelor degree (Australian, or of a recognised standard) | 15 |
| Specialist educational qualification | No | 0 |
| Australian study requirement | Yes — met the Australian study requirement | 5 |
| Professional year in Australia | No | 0 |
| Credentialled community language | No | 0 |
| Study in a designated regional area | No | 0 |
| Partner skills | Single, or partner is an Australian citizen or permanent resident | 10 |
| Nomination or sponsorship | Subclass 189 — no nomination | 0 |
| Total | Pass mark 65 | 65 |
They land exactly on the pass mark. Now the useful question, which is not whether the rules will change but which of these points already rest on something that moved.
Their age points and their qualification points come from criteria untouched since 16 November 2019. Their Australian study points are worth what Schedule 6D says they are worth — and the claim that those 5 points are being removed appears in two of the articles read for this page and in no published source. English is the interesting row: it contributes nothing to their total, because competent English scores 0, and it is nonetheless the only line in the table governed by an instrument that actually changed recently.
So the honest reading of this profile is not that a reform threatens it. It is that the largest single movement available to it — the 20 points between competent and superior English — is governed by scores that were replaced in 2025, and a plan built on the figures published before then is already out of date whatever happens next. Score your own circumstances against the criteria as they stand, for a subclass 189 or a subclass 190.
What page one says, and what the sources say
Nine articles were read for this page. Seven attach a date, a number, or both, to an announcement that contains neither.
| The claim | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| The new points test starts on 1 July 2026 | No instrument has commenced. Schedule 6D is unamended and the regulations' current compilation has no successor scheduled. |
| The new points test starts on 1 July 2027 | No published source sets any date. Neither Budget paper gives one for this measure. |
| A public consultation paper was released in June 2026 | The department's index of discussion papers, refreshed in June 2026, lists exactly one points-test paper — the discussion paper of 24 April 2024. |
| The pass mark rises from 65 to 70 | The phrase "pass mark" appears in neither Budget paper. The instrument that sets it is in force in its original version, and the register holds no successor. |
| The Budget confirmed a timetable of consultation, draft legislation and commencement | Both papers were read in full. Neither states a date, a stage or a sequence for this measure. |
| Transitional arrangements will protect invitations already issued | Transitional rules are provisions of instruments. No instrument exists, so nothing has been decided. |
| It would be the first rewrite of the points test since 2012 | Schedule 6D was added in 2012 and has been amended five times since, the last taking effect on 16 November 2019. |
The pattern is worth naming, because it will repeat the next time a budget mentions migration: an announcement of direction gets treated as an announcement of detail, and the detail is then filled in from other articles that filled it in from somewhere else. Two of the pages read here cite the same Budget for a salary threshold and quote two different figures for it. Three describe a consultation paper released in June 2026 that the department’s own index does not list.
None of this means the reform is not coming. It means that as at the verification date on this page, what the Government has published is a paragraph of intent — and everything more specific than that paragraph has been supplied by someone not in a position to know it.