The layer that turns one national points test into nine.

The 2026-27 Migration Program allocates 35,500 places to state and territory nomination. Each jurisdiction runs its own list, its own criteria and its own invitation process, so an occupation that qualifies in one state may not in another, and a candidate's prospects depend on where they are willing to live and what that place happens to need this program year.

That is the point of the arrangement — states know their own labour markets — and it is defensible on those terms. What it produces for the candidate is a matrix: a national points score, a national occupation list, nine state lists, nine sets of criteria, and invitation rounds on nine calendars.

And every one of them is republished each program year. An occupation eligible last year may have moved, and a candidate who lodged an expression of interest under one list can find themselves outside it without any decision being made about them. See The list is republished every year, and the person waiting finds out afterwards.