Order for Processing Visa Applications (Ministerial Directions)

Visa Processing Priorities: What Changed in July 2026

The Department of Home Affairs has issued three new Ministerial Directions that change the order in which visa applications are processed. The new rules commenced on 25 July 2026 and apply to applications already lodged as well as new ones — so your place in the queue may have changed even if you applied months ago.

Here is what each change means in plain terms.

Family visas (Direction 117)

The order of priority for family visas is largely the same as before, with one key change: applicants who are in Australia (and can be granted the visa while onshore) are now processed ahead of applicants who are offshore.

Within each group, applications are processed in this order:

1. Cases where the Minister has intervened after a tribunal decision
2. Partner, prospective marriage and dependent child applications
3. Orphan relative applications
4. Contributory parent and contributory aged parent applications
5. Carer applications
6. Parent, aged parent and other family applications, including remaining relative applications

The onshore-first change is good news for applicants already in Australia — for example, those applying for the onshore Partner visa (820/801) — while offshore Partner visa (309/100) applicants now sit in the second group.

Family members applying with a main applicant get the same priority as the main applicant. Delegates can also move an application up the queue in special compassionate circumstances.

Note: parent visas are also subject to annual caps on the number of visas that can be granted each year, which is the main reason parent processing times remain long regardless of queue order. See our current family visa processing times.

Skilled visas and employer nominations (Direction 119)

This is the biggest change of the three. Processing priority for skilled visas — including subclasses 186, 187, 189, 190, 191, 482 (both Skills in Demand and the older Temporary Skill Shortage), 489, 491, 494, 887 and 888 — now depends on your occupation and whether you were in Australia when you applied:

1. Law enforcement and defence occupations — applicant in Australia
2. Law enforcement and defence occupations — applicant offshore
3. Healthcare, teaching and construction occupations — applicant in Australia
4. All other applications — applicant in Australia
5. All other applications — applicant offshore

What’s changed from the previous rules:

• Law enforcement and defence occupations now come first
• Construction has been added to the priority occupations alongside healthcare and teaching
• Regional occupations and accredited sponsors no longer get priority
• Being in Australia now matters — onshore applicants are processed ahead of offshore applicants
• The Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa is now covered

Current skilled visa processing times are published on our processing times page.

National Innovation, Global Talent and Distinguished Talent visas (Direction 120)

The priority order for subclass 858 visas — the National Innovation visa and the earlier Global Talent and Distinguished Talent visas — is essentially unchanged, but now also applies to older Global Talent and Distinguished Talent applications still in the pipeline. Processing order:

1. Global experts with top-of-field international awards (Nobel Prizes through to Olympic gold medals)
2. Applicants nominated by a government agency on Form 1000
3. Applicants with outstanding achievements in tier 1 sectors — critical technologies, renewables and low-emission technologies, and health
4. Applicants with outstanding achievements in tier 2 sectors — agri-food and ag-tech, defence and space, education, financial services and fintech, infrastructure and transport, and resources
5. All other applications

The Direction also guides how decision makers assess “exceptional and outstanding achievement” — looking at things like national research grants, international patents, keynote appearances at major international conferences, academic influence, and earnings at or above the high income threshold.

Student visas — no change

Student visa (subclass 500) processing is unaffected. It continues to run under Direction 111 (in place since December 2024), which gives higher priority to school students, postgraduate research students, scholarship holders, Pacific and Timor-Leste students, and providers that haven’t yet reached their allocation threshold. See current student visa processing times.

Previous rules

These Directions replace Direction 102 (family), Direction 105 (skilled) and Direction 112 (talent visas). The earlier skilled priorities — which favoured regional occupations, healthcare and teaching, and accredited sponsors — no longer apply.

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Need advice on how the new priorities affect your application? Book a consultation with one of our registered migration agents.