Australia | Updated skilled visa processing priorities effective July 25

Australia’s Department of Home Affairs announced updated processing priorities for skilled and family visa programs, effective July 25, 2026.

Key takeaways:

Ministerial Direction 119 replaces all skilled visa processing priorities under the previous policy and covers all current applications, including the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa program.

New skilled visa processing priorities favor occupations in law enforcement and defense, and applicants who already reside in Australia.

Skilled visa processing priorities by occupation and location

• First priority: Occupations supporting Australia’s law enforcement or defense interests, where the applicant resides in Australia at the time of application.
• Second priority: Occupations supporting Australia’s law enforcement or defense interests, where the applicant resides outside Australia at the time of application.
• Third priority: Occupations in construction, healthcare and education, where the applicant resides in Australia at the time of application.
• Fourth priority: All other occupations, where the applicant resides in Australia at the time of application.
• Fifth priority: All other occupations, where the applicant resides outside Australia at the time of application.

Family visa processing priorities were also updated and can be viewed here.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice Group.

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