Australia’s 2026-27 Migration Budget: A Full Breakdown of the Overall Quota
The Department of Home Affairs has released its 2026-27 Budget, and there is plenty of migration news this year, so let’s go through it point by point.
1. The 2026-27 quota is confirmed at 185,000 — this refers to the PR grant quota
2. 132,240 places go to the Skilled stream and 52,760 to the Family stream, a ratio similar to 2025-26
3. One of the most important changes in this Budget: it makes clear that, within the PR grant quota
both the Skilled and Family streams will give priority () to applicants who are onshore in Australia. 129,590 places will go to onshore applicants and 55,110 to offshore applicants. Previously, the PR grant quota was never divided between onshore and offshore at all.
Analysis:
① Although this refers to the grant quota, it will certainly have a flow-on effect on Subclass 189 and state-nomination invitations. Grants are the basis of invitations: just as past reductions in the grant quota indirectly led to fewer invitations, splitting the grant quota between onshore and offshore may now also change how the state governments and the Commonwealth lean when issuing invitations. This move is intended to reduce NOM (Net Overseas Migration), but in reality, from the pandemic until now, every state-nomination programme has shown an increasingly clear preference for onshore applicants.
② How will onshore versus offshore be distinguished — at the time of lodgement? At the time of invitation? Or when the visa is being assessed?
③ Potential impact on family migration: this may mean that offshore Subclass 103/143 parent applicants are given lower priority than onshore Subclass 804/864 applicants. In the past, the Department has on occasion processed Subclass 804 and 864 faster than 103/864, and more detail on how this will actually be implemented may emerge over the coming months.
④ As for so-called offshore high-skilled migrants, how will they be identified — by visa category, or by high points scores?
Our advice: if you are studying with migration in mind, start early and choose the right field of study. If your migration goal is clear but your occupation is not a priority one (such as business/commerce) or your score is not high (such as a lower-band civil engineering applicant), you should consider studying again before migrating, ideally before the age of 30. For those coming to Australia to study at the right age, think carefully about whether you actually want to migrate before settling on a plan — especially if you are coming for a master’s degree, because leaving the planning until just before graduation makes the cost of trial and error much higher.
4. The points-based system will be reformed, favouring applicants who are younger, more highly skilled and more highly qualified.
5. Skills assessments for trade occupations will be reformed. How the changes will work has not yet been announced, but the aim is to give these occupations faster and more flexible assessment at both Commonwealth and state level.
6. Working holiday visa numbers are to be better controlled, with consideration being given to wider use of a ballot system. At present, only mainland China, India and Vietnam use a ballot.
7. The number of full-time visa officers will be at least maintained in 2026-27. This may be good news for everyone waiting on a grant.
8. The citizenship application caseload will be reduced further: down to 80,000 this financial year and 40,000 in the new financial year.
In today’s Department of Home Affairs portfolio Budget, we have not yet found the details of the most central reform — the points-based system overhaul. We will keep digging, and as more news comes to hand we will continue to update this article!
