The Department of Home Affairs has updated its June processing-time guide on schedule. The Department was still granting visas at full speed in May, but processing gradually slowed through June, and over the past 1-2 weeks we have temporarily seen no grants in quota-capped categories.
Skilled Migration Processing Slows: The Latest 189/190/491 Cycle Data
Skilled Migration
189
50% within 6 months, unchanged; 90% within 8 months, 1 month slower
Subclass 189 is largely processed in lodgement order, with little change in processing speed — the Department is mainly still clearing the November round of applications.
190
50% within 13 months, 1 month faster
90% within 17 months, unchanged
491
50% within 15 months, 1 month faster
90% within 23 months, 1 month faster
The Department’s website still shows Subclass 190 processing applications lodged from February 2025 onwards — the same as at last month’s update — while Subclass 491 remains at January 2025. That said, we stress again that although the website says January or February onwards, applications lodged even earlier than these dates are still being granted: last week one of our Subclass 491 clients who lodged in August 2024 received a grant.
491 to 191
50% within 9 months, 1 month slower
90% within 9 months, unchanged
The Department’s website shows Subclass 191 has advanced to applications lodged in November 2025, moving forward 2-3 months within a single month — yet we haven’t seen a large volume of 191 grants? Over the past couple of days, several of our clients who lodged around mid-December last year have received ‘Assessment Commence’ emails. This time last year, 191 grants came down like rain — could the Department be signalling the same again?
887
50% within 7 months, unchanged
90% within 18 months, unchanged
Judging by our clients’ cases, the wait is roughly over six months.
858NIV
50% within 4 months; 90% within 7 months
858GTI
50% within 14 months; 90% within 24 months
Subclass 186 Employer Sponsorship Speeds Up Sharply: A Full Breakdown of the Processing Windfall
Employer Sponsorship
482 SID Nomination
50% within 17 days, 12 days faster
90% within 9 months, unchanged
482 SID core skills stream-visa
50% within 83 days, 3 days faster
90% within 10 months, 1 month slower
Subclass 482 SID is currently processing at late August 2025.
186DE
50% within 9 months, 1 month faster
90% within 12 months, 8 months faster
186TRT
50% within 9 months, 1 month faster
90% within 14 months, unchanged
Last week we had a DE nomination lodged in October 2024 approved for a non-regional area, while for a regional position a nomination application lodged in August 2025 received approval.
The Department’s Website Shows Subclass 186 Speeding Up Too:
Regional applications are being processed up to those lodged in June 2025, advancing one month.
Healthcare and teaching positions are being processed up to those lodged in June 2025, advancing one month.
Accredited employer-sponsored applications are being processed up to those lodged in April 2025, advancing one month.
Other non-priority applications are being processed up to those lodged in July 2024, advancing one month.
As noted above, grants in quota-capped categories all slowed on entering June, while over the same period the categories with the most approvals were Subclass 186 and 482 nominations and grants.
494 Regional Employer Sponsorship
50% within 5 months, 2 months faster
90% within 11 months, 1 month slower
407 Training visa
50% within 79 months, nearly 40 days faster
90% within 17 months, 3 months slower
Subclass 407 has also been processed fairly quickly of late — we had a cabinetmaker position nomination lodged on 22 May 2026 that was approved on 9 June 2026.
Family Visa Processing Round-up — the Ups and Downs: New Developments for Partner, Parent and Child Visas
Family Visas
Parent migration further-documentation requests have reached applications lodged in early December 2018, and since entering June there have been no new Subclass 143 grants.
What’s more, even if you receive a further-documentation request this financial year and complete it, a formal grant will have to wait until the new 2026-27 financial year brings a fresh allocation. In 2026-27 the parent migration category as a whole has been cut by 1,440 places. For the newly recalculated wait-time estimates, see: with parent migration, lodging one month later now means waiting an extra year…
101 Child Migration (child visa)
50% within 20 months, 3 months slower
90% within 30 months, unchanged
We recently had a grant for an application lodged in late May 2024. Child migration has received an increase of 500 places in the new financial year, and this 16% rise should help speed up processing.
Partner Visas
820 Stage
50% within 20 months, 1 month slower
90% within 25 months, 1 month slower
801 Stage
50% within 3 months, 2 months faster
90% within 11 months, 5 months slower
309 Stage
50% within 16 months, 1 month slower
90% within 27 months, 2 months slower
100 Stage
50% within 10 months, unchanged
90% within 24 months, 7 months slower
Because there is no quota cap, most partner migration grants are now being made at the PR stage. Partner migration has received an increase of more than 1,000 places in 2026-27, but against a backlog of nearly 100,000 this may be a drop in the ocean. Since the new financial year will prioritise onshore applicants, processing speeds for onshore and offshore lodgements may then differ significantly. For anyone intending to lodge a partner visa, we suggest contacting us to apply for a Subclass 600 visitor visa and then lodging onshore after entering Australia.
Temporary Visas Granted at Lightning Speed: Student, Visitor and Subclass 485 Graduate Work Visas
Temporary Visas:
500 Student visa
The website shows 50% within 16 days and 90% within 7 months.
Student visas have been fairly quick recently, with the vast majority granted within one month — commonly 2-3 weeks.
485 has been processed as usual recently, with grants coming through in just a few weeks.
600 is currently being granted within 2-3 weeks.
2025-26 Financial Year Australian Migration Grants: A Summary and Planning Advice for the New Year
This financial year’s grants — a summary:
The PR allocation was confirmed fairly late this financial year, but through the middle and later stages the Department did put in a genuine effort.
The points-based system has effectively cleared the backlog: Subclass 189 has consistently kept processing to 6-10 months; Subclass 190 and 491 launched multi-track processing, keeping wait times to a little over a year, with priority occupations granted within a few months to half a year.
482: after a flood of last-minute applications rushed in ahead of the reform, processing times lengthened, but the category’s fundamentals remain strong — it now takes roughly six months to the better part of a year, better than other categories. Subclass 186 processing stalled at one point, yet moved very quickly in the final 2-3 months of the financial year; regional positions also receive priority processing and can be up to a year faster than big-city positions.
Parent migration was paced fairly well this year, with further-documentation requests and grants still coming through right up to the end of the financial year.
Partner migration processing also saw solid effort; while the gap between the allocation and the backlog is obvious, the TR-stage Subclass 309/820 advanced in line with the allocation, and where there was no allocation, a good deal of PR-stage processing still took place.
Child visas have sped up to some degree.
Student visas have also been processed considerably faster than before.
