Australia Prioritises Onshore Processing in the New Financial Year! Parent Migration: Subclass 864 Accelerates While Offshore Subclass 143 Requests for Further Information Stall

Two weeks have passed in the new financial year, so here is a round-up of visa grants and the parent migration situation!
Since last week, many visas have been granted, across both skilled and family categories.

Core new-financial-year policy: migration processing fully prioritises onshore applicants

In the new financial year’s migration programme, the Department has made clear that onshore applications will be a key processing priority this financial year: 129590 onshore and 55110 offshore (Figure 2). This has also been clearly visible in the visa grants since last week. Although some offshore applications for which further information was provided in the previous financial year have been granted, the overwhelming majority of new requests for further information have gone to onshore applicants, across both skilled and family categories, and more grants have also been made onshore.
The onshore/offshore distinction generally refers to the applicant’s location when the application was lodged.

Parent migration processing diverges: onshore Subclass 864 accelerates while offshore Subclass 143 stalls

Looking specifically at parent migration
The aged-parent categories, Subclass 864 and 804, are lodged onshore, while Subclass 143 and 103 are lodged offshore.
As I mentioned after the start of the new financial year, it is clear that requests for further information have begun for Subclass 864, while Subclass 143 has essentially stalled. Although Subclass 103/143 applications for which further information was provided or a contribution payment was made in the previous financial year are still being granted, there has been no sign of new requests for further information.

Looking only at actual processing, Subclass 143 and 864 progressed broadly in step until the end of the previous financial year. The Department’s website updated its processing progress to show that, by the end of May, applicants who lodged around November 2018 had been contacted (Figure 2).
In practice, processing had reached applications lodged in early December 2018 by the end of May.
However, from the end of June until now, every request for further information I have received for a contributory-category client has been for Subclass 864. Recently, a Subclass 864 application lodged in August 2019 was sent a request for further information (hero image), including both the standard further information and the AoS, meaning that it had reached the final stage before grant. Because I handle a large volume of contributory-category clients, the pattern can be described as very clear.
For the non-contributory queue, the smaller client base means there is not yet clear supporting data.

The most direct effect of this change is that the Subclass 143 waiting period may be extended further.
In the short term, the number of Subclass 864 applications lodged in previous years was actually very small: only a few hundred in total each year from 2019–2021. From 2025, however, Subclass 864 lodgements began to draw level with Subclass 143. The current Subclass 864 backlog totals 15,000, and applications from 2025 plus January 2026 account for more than half (hero image).

If parent migration is also confirmed to prioritise onshore applicants, then under this year’s allocation of 5648 places for contributory categories, the worst-case scenario—excluding applications for which further information was supplied in the previous financial year and which are awaiting grant—is that, if all remaining places go only to onshore applicants, Subclass 864 processing could advance directly to applications lodged in August 2024. Of course, I think it is unlikely to be this extreme, and Subclass 143 should still progress later.

Targeted lodgement-planning advice for parent migration applicants

Advice
If this trend is ultimately confirmed:
For those who have not yet lodged: if your parents are aged 60+, consider first lodging a Subclass 103 application to join the queue and later moving to the onshore contributory Subclass 864 category. If onshore and offshore applications are treated differently, the waiting times will indeed differ considerably.
For those who have already lodged, especially Subclass 143/103 applicants whose applications were originally expected to be processed this year, prepare for the possibility of a delay.

I have emailed the parent migration team to seek further details, particularly whether there is a specific allocation between onshore and offshore applicants. If I receive a response from the Department, I will provide everyone with a timely update.
In addition, the MIA has confirmed that the 14110 grant places planned for regional skilled migration include Subclass 491 and 494 visas (Figure 3).