The 189, 491 and 190 data are back — we have obtained figures up to the end of January 2026 via FOI.

As usual, we will start with the summarised figures:

– 190 and 491 grants are climbing steadily

– Final acceptance rate for the November 2025 Subclass 189 round was 56%

– All three visa streams still have room to speed up

– Backlogs across the three streams continue to decrease

We remain cautiously optimistic that the Subclass 189 programme can run another round.

With January’s primary-applicant lodgement data now released,the November round’s primary-applicant lodgements came in at 5,593, giving an acceptance rate of 55.93% on the 10,000 invitations issued —broadly in line with our earlier estimate.

1grants in the month far exceeded lodgements, and the end-of-January backlog stood at11945, with 7,297 places remaining in the quota，gapis4648. If we follow the pattern of the past two financial years, the Department typically “prefers” to carry roughly7000cases189in backlog at year-end, which leaves2352visa places still available. Factoring in a 50–55% acceptance rate on invitations — very close to what we forecast based on the end-of-December data —so189another round should be possible.

After the year-end break, the Subclass 189 programme quickly returned to granting visas, with monthly grants rising to 1,800+ and processing fully moving into the August and November 2025 rounds.The data shows a substantial number of grants for December lodgements — in fact the highest of any single month.。

As at end of January,August lodgements had 243 cases still under assessment, September had 2,300+, October 1,200+, and November and December each had 3,000+ remaining.

Subclass 190 lodgements and grants both hit new highs for the financial year

New lodgements continued to climb to a fresh high of 2,100+,and grants broke through 3,000+ for the first time this year — 725 more than in December — bringing the backlog down to 23,000+.

The month with the most grants issued in January was November 2024, followed by December 2025, then October 2024 and May and June 2025, and so on — every month saw grants.

June 2023 has 204 cases left in backlog; October 2024 and earlier each have only tens to a few hundred remaining; November 2024 through June 2025 each still have over a thousand; and from July 2025 onwards — due to fewer invitations — the figure drops back below 1,000.

NSW will issue Subclass 190 invitations in the first week of March

The state government reminds everyone to make sure their skills assessment, points-claim items and EOI are all still valid. If you need help lodging, please get in touch with us!

Western Australia also quietly issued a round of invitations on 20 February

the occupations we have seen are all in the construction/blue-collar category,with carpenters from interstate receiving invitations, and the overall volume was not large. As at the time of writing, the WA state government had yet to publish an official report on this round.

Subclass 491 grants are back to normal

New lodgements, by contrast, dropped to fewer than 900.

After a sharp dip in December, grants climbed back to 2,100+,。and the overall backlog fell further to 20,556.When we see the end-of-February data in a few weeks, it may well drop below 20,000.

Subclass 491 assessments are also being picked selectively month by month,with the highest single-month figure being 215 for June 2025.。

For November 2024 and earlier, only a few hundred 491 cases remain in backlog each month; December through July each have 1,000+, and the largest backlog is June 2025 at 2,023 — the only month above 2,000.

Compared with previous years, Department case officers have returned to granting visas more quickly after this year-end break.Across all three streams, grants have outpaced lodgements for several months; the 190 and 491 backlogs are steadily shrinking, and with cases being processed out of strict month order, grant speed and backlog levels both look healthier.The aim of cutting invitation quotas this year now appears to have been achieved.