Yesterday, after the Department of Home Affairs published the FY2025-26 invitation quotas by occupation for the Subclass 189 visa, see Home Affairs official: Subclass 189 FY2025-26 invitation quotas by occupation!
Many people have asked us how much quota is left for their own occupation this financial year. Is there any quota left?
We have calculated the figures using official data:
The November round data is drawn from Home Affairs internal documents we obtained
The August round data is derived from the number of occupations invited by end of August in the EOI data
Both data points come from official sources, but there is a margin of error:
Reason one: the planned number of grants per occupation in the November round is not necessarily equal to the actual number issued
Reason two: a small portion of August invitations had already lodged their applications before the end of August, so their status changed from invited to submitted; for some unpopular occupations with very few invitations, the EOI data may not match the official August report
Reason three: several occupations have a total quota of fewer than 500 and are treated as 100; some occupations with fewer than 20 invitations are treated as 10
[Therefore the numbers are for limited reference only]
[The remaining quota is shown in the final blue column]
Early Childhood Teachers have fewer than 200 places remaining
Secondary School Teachers have 2,200+ remaining
Social Workers have 300+ remaining
Registered Nurses have 5,800+ remaining
Some occupation groups have been over-issued / have not been issued strictly to quota
Civil Engineering Draftspersons / Technicians
Chemical and Materials Engineers
Painting Trades Workers
University Lecturers
Life Scientists
Carpenters (the biggest over-issue, exceeded by 725)
Occupations within the same group share the first four digits of the ANZSCO code. If you are unsure, check your skills assessment letter, or Google the occupation name together with ANZ.
We would also like to reiterate that the Department of Home Affairs has discretion. The quota is the theoretical maximum that may be issued — it is not necessarily filled in full, and is also influenced by the overall quota per round and the applicants in the pool.
Subclass 189 should still have another round of invitations to come, but the numbers will not be large. Occupations with plenty of quota left can still hold out hope; if your occupation has little quota remaining and your visa is about to expire, consider Plan B as soon as possible.
For Australian migration enquiries, press and hold the QR code in Figure 1
