How are 2025–26 Subclass 189 occupation invitation allocations calculated?

For the 2025–26 financial year, Subclass 189 occupation invitation allocations relate to the number of people working in the occupation in Australia, its priority weighting and the previous financial year’s successful Subclass 186/190/491 applicants. Each allocation caps the number of invitations issued annually.

Which occupations are in Subclass 189 tier 4 for 2025–26, and what is their weighting?

Tier 4 includes the most popular migration occupations, such as accounting, auditing, software engineering, ICT BA and chefs, with a weighting of 0.5%.

Migration Weekly 406: 189 formula and ACT changes - Newstars Education & Migration

This Week’s Highlights

Australian Migration News

1. Subclass 189 per-occupation invitation formula revealed — occupations ranked in four priority tiers

2. End-of-October visa stats: state-nomination processing speeds up; 191 total grants high but decelerating

3. Canberra confirms the full FY invitation schedule and releases a fresh round

4. Queensland publishes its NIV criteria — pleasant surprises for the entrepreneur and investment streams

5. This week’s grants, invitations and skills-assessment success cases, as always

1. Subclass 189 per-occupation invitation formula — occupations ranked in four priority tiers

This week we obtained the archival document setting out per-occupation 189 allocations, which has been in force since FY25–26. In short:

— it is tied to the total number of workers already practising that occupation in Australia

-The priority tier to which the occupation belongs determines the weighting coefficient

— and the number of people who obtained PR in that occupation via 186/190/491 in the previous financial year

Tier 1:Mostly medical-doctor-related occupations — weighting of 4%

Tier 2:Covers education, health and social-work occupations — weighting of 2%

Tier 3:Covers most common occupations, such as engineering, trades and many professional roles — weighting of 1%

Tier 4:The most popular migration occupations — accountants/auditors/software engineers/ICT BAs/chefs and the like — weighting of 0.5%

How is this calculated? Here is an example:

Occupation A has 50,000 practitioners in Australia, sits in tier 3 at 1%, and 1,000 people in this occupation obtained PR through employer sponsorship (i.e. 186) in the previous financial year.

Scenario 1: 1% of 50,000 equals 500; subtract the 1,000 employer-sponsored grants from last year and the result is negative, so this occupation is unlikely to receive any invitations this year.

Scenario 2: if only 200 people in that occupation obtained PR via employer sponsorship last year, then 500 − 200 = 300, so invitations are still possible.

FY24–25 application data for 190/491/186 would in principle also need to be retrieved from archives — it is not released publicly on the department’s own initiative.，This formula is meant to give you a sense of roughly where your own occupation sits,the quota being the annual ceiling on invitation numbers.，If your occupation falls in tier 4, we recommend exploring alternative pathways as soon as possible — for example, employer sponsorship. If you are still considering a study-then-migrate trades route, we would suggest avoiding the already-crowded chef track and considering carpentry, tiling and similar trades instead.

For the full formula and document text, see:New Subclass 189 invitation strategy — full document released | The exact per-occupation invitation formula and coordination with state governments to avoid duplicate invitations!

2. October skilled-migration visa data — state-nomination processing speeds up; 191 total grants high but decelerating

This round we have obtained the data up to the end of October 2025, covering 189/190/491 plus 191.

189——

Lodgements totalled 1,439 — 1,696 fewer than in September.，So primary-applicant lodgements from August to October totalled 4,631 (944 + 2,142 + 1,545), meaning the actual acceptance rate for the August round of 189 invitations was

67%，which, relative to history, is a relatively high figure.

785 visas were granted — 61 fewer than the month before,and the backlog currently sits at just under 9,000.In October, 189 processing was still clearing applications lodged in December 2024,and from November we have seen some of our own clients who lodged in August 2025 receive grants.

190——

Lodgements were under 500 — in October, state governments had not yet received their formal allocations, so new invitations were limited.

3,272 grants were issued — 1,100+ more than in October, above the expected monthly average of 2,750, so processing has finally sped up. With fewer lodgements and more decisions, the backlog naturally dropped by almost 2,800 and now sits just above 28,000. Subclass 190 continues to be processed out of lodgement-date order, with grants issued across a range of months.The oldest backlog — the June and July 2023 lodgements — saw the largest share of processing, with 850 cases cleared across those two months, making up 26% of total grants.

491——

Lodgements were under 450 — the stream remains lukewarm.

2,121 grants were issued — 491 processing also sped up noticeably in October,close to the expected monthly average of 2,333. The backlog was reduced by 1,717, bringing the total below 26,000.

491 grants were concentrated in three time bands;June and July 2023 lodgements saw the most grants, accounting for 40% of the total!

191——

In the first four months of this financial year, 191 granted 12,369 visas;July was the peak, with an average of 3,000+ grants per month.The 191 backlog as at 31 October stood at 11,288. Grants across these four months comfortably exceeded lodgements, so the 191 backlog has stabilised at around 10,000. However, monthly grant numbers have been falling — October came in under 1,000. Hopefully the decline does not continue; staying at around 1,000 per month would be a decent outcome.

For more detailed comparison tables, see:Latest skilled-migration visa data! 190/491 grants surge; 191 tops 12,000 grants in four months; August-round 189 acceptance rate approaches 70%!

3. Canberra confirms the full FY invitation schedule and issues a new matrix round

Canberra issued its new invitation round as promised this week, keeping things busy in the run-up to the holidays. As in the last financial year, invitations went out across two days; as of the time of writing, the official report has not yet gone live,so below are our own clients’ invitation results. You can see that scores in the SBO stream have gradually fallen — more details will be clear once the official report is published.

Canberra Matrix invitation data for Newstars clients

In fact, earlier this week Canberra published the schedule for every remaining invitation round this financial year —the first time the entire schedule has been released publicly with specific dates.Other than the December round just completed, the remaining dates are as follows:

Canberra invitation schedule for the remainder of the financial year

Also published were the updated onshore-applicant guidelines taking effect on 1 February 2026 (offshore guidelines unchanged). The key changes are:

1. The 482/457-to-state-nomination pathway has been abolished.

2. The small-business pathway has been slightly adjusted.

3.self-employmentABNminimum income raised

4.Skilled Level Employmenthourly-rate income raised

At present, because482-186occupations are numerous, the policy settings are favourable and requirements are low, in this context a state government intervening midway to use invitations to target491/190to invite482holders also disrupts the employer-sponsorship relationship. No state currently has a comparable policy, and last financial year’s invitation482numbers were not large either, so removal makes sense. The other income-threshold increases are primarily CPI-linked adjustments.

For the full comparison and analysis, see:Invitations on the way! Canberra confirms the full FY invitation schedule! New guidelines released: one pathway removed, salary thresholds raised, small-business pathway fine-tuned!

4. Queensland publishes its NIV nomination policy — pleasant surprises for the entrepreneur and investment streams!

Queensland has published its NIV state-nomination requirements, and we have comparedthe entrepreneur streams and the start-up /investment-stream requirements of SA, NSW and QLD:

Entrepreneur stream (click for full-size image)

Comparison of SA, NSW and Queensland NIV entrepreneur stream requirements

Start-up investment stream (click for full-size image)

Comparison of SA, NSW and Queensland NIV entrepreneurial investment stream requirements

Compared with other states, Queensland’s settings are relatively close to the former investor-migration programme. For more details, see:The closest thing to investor migration has finally arrived?! QLD NIV entrepreneur and innovation-investment stream requirements released — compared with other states, pleasant surprises await!You are warmly welcome to get in touch for a consultation!

This week’s grants, invitations and skills assessments

Statenomination

Canberra

See above for Matrix pre-invitations

Formal nomination

2025year9month15lodgedACT Matrix，Matrix 90points (Physiotherapist – 252511, with partner, EOI 75+5points).2025year12month10invited, able to lodgeNomination。

Victoria

Lodged November 2025; VIC 190 formal nomination approved 10 December 2025 — early childhood teacher

Visa grants

1189 Skilled Independent

None this week

190 State-Nominated

None this week

491 Skilled Work Regional (state-nominated)

2024year5month17lodged;2025year12month11granted (Accountant (General) – 221111, single, onshore lodgement, 60+15points)

191/887 Regional PR

None this week

Employer-sponsored

2025year7month21lodged;2025year12month11granted — software engineer

Lodged 19 April 2024; 186 DE nomination 10 December 2025 — accountant

Lodged July 2025; 482 granted 11 December 2025 — accountant

Investor visa / GTI visa

None this week

Partner migration

2021year11month18lodged;2023year5month4day820granted,2025year12month8day801granted

Parent visa category

2018year4month6lodged;2025year4month23received onAOSrequest-for-information letter;2025year11month27contribution-fee payment notice received on2025year12month10143 granted

2018year7month3lodged;2025year11month13received onAOSrequest-for-information letter;2025year12month11contribution-fee payment notice received on2025year12month12143 granted

Lodged 3 June 2018; 143 granted 8 December 2025

485 Temporary Graduate

2025year8month20lodged;2025year12month8granted

500 Student

Lodged 23 October 2025; 500 granted 12 December 2025

Lodged 20 October 2025; 500 granted 12 December 2025

Lodged 13 October 2025; 500 granted 12 December 2025 (source-of-funds phone check)

Lodged 5 December 2025; 500 granted 12 December 2025

Lodged 10 October 2025; 500 granted 12 December 2025

Lodged 23 September 2025; 500 granted 12 December 2025

Lodged 28 October 2025; 500 granted 11 December 2025 (high-school study)

Lodged 28 September 2025; 500 granted 10 December 2025

Lodged 3 December 2025; 500 granted 10 December 2025

Lodged 4 December 2025; 500 granted 8 December 2025

600 Visitor

2025year11month25lodged;2025year12month8granted

2025year12month3lodged;2025year12month9granted

155 visa

2025year12month4lodged;2025year12month8granted

2025year12month10lodged;2025year12month10granted

Skills assessment

ACECQASkills-assessment application (teacher-related)

2025year10month16lodged;2025year12month10result issued

VETASSESS

2025year11month25lodged;2025year12month7result issued

Newstarsec Groupintroduction video

(filmed in 2021)

WA issues 1,800 invitations — 80-pointers invited! 189 issues 10,000 — per-occupation allocations estimated!

Western Australia and Subclass 189 invitation numbers

Complex success case | Onshore partner-migration application without a valid visa — Sch 3 waiver granted and Bridging Visa C with work rights secured!

Onshore partner migration case with a Sch3 waiver

10,000 invitations issued in the 189 round | Exact invitation counts for the “Four Darlings” and several common occupations, with estimate tables!