Latest data for the three major skilled migration categories, as at end of March (header image). Raw data in Figures 4–5.
Overall summary:
- Subclass 190 and 491 grants and new lodgements are both firing on all cylinders — 190 recording 3,000+ and 491 recording 2,000+ respectively
- Subclass 189 is maintaining its processing pace, with 2,000+ grants
- The backlog across all three categories continues to fall together
189 — primarily processing September 2025 lodgements
New 189 lodgements are now negligible. Monthly grants are holding at 2,000+, and the backlog has fallen below 8,000. Remaining quota stands at 3,200+. At the Department’s current processing pace, the financial year grant quota may be fully exhausted by the time the June 189 invitation round opens, with the backlog potentially below 5,000. This is one of the factors supporting a larger June 189 round — as opposed to the “small round” initially signalled.
In March the Department was primarily processing applications lodged between September and December 2025, though other months also saw activity. November and December 2025 still carry a significant inventory.
190 — surge in new lodgements, backlog still falling
New March lodgements hit a financial year high of 3,300+, yet grants also remained elevated at 3,700+, bringing the backlog down further to approximately 22,000. Remaining quota as at end of March stood at around 7,300 — enough to cover April and May, though June is likely to be tight. We have seen virtually no new 190 grants in the past week or two.
March saw a major clearance of the November–December 2024 backlog alongside concurrent progress on applications from the first half of 2025. The 190 official processing page currently shows the primary focus on applications lodged from February 2025 onwards, with the December 2024 peak seeing 800+ cleared — again confirming that 190 processing is now operating on multiple fronts simultaneously.
491 — backlog firmly under control
New 491 lodgements in March were close to 2,500, with grants even stronger at nearly 3,000. While numerically lower than 190, the 491 backlog is in better shape, falling further to 18,600+. With 10,000+ quota remaining, the backlog could well be brought below just over 10,000 by financial year end. Given that the 491 quota has been significantly cut for the new financial year, clearing as much of the backlog as possible this year is clearly a positive outcome.
The 491 processing peak in March 2026 was concentrated on applications lodged between October and December 2024. The December 2024 inventory saw the largest single reduction this cycle, down 362. At the same time, the first half of 2025 has begun entering processing at scale, signalling that the Department is progressively shifting from clearing the historical backlog to advancing 2025 new applications — with the overall processing tempo noticeably accelerating.
A brief note on Subclass 191: we published dedicated 191 data not long ago, with the backlog reaching 20,000. In the less than two weeks since then, the Department issued an email update indicating that 191 processing has advanced from September 2025 through to November 2025 — yet we have not seen a corresponding wave of 191 grants.
June and July last year were indeed the months when 191 grants were most frequent. Here’s hoping for a repeat this year — after all, most other quota-capped visa categories have effectively paused grants.
