This week — key

Australian migration news

1. 189 invitations arrive as expected — Nursing / Secondary-teaching / Social workers at 75; Early-childhood teachers at 85 still not cleared

2. Latest 191 grant data — over 10,000 granted in two months

3. NT increases its quota — all channels open from 24 November

5. Home Affairs updates visa processing times — skilled categories finally speeding up

4. This week’s grants, invitations and skills-assessment success stories

1. 189 invitations arrive as expected — Nursing / Secondary-teaching / Social workers at 75; Early-childhood teachers at 85 still not cleared

189 issued its second invitation round of the financial year this week

– This round is visibly larger in volume than the August round, and the range of occupations invited is broader

– This round, Early-childhood teachers had a large cohort at 85 points cleared, but not entirely — processing roughly reached the end of August. Clients of ours who lodged later did not receive invitations. Referring back to our earlier data, as at the end of August there were 200+ early-childhood teachers on 85+ points, meaning this round likely issued around 200+ early-childhood-teacher invitations, whereas at the end of October there were 750+ on 85+ points. Accordingly, even reaching 85 points in early-childhood teaching now requires preparation for a substantial wait, given the current issuance rate

–Secondary teachers / Social workers received more invitations this round — noticeably more than last round. The backlog in these two occupations is not large, so this round we saw invitations down to 75 points, though the 75-point band is not fully cleared

–Nursing received a large volume of invitations, and not only NEC. We have clients invited at 75 points with a DOE of March 2025.Given the sizeable Nursing backlog and the rapid clearing down to 75 points, Nursing is very likely the single occupation with the most invitations this round.

–Engineering occupations were issued selectively — a handful of high-point invitations were made across the engineering disciplines: Chemical, Mining, and Materials all appeared; a Civil Engineer was invited at 100 points (we have not been able to fully verify this); Civil Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians were both invited at 85 points, and Construction Project Managers also at 85.

–Trade occupations picked up invitations across various occupations, all at 65–75 points. Once the official report is published, we expect it will again be uniformly 65-point invitations.

– A notable surprise compared with the previous round: some less common occupations also received invitations, including Food Technologists, Solicitors, and Management Consultants. In IT, so far we have only seen Multimedia Specialists, all at around 90 points.

–Popular streams such as Accounting and IT have not had invitations this round.

For the updated 189 invitation report, see:

If you have received a 189 invitation and need lodgement advice or assistance, please contact our consultants below.

At an October hearing, senators questioned why 191 processing had been so slow and why Home Affairs had not prepared in advance. Home Affairs representatives responded on record:

– Budget and staffing are finite. Even though it was foreseeable that 191 applications would surge from FY23–24 (because the 491 visa commenced in late 2019 and holders began becoming eligible to transition from late 2022), resources cannot be expanded indefinitely — they can only be re-allocated across categories.

– The good news: 10,353 grants were made in July and August, against 5,347 new lodgements during the same period, so the 191 backlog fell from around 16,000 at end-June to around 13,000 at end-August.

– Home Affairs cannot publish this financial year’s 191 grant target, but conceded 191 may be prioritised.

191 opened the first — and so far only — “grant shower” of FY25–26. At that point the PR grant quota had not yet been settled, so 189 and similar categories could not be processed at scale; 191, being quota-exempt, was granted heavily across those two months, jumping from its earlier slow crawl at April 2024 to processing applications all the way through to July 2025. Processing volume has eased since August, but grants have not stalled. 191 is still running on a dual track, with grants continuing for recent 2024 and 2025 lodgements alike.

If you hold a 491 or 494 visa and are roughly three months from meeting the 191 requirements, please contact our consultants below for advice.Skilled migration grants begin the new financial year — the first grant shower is opened by 191! The top 10 questions on transitioning 491 to PR — prepare ahead!

On Thursday the NT Government released a press statement confirming it has received this year’s full allocation, and will open all application channels — onshore and offshore — from the 24th.The standard offshore 491 channel requirements are unchanged: still 2 years of relevant experience, English at four 6s, and an EOI of at least 65 points. The occupation list is still under review and this year’s list has not yet been published.

The state government website has not announced the full quota figures, but the state minister’s media release, and the subsequent notice from the MIA (Migration Institute of Australia), both confirmed 850 for 190 and 800 for 491 — 50 more 190 places than last year.The minister’s release also stated: “The Northern Territory is one of few jurisdictions to receive an increase.” That is — NT is one of only a few states or territories to receive a quota increase — which implies other states likely received larger allocations as well. Aside from QLD, which is very likely, WA / VIC / SA are still to publish their numbers — hopefully these states will also deliver some good news.

4. Home Affairs updates visa processing times — skilled categories finally speeding up

Home Affairs released its latest visa processing-time reference in early November

For other categories’ processing times, see:Home Affairs updates November visa processing times | 190 / 491 / 191 finally speeding up! Parent visa 143 requests for information reach end of June 2018!