This week’s highlights

Australian migration news

1. Northern Territory abruptly closes all state-nomination application channels

2. Canberra issues a new round of invitations — our clients invited in Accounting, Auditing, Engineering and more

3. Department of Home Affairs issues Parent-visa queue letters in bulk over the weekend

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

1. Northern Territory abruptly closes all state-nomination application channels

Last week the NT had just updated the processing progress across its various streams, noting that the offshore priority-occupation 491 stream had not yet commenced processing and would only begin in early 2026.

This week the NT suddenly announced the closure of all application channels — both onshore and offshore. Applications already successfully lodged will be finalised by 30 June.

Onshore graduate or worker-stream applicants may still lodge if they meet the following special circumstances,and do so before 31 December 2026:

– Visa expiring and not eligible for a 485 visa

– Reaching 45 years of age

– Points deduction causing the 491 EOI to fall below 65 points

2. Canberra issues a new round of invitations — our clients invited in Accounting, Auditing, Engineering and more

Canberra released a fresh round of invitations on Thursday and Friday as scheduled, continuing the tradition of priority occupations on day one and non-priority occupations plus the Small Business stream on day two. More of our clients were picked up on the second day — the chart below shows our clients’ invitation outcomes.

It appears the Small Business stream and some non-priority occupations saw a dip in Matrix scores; the fuller picture will only be clear once next week’s state government official report is released.

3. Department of Home Affairs issues a batch of Queue Letters over the weekend

The Department recently issued a large batch of Parent-visa Queue Letters for applications lodged in 2023,and we received several dozen over the weekend.Historically only queued (non-contributory) categories received Queue Letters / Queue Assessments (QL/QA),but post-COVID the contributory categories have also seen processing times stretch out significantly. Based on current Department advice, queued categories face a 33-year wait and contributory categories about 15 years — which is why Queue Letters have begun being issued for contributory cases too.

The Department will generally perform an initial assessment of the applicationto confirm the basic criteria are met —such as the family balance test, the sponsor’s residency requirement, and, for aged categories, medicals, police clearances and similar documentation — before issuing the Queue Letter.

We want to stress again thatthe true queue position is determined by the date of lodgement, not by the date the Queue Letter is issued.For example, a 143 case received a Queue Letter over the weekend but the lodgement date is clearly recorded as May 2023.

Now,when applying for a parent Visitor visa, attaching the Queue Letter typically allows the Department to grant up to a 5-year visitor visa with 12-month stays per visit.

Current Parent-visa processing progress

Contributory:Official progress is currently up to end of October,and on our side the latest contributory RFIs have reached applications lodged around 20 September 2018.

103 Queued: lodgement volumes in June 2013 were enormous, and this financial year is still likely to be working through that month.

Once a child obtains PR, regardless of whether they plan to settle in Australia in the short term, we recommend lodging the Parent visa application early to join the queue. If you intend to stay long-term in Australia to care for children without constant visa renewals, the 870 long-stay parent temporary visa is an option. If you need a seamless transition from a visitor visa to an 870, we recommend lodging the 870 application at least six months in advance. Contact us to discuss:

This week’s grants, invitations and skills assessments

Statenomination

Western Australia

Formal nomination

2025–12–10, submitted; 2026–1–23, formally invited

Canberra

Formal nomination

2025–12–22, submitted; 2026–01–23, invitedACT 190,Accountant (General)

2025–12–22, submitted; 2026–01–28, invitedACT 491,Civil Engineer

Matrix pre-invitation — see the summary above

Visa grants

189 Independent Skilled Migration

None this week

190 State Government Nomination

Submitted on 27/11/2025, Granted on 29/1/2026. Occupation: Retail Pharmacist

2025–5–26, submitted; 2026–1–27, granted (no RFI)

2025–1–22, submitted; 2026–1–27, granted (no RFI)

491 Regional State Nomination

None this week

191/887 Regional Permanent Residence

None this week

Employer Sponsorship

None this week

Investor / GTI visa

None this week

Partner Migration

2025–7–16, submitted; 2026–1–26, granted; 820&801 granted together (with child)

2025–7–17, submitted; 2026–1–28, granted

Parent visas

Lodged on 9 August 2018, 143 visa granted on 27 January 2026

2018–8–18, submitted; 2025–12–8, RFI issued; 2026–1–20, second invoice issued; 2026–1–27, 143 granted

2018–5–25, submitted; 2025–9–16, RFI issued; 2025–12–22, second invoice issued; 2026–1–29, 143 granted

2025–9–24, submitted; 2026–1–27, 870 sponsorship

485 Graduate Work visa

2025–9–18, submitted; 2026–1–29, granted

2026–1–21, submitted; 2026–1–30, granted

2026–1–9, submitted; 2026–1–30, granted

500 Student visa

Submitted on 11/11/2025, Granted on 28/1/2026

Submitted on 17/1/2026, Granted on 26/1/2026

600 Visitor visa

2026–1–20, submitted; 2026–1–27, granted; offshore application (1990 birth year, standard application)

2026–1–8, submitted; 2026–1–24, granted; offshore application PR parents

2026–1–9, submitted; 2026–1–24, granted; offshore application PR parents

2026–1–16, submitted; 2026–1–27, granted; offshore application PR parents

2025–11–14, submitted; 2026–1–29, granted; onshore application PR partner

Skills Assessment

VETASSESS

Submitted on 22/1/2026, Approved on 29/1/2026. Occupation: Marketing Specialist

Submitted on 21/1/2026, Approved on 28/1/2026. Occupation: Cafe or Restaurant Manager

2025–12–24, submitted; 2025–1–29, skills assessment issued (no RFI)

China academic-credential verification: 2025–12–12, submitted; 2025–1–24, skills assessment issued (with RFI)

China academic-credential verification: 2025–12–18, submitted; 2025–1–23, skills assessment issued (with RFI)