Key migration news of the week

1. Parent visa places still available this financial year — Subclass 143 now a 15-year wait

2. State allocations still lagging behind schedule — some states have more than 80% remaining

3. Partner visa backlog severe; child visa waiting periods extended

4. Victoria issues a round? Tasmania invites every week

5. Summary of this week’s grants, invitations and skills assessments

I. Parent visa places still available this financial year — Subclass 143 now a 15-year wait

We have recently received this financial year’s parent-visa grant figures, so we are also taking the opportunity to summarise the overall position for the first half of 2025–26.

As at the end of December 2025

Subclasses 143 & 864 have 2,917 places remaining; Subclasses 103 & 804 have 585 places remaining. If we take the average and include January as well,For the remainder of the financial year (February–June), approximately 2,270 places remain for Subclasses 143 & 864 — slightly better than last financial year — and 399 places remain for Subclasses 103 & 804.

Looking more closely at the monthly grants this year,Subclass 143 grants were relatively stable from July to September,Volumes jumped in October–November, with 780+ grants in a single month,This aligns with what we have been seeing on the ground — client grants in the past 2–3 months have clearly increased.

Subclass 143 has a backlog of 83,437 applications and Subclass 864 has a backlog of 15,008 — the contributory-category backlog alone is approaching 100,000,Assuming the annual allocation remains at 6,800 places,so the waiting time has stretched to 15 years, and the Department’s official processing time is also 15 years. The queued category sits at 33.9 years. Everyone really should lodge as early as possible.

For a more detailed analysis, see:Mid-year parent-visa grant data released | How many places are left? Contributory category waits stretch to 15 years!

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II. State-nominated invitation allocations are still ample — some states have more than 80% remaining

As at the end of January 2026, 65% of Subclass 190 and close to 70% of Subclass 491 allocations remain. After the late-December holiday period, the states have resumed normal operating speed,In addition to essentially all issuing a round of pre-invitations, they have also issued some formal nominations — 1,462 Subclass 190 formal nominations and 779 Subclass 491 nominations were issued in January.

States with 50–60% of their allocation remaining

ACT 190 and 491, NSW 190, NT 190, Tasmania 190, and Victoria 190 and 491 — only NT 190 is below 55%

States with 60–70% of their allocation remaining

South Australia 190, Northern Territory 491, Queensland 491

States with more than 70% of their allocation remaining

Queensland 190 (83.95% remaining, more than 1,550+ places), WA 190, NSW 491 (mainly awaiting processing), SA 491, Tasmania 491, and WA 190 and 491 (mainly slow processing)

However, in terms of utilisation rate,The only one that could be called tight is Victoria’s 491 — of its 700 places, 400 have been used, leaving less than 43% remaining,The first reason is that Victoria issues invitations regularly and processes them quickly; the second is that Victoria’s 491 allocation was never large to begin with this year.

For more detailed data and analysis, see:Department update: Subclass 190 has 8,400+ places remaining and Subclass 491 still has close to 70% available — some states have more than 80% untouched!

III. Partner visa backlog severe; child visa waits are lengthening too

We have also recently received partner-visa data. Combined with parent migration, the mismatch between family-stream backlog and allocation is actually more severe than for skilled migration. Skilled migration can be controlled by reducing invitations, but on humanitarian grounds the family stream is very difficult to actively restrict, which is why the backlog keeps growing.

Of these, Subclass 309 has 30,000+ and Subclass 820 has more than 69,000. The partner-category allocation is only 40,500 places per financial year (with temporary-visa applications eating into the quota). Dividing the 100,000 backlog by a 40,000 allocation gives a theoretical waiting period of 2–3 years — and if application volumes do not fall, waits will stretch even longer.。For those still hesitating and shopping around, lodge your application early.

Looking at the first half of the financial year,Partner visa grant processing speed has been relatively steady,3Subclass 309 has about 9,000 grants and Subclass 820 has close to 12,000 — roughly 20,000+ combined. Subclass 309 sits steadily at around 1,500 per month; Subclass 820 ranges 1,500–3,000, with clear acceleration in the second quarter. The total allocation is 40,500, with about half the financial-year quota left, so the second-half pace should mirror the first half.

Subclasses 100 and 801 combined have a backlog of nearly 50,000, with 801 averaging 3,000+ grants every month this financial year,It does feel as though permanent-residency grants have sped up recently — processing is now roughly up to permanent-stage applications lodged in the middle of last year.

Child migrationvisas whose backlogs have ballooned ridiculously in recent years; child migration visas are not particularly complex, and the reason the Department processes them so slowly is simply that the allocation is too small.the backlog had already climbed to nearly 8,000 by the end of last year, yet only 3,000 places are allocated annually, so the waiting period will be 2–3 years.Intuitively, the grant data does track the allocation evenly — roughly 200 grants per month.