What Employers and Applicants need to know
Effective from 19 September 2026
The Australian Government has changed the order in which skilled visa applications are processed.
Ministerial Direction 119 has now been replaced by two new Directions:
Ministerial Direction 121 – covering Subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa applications; and
Ministerial Direction 122 – covering a range of permanent and provisional skilled visas, including Subclass 186, 189, 190, 191, 491 and 494 visas.
These changes apply to both new and existing applications already lodged and awaiting a decision.
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Subclass 482 – Skills in Demand visas
For employers sponsoring workers under the Subclass 482 visa program, applications are now processed in the following order:
Priority 1 – Key sectors
The highest priority is given to applicants working in specified occupations within:
- Construction
- Healthcare
- Teaching
- Agriculture
- Aquaculture
- Fishing
- Resources
- Australian law enforcement and defence interests
It does not matter whether the applicant applied from inside or outside Australia.
Priority 2 – Specialist Skills stream
Applicants applying under the Specialist Skills stream of the Skills in Demand visa receive the next level of priority, regardless of whether they applied onshore or offshore.
Priority 3 – Other applicants already in Australia
All other primary applicants who were physically in Australia when they lodged their Subclass 482 visa application are processed next.
Priority 4 – Other offshore applicants
This generally covers primary applicants who were outside Australia when they applied and whose application is not combined with another person’s application.
Priority 5 – Remaining applications
All other Subclass 482 visa applications fall into the final processing group.
This is a major change to the way Subclass 482 applications are prioritised. The Department confirms that the new order places the specified sectors first, followed by Specialist Skills, other onshore applicants and then offshore applications.
What does this mean in practice for employers?
The biggest issue for HR teams is that visa applications are not necessarily processed in the order they were lodged.
For example, an offshore Core Skills Subclass 482 application lodged several months ago could potentially remain waiting while more recently lodged applications falling within a higher priority group are processed.
Conversely, an employee already in Australia who does not work in one of the priority sectors now sits ahead of most comparable offshore applicants.
Employers recruiting internationally therefore need to factor the employee’s occupation, visa stream and location at the time of application into workforce planning rather than relying simply on published general processing times.
There is also an important distinction between the previous and new arrangements: Ministerial Direction 121 applies to the visa application, not the employer’s nomination application.
What about Subclass 186 and other skilled visas?
Ministerial Direction 122 establishes a similar system for permanent and provisional skilled visas, including:
Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme; Subclass 187 Regional Employer Nomination; Subclass 189 Skilled Independent; Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated; Subclass 191 Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional); Subclass 489; Subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional; Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional; Subclass 887; and Subclass 888.
For these visas, the processing order is simpler:
Priority 1: Applicants in the specified construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, resources, law enforcement and defence occupations.
Priority 2: Other applicants who were in Australia when they lodged their application.
Priority 3: Other offshore primary applicants whose application is not combined with another person’s application.
Priority 4: All remaining applications.
Again, this applies to applications that were already lodged but had not been finally determined when the new Direction commenced.
A significant change for regional and accredited sponsors
One of the practical points employers should be aware of is what is not included as a separate priority category under the new Directions.
The processing hierarchy is now centred primarily around priority occupations/sectors and whether the visa applicant was onshore or offshore when they applied.
For Subclass 482 applications, Specialist Skills applicants also receive their own higher priority.
This means HR teams should not assume that an application will receive priority simply because of the employer or location. The individual application needs to be considered against the new processing order.
What happens to applications already lodged?
They are not protected by the processing arrangements that existed on the day they were submitted.
Both new Directions apply retrospectively to relevant applications already with the Department that had not been finally determined by 19 September 2026. This means the Department is effectively reorganising its existing caseload according to the new priorities.
The Department has specifically warned that, while it transitions to the new priorities, processing timeframes may fluctuate and some published timeframes may temporarily move backwards as applications are reprioritised.
What should employers do now?
For businesses relying on overseas workers, particularly those recruiting candidates from offshore, early immigration planning is becoming increasingly important.
Before agreeing a commencement date or making operational plans around an overseas candidate, employers should consider where that employee is likely to sit within the new processing hierarchy.
For applicants with applications already pending, a longer wait does not necessarily indicate that there is a problem with the application. It may simply reflect the application’s position under the new Ministerial Directions.
We we will continue to monitor the implementation of Ministerial Directions 121 and 122 and, in particular, the impact the new priorities have on actual processing times for employer-sponsored visa applications.
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