FY2024-25 Migration Program Planning Levels

On 14 May 2024, the Australian Government announced that the planning levels for the 2024–25 permanent Migration Program (Migration Program) will be set at 185,000 places.

The permanent Migration Program will help fill skills shortages in priority sectors and prioritise visa processing for regional Australia while we are building the domestic pipeline of highly skilled workers.

The 2024–25 Migration Program also recognises the strong contribution all migrants make to social cohesion. It focuses on strengthening family and community bonds in Australia.

A well-targeted, skills focussed Migration Program supplements the cohort of working-age people. It helps boost participation rates and the size of the labour force.

The 2024–25 permanent Migration Program has the following composition:

Skill stream (132,200 places, approximately 71 per cent of the program) – This stream has been designed to improve the productive capacity of the economy and fill skill shortages in the labour market, particularly those in regional Australia.
Family stream (52,500 places, approximately 28 per cent of the program) – This stream is predominantly made up of Partner visas, enabling Australians to reunite with family members from overseas and provide them with pathways to citizenship. Of this stream:
- 40,500 Partner visas are estimated for 2024–25 for planning purposes, noting this category is demand driven.
- 3,000 Child visas are estimated for 2024–25 for planning purposes, noting this category is demand driven.
Special Eligibility stream (300 places) – This stream covers visas for those in special circumstances, including permanent residents returning to Australia after a period overseas.

Migration Program planning levels as announced as part of the 2023–24 and 2024–25 Federal Budgets

Visa Stream	Visa Category	2023–24 Planning levels	2024–25 Planning levels
Skill	Employer Sponsored	36,825	44,000
	Skilled Independent	30,375	16,900
	Regional	32,300	33,000
	State/Territory Nominated	30,400	33,000
	Business Innovation & Investment	1,900	1,000
	Global Talent (Independent)	5,000	4,000
	Distinguished Talent	300	300
	Skill Total	137,100	132,200
Family	Partner1	40,500	40,500
	Parent	8,500	8,500
	Child1	3,000	3,000
	Other Family	500	500
	Family Total	52,500	52,500
	Special Eligibility	400	300
	Total Migration Program	190,000	185,000

1 Delivery of the Partner and Child visa categories are demand driven, with indicative planning levels only.

2024–25 permanent Migration Program planning levels

The 2024–25 permanent Migration Program has been set at a planning level of 185,000 with an approximate 70:30 split between the Skill and Family streams.

Employer Sponsored visa category

The Government has increased the planning level for Employer Sponsored from 36,825 visas in 2023–24 to 44,000 visas for the 2024–25 permanent Migration Program.

This planning level builds on the expanded pathway to permanent residence introduced by the Government from November 2023. It will allow a greater proportion of temporary migrants to secure permanent residence in a timely manner through the Temporary Residence Transition Stream.

State/Territory Nominated visa category

The Government has increased the planning level for the State/Territory Nominated category to 33,000 visas, and the planning level for the Regional category to 33,000 visas for the 2024–25 Migration Program.

Together these categories, which both contain visas nominated by state and territory governments, account for 36 per cent of the overall planning level and 50 per cent of the Skill stream.

Increasing the planning levels for the State and Territory Nominated and Regional categories will allow jurisdictions to attract skilled migrants to meet their specific economic and labour force challenges. Increases to the Regional category planning level will also support key commitments in the Migration Strategy to support regional Australia, in addition to priority visa processing.

Skilled Independent visa category

In the 2024–25 Migration Program, the Government has allocated 16,900 places for Skilled Independent visas. This is a decrease compared to the 2023–24 program allocation of 30,375 places, but still well above the COVID-era planning levels of 7,500 and 6,500 places in 2020–21 and 2021–22 respectively.

Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) visa category

The Government has reduced the planning level for the BIIP from 1,900 visas in 2023–24 to 1,000 visas for the 2024–25 permanent Migration Program.

As part of the Migration Strategy, the Government announced that it would not provide any new allocations for the BIIP while a new talent and innovation visa was considered. This new visa – to be called the National Innovation visa – will be available at the end of 2024.

The BIIP will be closed permanently from July 2024 and new applications for the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) (subclass 188) visa will no longer be able to be lodged. The Migration Review concluded that the BIIP is delivering poor economic outcomes for Australia. This has been supported by other studies, including work undertaken by the Treasury, Productivity Commission and the Grattan Institute.

Subclass 188 BIIP visa applications that have been lodged will continue to be processed in line with Government priorities and the Migration Program planning levels. BIIP policy guidance will be tightened to ensure that all business migrants coming to Australia through this program have overall had a successful business career and will bring an economic benefit to Australia.

Those who hold a subclass 188 visa and meet the relevant criteria for the grant of the Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) (subclass 888) visa will still be able to continue on this pathway after July 2024.

Reducing the planning level for BIIP will ensure the 2024–25 permanent Migration Program is focussed on highly-skilled individuals who will help to support a stronger, more robust, economy.

Global Talent visa category

The Government has slightly reduced the planning level for the Global Talent Visa Program to 4,000 visas for the 2024–25 Migration Program.

This planning level aligns with the Government’s broader reforms around talent and innovation, and accounts for the last year of the Global Talent visa program as it transitions to new arrangements using the forthcoming National Innovation visa. Through the new visa, the Government will provide a permanent visa pathway for the most exceptional talented migrants – such as high performing entrepreneurs, major investors and global researchers. National Innovation visas granted in 2024-25 will be counted within the Global Talent visa Program.

Home Affairs will manage the transition to the new National Innovation visa to ensure applicants, including existing applicants of the Global Talent visa, are supported in the application process. Existing Global Talent visa applicants will not be adversely affected by the transition. Visa applicants will be assessed against the eligibility criteria at the time of their application.

Family stream

The Government has maintained the size of the family stream. Family migration is an important element of Australia’s migration system. It allows Australian citizens and permanent residents to reunite with their family members and contribute to stronger social cohesion outcomes. The Australian Government recognises that immigrant parents can make valuable social contributions to their families and local communities.

The Partner visa category is the largest component within the family stream. From 2022–23, the Partner program moved to a demand driven model which:

recognises the social, economic and demographic benefits of family reunification and the Partner visa program in particular
provides the flexibility to adjust the program in line with expected demand and help to reduce the Partner visa pipeline and processing times for many applicants.

The Parent visa program has been maintained at 8,500 places while the Other Family (including Aged Dependent Relative, Remaining Relative and Carer programs) visa category has been maintained at 500 places.

The Child visa program allows Australian residents to sponsor their dependent or adopted child or an orphaned relative. The Child program is demand-driven and remains set at 3,000 places for planning purposes only. The Australian Government prioritises the reunification of a child with an Australian parent or family sponsor. This ensures we uphold our international obligations to consider the best interest of a child as a primary consideration.

2024–25 permanent Migration Program consultation

The size and composition of the Migration Program is set each year alongside the Australian Government’s Budget process.

To inform the planning levels and policy settings of the 2024–25 Migration Program, consultation occurred with:

state and territory governments
academia
industry
unions
community organisations.

When planning the Migration Program, the Australian Government considers the following:

Public submissions
Economic and labour force forecasts
International research
Demand for permanent visa programs
Net overseas migration
Economic and fiscal modelling.

The Department invites public submissions as part of the planning process for future Migration Programs. Submissions to inform the 2024–25 Migration Program have now closed. For more information, see Australia's 2024–25 Migration Program.

State and territory nominated visa categories – nomination allocations

Under the Migration Program settings, nomination allocations are available to states and territories in the following visa categories:

Skilled – Nominated (subclass 190)
Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491).

States and territories each assess eligible applicants against criteria unique to their jurisdiction.

Further information on state and territory nomination requirements can be found at:

ACT – Migration
NSW – Visas and migration
VIC – Live in Melbourne
QLD – Business & Skilled Migration Queensland
NT – Migrate
WA – Skilled Migration Western Australia
SA – Move to South Australia
TAS – Migration Tasmania

The Department processes existing on-hand applications and new applications nominated by a state or territory in line with the permanent Migration Program planning levels and skilled visa processing priorities.

2024–25 state and territory nomination allocations

Nomination allocations are the number of new primary applicants each state or territory can nominate in a program year. New applications are added to the existing on-hand caseload in these visa categories.

Nomination allocations do not reflect the total number of visa applicants in these categories and do not limit the number of visas able to be granted in these visa categories.

Nomination allocations for the 2024–25 Migration Program are below.

2024–25 state and territory nomination allocations

State	Skilled Nominated (Subclass 190) visa	Skilled Work Regional (Subclass 491) visa
ACT	1,000	800
NSW	3,000	2,000
NT	800	800
QLD	600	600
SA	3,000	800
TAS	2,100	760
VIC	3,000	2,000
WA	3,000	2,000
Total	16,500	9,760

Net overseas migration – relationship with the permanent Migration Program

The permanent Migration Program is only one component of net overseas migration (NOM). NOM includes temporary migration, such as Working Holiday Makers and Students. It also includes Australian citizens, New Zealanders and Humanitarian migrants.

The size of the permanent Migration Program has decreased since 2022–23 and it is not the cause of recent volatility in NOM. Around 60 per cent of visas under the permanent Migration Program are granted to migrants already onshore and in the community, residing in established households at the time of visa grant. This minimises the permanent Migration Program’s near-term impact on housing, infrastructure and services.

You can find further details about NOM on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website. Details about NOM projections are at the Centre for Population’s National Projections.

Multi-year planning model for migration

From 2025–26, the Migration Program will move to a multi-year planning model, extending the Program planning horizon to four years from the current twelve month cycle.

Extending the outlook of Australia’s Migration Program will enable migration planning to better align with longer-term infrastructure, housing and services planning across all levels of government. The multi-year approach will incorporate housing supply as one of the key factors to shape the broad direction of long-term migration planning.

Public consultation on the size and composition of the first four-year cycle (covering 2025–26 to 2028–29) will commence later this year.