What is Ministerial Direction 105 and how is the visa processing priority determined ?

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Visa Processing priorities for skilled visa applications

Skilled visa applications are processed according to government policy priorities, which are outlined in the Official Ministerial Direction No. 105. This new direction for visa processing replaces Ministerial Direction 100.

The following skilled visas are subject to Ministerial Direction No. 105:

Skilled visa applications are processed in the following order of priority:

For employer sponsored visas, visa applications in relation to an occupation to be carried out in a designated regional area*.
Visa applications in relation to a healthcare or teaching occupation.
For employer sponsored visas, visa applications where the applicant is nominated by an Approved sponsor with Accredited Status.
For permanent and provisional visa subclasses, visa applications that count towards the migration program, excluding the Subclass 188 (Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional)) visa.
All other visa applications.

*The following employer sponsored visas are included in the top priority where an occupation is to be carried out in a designated regional area:

Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme visa
Subclass 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa
Subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage visa
Subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa.
For further information on where is considered a designated regional area, see Regional migration (homeaffairs.gov.au)

All other skilled visa applications are assessed in order of date of lodgement.

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