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Can someone explain to me why people can get visa grants (whether permanent, temporary, student, tourist, etc) on weekends? If DHA uses manual processing, do DHA staff work on weekends? If DHA uses automatic processing, does it really takes the computers days to process even the relatively simple ones like tourist visas? Pretty sure permanent visas are not automatically processed, not even the 191 visa.
Received s56 Request for Further Information (RFI) from Visa Case Officer→ Re medical for baby
Hello @gregormendel @smartvisaguide I noticed on SVG that a lot of people haven't updated their status after initially posting about their visa applications. Would it be possible to send a reminder email or something to them so the portal stays up to date? For Marketing related occupations as an example, more than half are supposedly waiting for their grants for more than 24 months, some waiting upwards of 34 months.
📙 Daily Activity Report: 02 February 2026
This report summarises visa grants, S56 requests, and invitation activity for Australian skilled migration visas (subclasses 189, 190, and 491) based on crowdsourced data from the community.
Visa Grants
| Subclass State | Location Occupation | Lodge → Grant Date | S56 Date Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 189 | Onshore RN NEC | 18 Dec 2025 → 02 Feb 2026 | None |
| 189 | Onshore RN NEC | 18 Dec 2025 → 02 Feb 2026 | None |
| 190 NSW | Offshore Fitter General | 04 Mar 2025 → 02 Feb 2026 | None |
| 190 ACT | Offshore Physiotherapist | 16 Jun 2025 → 02 Feb 2026 | None |
| 190 VIC | Onshore External Auditor | 28 Nov 2024 → 02 Feb 2026 | 23 Jan 2026 Medicals (child) |
| 190 | Onshore Health and Safety Advisor | 04 Dec 2025 → 02 Feb 2026 | 10 Jan, 20 Jan, 27 Jan 2026 |
| 491 ACT | Offshore Surveyor | 15 Sep 2023 → 02 Feb 2026 | 15 Sep 2025 Remedicals, Employment Verification |
| 491 VIC | Offshore Secondary Teacher | 09 Jan 2026 → 02 Feb 2026 | 20 Jan 2026 Medicals |
S56 Trends
| Subclass State | Location Occupation | Lodge Date | S56 Date Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 190 VIC | Onshore External Auditor | 28 Nov 2024 | 23 Jan 2026 Medicals (child) |
| 190 | Onshore Health and Safety Advisor | 04 Dec 2025 | 10 Jan, 20 Jan, 27 Jan 2026 - |
| 491 ACT | Offshore Surveyor | 15 Sep 2023 | 15 Sep 2025 Remedicals, Employment Verification |
| 491 VIC | Offshore Secondary Teacher | 09 Jan 2026 | 20 Jan 2026 Medicals |
Invitation Activity
| Subclass State | Location Occupation | Points | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 190 SA | Offshore Welder | 70 | - |
| 190 SA | Offshore RN Mental Health | 80 | - |
| 190 SA | Onshore Civil Draftsperson | 90 | Age 30, Study 15+5+5 regional, English 10, NAATI 5, Exp 5, Single 10, SA Graduate, 80K+ salary |
| 190 SA | Onshore Engineering Technologist | 85 | 93K salary, Proficient English, 6.5 yrs offshore exp, AU exp 1 yr, Skilled Partner |
| 190 SA | Onshore Mechanical Engineer | 90 | SA Graduate, 90K salary, 1+ yr work in field |
| 190 SA | Onshore RN NEC | 80 | SA Graduate, Working SA Health since May 2025 |
| 491 NSW | Onshore Mechanical Engineering | 75+15 | Pathway 3, EOI Jul 2025, Applied 19 Jan 2026, Approved 02 Feb 2026, Masters UOW, With Spouse |
| 491 SA | Offshore Plumber | 70 | - |
| 491 SA | Onshore Carpenter | 65 | - |
| 491 SA | Onshore Conference and Events Organiser | 100 | 5 pts work exp, 80-90K salary |
| 491 SA | Onshore ICT Support Engineer | 75+15 | 80K salary, Public sector 2.5 yrs, Not SA Graduate, Visa expires Mar 2027 |
| 491 SA | Onshore Pathology Collector/Phlebotomist | 80 | 57K salary, Proficient English, Partner 5 pts, Working ADL 2.9 yrs |
| 491 SA | Onshore Retail Pharmacist | 70+15 | - |
| 491 SA | Onshore Software Engineer | 70+15 | 2 yrs experience |
| 491 SA | Onshore Software Engineer | 85 | 120K salary, 10+ yrs offshore exp, Proficient English |
| 491 SA | Onshore Systems Administrator | 100 | 110K salary, 10 pts onshore exp, Age 30, NAATI, PY, Partner 5, PTE 10, Edu 15+5 NSW, Visa expires mid 2027 |
| 491 SA | Onshore Systems Analyst | 100 | Working SA 1.4 yrs, Proficient English, Single, 100K salary, Visa expires Dec 2026, Applied 190 offered 491, ROI 10 Dec 2025 |
| 491 SA | Onshore Web Administrator | 90 | 100K salary, 2 yrs exp, Applied 190 offered 491 |
Trends and Patterns
Visa Processing Times: Priority occupations (Health and Teaching) continue to demonstrate expedited processing. The 491 VIC Secondary Teacher grant was processed in 24 days, while the two 189 RN NEC grants took approximately 46 days. Non-priority occupations show significantly longer processing times, with the 491 ACT Surveyor taking 28 months and the 190 NSW Fitter General taking 11 months.
S56 Requests: Medical examinations remain the most common S56 request. Multiple S56 requests were issued for the Health and Safety Advisor case (three separate requests in January 2026). The ACT Surveyor case received remedicals and employment verification requests after a lengthy processing period.
SA Invitation Round: South Australia conducted a substantial invitation round on 02 February 2026, covering both 190 and 491 visas across diverse occupations. Points ranged from 65 to 100 (inclusive of state points). Several applicants who applied for 190 were offered 491 instead. SA continues to prioritise graduates and candidates with higher salaries and local work experience.
NSW Pathway 3: NSW 491 Pathway 3 processing remains efficient, with the Mechanical Engineering nomination approved within two weeks of application submission.
🔵 This data represents a subset of total visa and invitation activity. Only the Department of Home Affairs and individual states possess complete datasets. For invitation rounds, this summary reflects crowdsourced comments; states hold comprehensive round data.
🔴 Disclaimer: This blog post is an AI-generated summary of community comments and may be updated as additional information becomes available. Due to the crowdsourced and AI-generated nature of this content, errors and discrepancies are possible. Please consume this information with appropriate caution.
Useful Resources
- SA RN Mental Health Invitation Details: https://smartvisaguide.com/pjbm
- SA Round Data Updates: https://smartvisaguide.com/database
Useful Links
👨🏻🏫 Book IELTS 💾 FOI 🧮 Calculator 🗳️ FY2025-26 Guide to Australian PR
📗 FY2025-26 Migration Planning Levels 🔖 Frequently Asked Questions 📞 Useful phone numbers and emails 📋 Visa Application Document List 🏘️ Guide to Housing, Jobs and Community 📲 Whatsapp Groups ☎️ Book Consultation to explore your 189/190/491 Skilled Visa Options
Quick end-of-January 190 processing update:
From 28 January 2025, I have already counted 7 grants for February 2025 lodgements, and on 30 January 2025, I counted 3 grants for March 2025 lodgements.
Also, it seems grants for those lodged in June 2024 or earlier months are tiny in the recent 1 or 2 weeks compared to grants for those lodged in July 2024 or later months.
What does it mean? It means the number of cases for those lodged in June 2024 or earlier months, which was 3271 by the end of November 2025, likely has essentially dried to below 1000 or even below 500 if not lower.
Therefore, we will continue seeing grants for those lodged in November and December 2025 and the first half of 2026, and likely even grants for those lodged between July and September 2026 near the end of the 2025-2026 program year.
For more comprehensive analyses and predictions, see my post below, and I will make updates from time to time. Remember, for all the predictions, the current variables are how many people they will invite and how many people they will grant in the 2026-2027 program year, which is why I have not made predictions above and beyond the 30 June 2026 yet.
