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📙 Daily Activity Report: 21 Aug 2026

This report summarises visa grants, S56 requests, and invitation activity for 21 August 2026, based on crowdsourced data from the community.

Visa Grants

S56 Trends

No new S56 requests were reported for 21 August 2026.

Invitation Activity

Note: The NT Graduate applicant applied for ROI in January 2026 and selected both 190 and 491 in their EOI. They received a 491 preinvite despite not working in their nominated IT field.

News and Updates

• A WA 190 grant recipient noted they switched their occupation from Surgical Nurse to RN Aged Care after not receiving invitations in the previous year. After 3 months in the aged care role and completing NAATI for 5 additional points (reaching 80 points total), they received an invitation at the beginning of 2026.

• The WA ICT Business Analyst grant recipient did not claim regional study points despite studying in regional WA, as they spent the first 2 weeks of their course in Melbourne. Their agent advised playing it safe rather than risking the claim.

📊 This data represents a subset of total activity. Only DHA and individual states have access to complete grant and invitation 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, mistakes and discrepancies are possible. Please consume this information with appropriate caution.

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

Some speculations on the 190 processing time.

Long story short: by the end of the 2026-2027 budget year, both the 50% and the 90% benchmarks for 190 processing time may fall back within 12 months.

Below is the reason.

On 30 June 2026 (some other sources already got their FOI reply), there were 24196 backlogs for 190 visa.

It is important to put numbers in a relative picture.

Let me define a current-backlog-level-to-current-year-planning-level ratio (hereafter: CBCP ratio), which divides the current backlog number (at the end of each month, per FOI reply sheets) using the planning level of the budget year for that month, which is unchanging.

On 30 June 2025, the CBCP ratio was 1.06, but on 30 June 2026, the CBCP ratio dropped to 0.73, quite a sharp drop.

Now compare it to the 189 visa.

If I remember correctly, the 50% and 90% processing time benchmarks for 189 both stayed within 12 months for the last 2 years (correct me if I were wrong), so this are quite useful reference points.

The CBCP ratio for 189 visa oscillated between 0.2 and 0.8 from July 2024 to June 2026, a 24-month period.

Furthermore, during these 24 months, the CBCP ratio stayed within the (0.40, 0.60) range for 9 months, and within the (0.35, 0.65) range for 13 months.

Why the wide oscillation?

Because 189 invitations were issued in large batches every few months, so you can have a sudden surge on pending cases for 189, then gradually, steadily decline to a low point, then the cycle repeats.

This is very unlike 190, whose CBCP ratio moves largely in a clear direction, except for start-of-the-year and end-of-the-year anomalies, which are normal.

Now we know the planning level of 190 for the 2026-2027 budget year, which is 35500 in total.

We do not know the total 190 allocation for the 2026-2027 budget year yet, but we know TAS and NT have got barely any more 190 allocations, and we have also heard that the 190 level for QLD has not changed, though it is not officially released yet.

Using all these current information, the picture is that 190 will almost certainly not go back to the 16500 level of the 2024-2025 budget year, and will almost certainly not be higher than the 14500 level, and will likely not be higher than the 14000 level.

We use 1.9 as the more generous family size and 1.85 as the more realistic family size, per more recent data.

Using 14000 and 14500 as two potential 190 allocation upper bounds, we yield 25900 (= 14000 * 1.85) as the lower upper bound and 27550 (= 14500 * 1.9) as the higher upper bound.

This yields, assuming all nominations are converted into actual visa lodgements before 30 June 2027, between 14596 and 16246 remaining backlogs on 30 Jun 2027, the end of the 2026-2027 budget year.

Dividing 14596 and 16246 by 35500, we yield 0.41 and 0.46 for 190 visa at the end of the 2026-2027 budget year.

If we consider the fact that there will be nominations issued near or at the end of the 2026-2027 budget year and thus some lodgements will take plane after 1 July 2027, then the CBCP ratio will be pushed even lower, perhaps even below the 0.4 level.

Two caveats.

First, we do not know the total 190 allocation level of the 2026-2027 budget year yet, just speculation, but they are almost certainly below 14500, and definitely not over the 15000 level.

Second, we do not know the planning and allocations for 190 for the 2027-2028 budget year, so the dynamic may change.

However, the point remains that with the current trajectory, most newer 190 applicants may likely be granted within 12 months, even for non-priority ones.

FY2026-27 NT Skilled Migration Program Update

The NT Government has received full allocations for the 2026-27 program year from the Australian Government. The NT nomination application opens on 21 August 2026 to new applications for all onshore and selected offshore streams. Before applying, please ensure that you have reviewed the eligibility criteria for your stream. Please note that criteria has been updated for the new program year. For information on how to submit an application, view how to apply.

Please note that NT Government cannot guarantee nominations before visa deadlines. Those who are onshore and have visas expiring should seek professional advice from a Registered Migration Agent or Legal Practitioner on their visa options and ensure that they remain lawful in Australia.

NT OFFSHORE Priority Occupation stream The NT Government has a large number of applications pending assessment under the NT Priority Occupation stream, held over from the last program year. As a result, this stream is closed to new applications, and any changes will be published on this website.

More information: https://australiasnorthernterritory.com.au/move/migrate-to-work/nt-government-visa-nomination/eligibility

TAS Processing Times and Invitations Issued

Data on processing times, ROIs and nomination applications Last updated on 20/08/2026 Migration Tasmania has now opened for the 2026-27 program year.

ROIs invited to apply for nomination on 20/08/2026:

Subclass 190 - 67 invitations - 65 Gold invitations and two Green invitations Subclass 491 - 26 invitations - Three Gold invitations and 23 further invitations Due to the high number of Gold pass ROIs received for subclass 190, few additional ROIs have been invited. We expect the number of Gold pass ROIs to decrease significantly over the coming weeks, which will allow us to issue a larger number of invitations.

The lowest scores invited:

Subclass 190 - 580 points Subclass 491 - 97 points

Number of ROIs on hand (ROIs with a status of Submitted after the invitation round has taken place):

Subclass 190 - 539 ROIs Subclass 491 - 810 ROIs

Nomination places available:

Subclass 190 - 1,084 places Subclass 491 - 754 places

Nomination applications lodged but not yet decided:

Subclass 190 - 18 applications Subclass 491 - 2 applications

Invitations issued but application not yet lodged:

Subclass 190 - 43 invitations Subclass 491 - 25 invitations

Oldest nomination application lodged and not yet allocated to a case officer - 19/08/2026

Lowest point score required to gain nomination (at assessment):

Subclass 190 - 580 points Subclass 491 - 97 points

This is a rolling three-month average of the lowest point score resulting in an invitation.

Where an ROI is invited and all priority attributes claimed are verified, nomination will be approved. If one or more priority attributes are not verified, and the point score falls below the lowest score threshold, the application will be declined.

Where candidates are found to have intentionally claimed priority attributes to artificially inflate their score, the application will be declined.

Any Gold pass holder that does not meet the Gold priority attribute will be declined, regardless of their total point score.

📙 Daily Activity Report: 20 August 2026

This report summarises visa grants, S56 requests, and invitation activity for skilled migration subclasses 189, 190, and 491 based on crowdsourced data from the community.

Visa Grants

S56 Trends

News and Updates

No S56 requests have been reported for 20 August 2026 at the time of this report.

⚠️ Disclaimer: This blog post is an AI summary of the comments below and may be refreshed as more comments arrive. Due to the nature of crowdsourced and AI-generated content, mistakes and discrepancies are possible. This information should be consumed with caution.

📊 This data is crowdsourced and represents only a subset of total activity. Only the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and individual states have access to complete grant and invitation data.

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