Ministerial Direction 122 is now available. The new order of...
@gregormendel (1D ago| Updated 10H ago)Ministerial Direction 122 is now available.
The new order of visa processing (higher to lower priority) is: 1. Priority Occupations (both onshore and offshore equal priority) 2. Non-Priority Occupations (where primary applicant is onshore) 3. Non-Priority Occupations (where primary applicant is offshore AND there ARE NO other applicants) 4. Non-Priority Occupations (where primary applicant is offshore AND there ARE other applicants)
Official Notification
Processing priorities for visa applications for certain Skilled visas Visa applications for certain Skilled visas are processed according to Government policy priorities, which are outlined in Ministerial Direction 121 for temporary skilled visas and Ministerial Direction 122 for provisional and permanent skilled visas. Both Directions came into effect on 19 September 2026. From this date, Ministerial Directions 121 and 122 have replaced all processing priorities under Ministerial Direction 119.
Certain provisional and permanent Skilled visa applications are processed in the following order of priority: - Visa applications relating to Construction, Healthcare, Teaching, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fishing, and Resources sectors, or Australia's law enforcement and defence interests. - Visa applications where the applicant was in Australia at the time they lodged their application. - Visa applications where the primary applicant was outside of Australia at the time they lodged their application and whose application is not combined with another person’s application at any time. - All other visa applications.
Visa subclasses included in this Direction: - Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) visa - Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187) visa - Skilled Independent (subclass 189) visa - Skilled Nominated (subclass 190) visa - Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) (subclass 191) visa - Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489) visa - Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) (subclass 491) visa - Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) (subclass 494) visa - Skilled Regional (subclass 887) visa - Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) (subclass 888) visa.
Official DHA Notification here Priority occupations are listed in the PDF and include construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, resources and defense sectors.
Showing 9 comments
@gregormendel can you please tell if now we will be getting priority as agriculture consultant applicant 189 onshore?
@gregormendel hi where is this point - Section 6(4).
It says that when an application is combined with a primary applicant's application, the combined application receives the same priority as the primary applicant's application.
that is just a assertion that secondary applicants will be processed as per priority applicable to the primary, it doesnt change anything in 3a-d.
@gregormendel that means families should go to hell...charged hefty amounts and now we are nothing for them...
I am speculating, but I think the difference between Offshore primary (only) vs. Offshore primary + secondary shouldn't be too big. There will be parallel processing, just like it used to be with direction 105. Each queue moving at its own pace. Higher priority queues move faster in general.
I wonder how will they manage the target of 70% onshore (129590 places) to 30% offshore ratio with this new priority processing direction.
Where did you get this information?
https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/migration-program-planning-levels These are the details mentioned there - "Across both the Skilled and Family programs within the Permanent Program the Government will prioritise applications from onshore migrants, allocating 129,590 places to migrants already living in Australia, and an additional 300 places allocated for Special Eligibility."
how they will manage? officers usually are in teams. 1 team manage priority 1. another priority 2. .. so they know how many places they have. 30% of 491 places =4200 . so they know that they have to issue upto 4200 places only.
Will MD122 cause onshore non-priority applications that have already received an s56 request to be put on hold? @gregormendel
I guess so everyone on-shore non priority will be on hold.
@gregormendel is it? Non priority onshore will be on hold? Even after they asked for s56?
Please can anyone help? I got s56 req but so worried if it will be on hold?
no there is no hold
@lalala03 no one said of hold. expect grant in 1-2 months. or max case3 months .
@lalala03 if you are lucky enough. and your case officer decide to open your file again in few days. then you might receive it sooner. else u have to wait till he check your file again. not sure when
So, My occupation(Engineering manager) became priority as per that direction 122, Isn't it?, sir @gregormendel
@gregormendel is retail pharmacist (offshore )is in priority list if yes then I can’t see priority mentioned on my profile?
it will take a few days to implement direction 122 logic in calculations across the website. You can check out the PDF in the pinned post on home page.
@gregormendel Thanks a lot. I checked the pdf its there in priority list in sub major group 25 health professionals. Thanks a lot again.
Finally, some good news, thank you Gregonmendel 🤗
Bad news for a lot of us offshore applicants with partner/family. Feels disheartened to see rules changed after waiting for 1.5 years. Worst part is that we don’t even know when it is going to start for us now
@key well ofcourse, this will increase burden on 491 subsequent entrant holders, plus extra processing times in partner visas
@key yeah.. families are bearing the brunt of Labor's incompetence... This is a total scam, wish I could have got refund. This is literally torture.
The direction 122 PDF has not released the exact ANZSCO codes for Agriculture sections. For now, I have marked Agri Consultant as priority, will revise later if DHA issues clarification