Migration lawyers have confirmed that Ministerial Direction 122—signed by Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Tony Burke—took full effect this week after Home Affairs updated its processing manuals on 15 October. The direction, which supersedes Direction 119, re-orders the queue for permanent and provisional skilled-visa subclasses 186, 189, 190, 491 and 494. Top priority now goes to applications in critical sectors such as construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, resources, law enforcement and defence. Outside those fields, applications lodged by primary applicants who are physically in Australia at the time of lodgement leapfrog offshore cases. For employers, the change means locally based temporary-visa holders may see faster transitions to permanent residence, aiding retention. Offshore recruitment pipelines, however, could lengthen unless roles clearly fall within a priority sector. Legal practitioners note that Direction 122 affects processing order only; eligibility criteria remain unchanged. Nonetheless, they advise businesses to review workforce-planning assumptions—especially where relocation timelines for overseas hires were based on previous processing norms. Applicants who have already lodged are automatically subject to the new priority rules; no action is required, but those in non-priority occupations offshore should anticipate extended wait times. The adjustment aligns with the government’s broader aim of moderating net overseas migration while rewarding migrants who are already contributing to the Australian economy. Further refinements are expected when the Migration Strategy review is tabled in Parliament next month.
Source: Australian Migration Lawyers
