Each financial year the migration planning levels in Australia are reset. As part of this process, the federal government allocates a specific upper number of visas that can be granted in each category for the next 12 months. The only exception to this upper limit is for child and partner visas, there is no cap on the number of visas that can be granted in these categories.
As always, skilled migration makes up the largest percentage of visas in the Australian migration program. 71% of the total visas being offered in Australia this year are for those with skills in demand in Australia.
Many skilled migrants focus on the subclass 189 Skilled Independent Visa (subclass 189 visa) as being their best option to migrate to Australia. As the table below shows the number of places for this visa has been almost halved for the 2024/2025 financial year.
| 2024/2025 places offered | 2023/2024 places offered | |
| Skilled Independent (subclass 189 visas) | 16,900 | 30,375 |
| State/ Territory Nominated (subclass 190 and 491 visas) | 33,000 | 30,400 |
| Employer Sponsored (subclass 186 visa) | 44,000 | 36,825 |
The drop in the number of available places for the subclass 189 visa will result in increased competitiveness. The subclass 189 visa is a point test based visa, meaning to be eligible to receive an invitation to apply for the visa, each applicant must score at least 65 points. Applicants with the highest number of points are picked out of the pool of applicants and invited to apply for the visa. It is expected that the average points to be invited to apply for a visa in this category will increase over the coming 12 months.
The scarcity of subclass 189 visa places is expected to push more foreign nationals wanting to migration to Australia to apply for state or employer sponsored visas. Below is a summary of the visas allocated by the federal government per state for state sponsored visas.
|
| Northern Territory | Western Australia | South Australia | Queensland | New South Wales (NSW) | Australian Capital Territory (ACT) | Victoria | Tasmania |
| Subclass 190 visa | 800 | 3000 | 3000 | 600 | 3000 | 1000 | 3000 | 2100 |
| Subclass 491 visa | 800 | 2000 | 800 | 600 | 2000 | 800 | 2000 | 760 |
Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales have the highest visa allocations of the states and territories. It is interesting to see that Western Australia, that has a population roughly a quarter of the size of New South Wales, has received the same number of visa places as the more populated eastern seaboard states. The high planning numbers for Western Australia are aimed at driving migration to this state where new migrations are needed to grow the economy.
For those migrants wanting to apply for permanent residence this year on the basis of their skills, the visa numbers in the migration planning levels point to the best options being state and employer sponsorship rather an independent skilled migration (subclass 189 visa). Although there is no harm in expressing interest in an independent skilled visa, the chances of receiving an invitation to apply are low unless your points are exceptionally high or your occupation (eg: doctor / nurse) is in extreme demand.
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