AIS Immigration Solutions

24/08/2026

OUR OFFICE PHONES ARE CURRENTLY DOWN

Please note that our office phones are currently down due to a technical issue. In the meantime, please email us, and we will call you back as soon as our phone service is restored. We apologise for the inconvenience.

31/07/2026

🚨 **MAJOR CHANGE TO SKILLED VISA PROCESSING PRIORITIES**

Effective **25 July 2026**, Ministerial Direction 119 replaced Ministerial Direction 105 and introduced new processing priorities for many Australian skilled visas.

Under Direction 119, applications are prioritised according to the applicant’s **location at the time of application** and their **nominated occupation**:

1️⃣ Onshore applicants in law enforcement or defence occupations
2️⃣ Offshore applicants in law enforcement or defence occupations
3️⃣ Onshore applicants in construction, healthcare or teaching occupations
4️⃣ All other onshore applicants
5️⃣ All other offshore applicants

**What has changed?**

✅ Construction occupations have been added as a priority sector.
✅ The Skills in Demand subclass 482 visa is now included.
✅ Onshore applicants generally receive priority over other applicants within the new framework.
✅ Regional employer-sponsored applications are no longer separately given the highest priority merely because the position is regional.
✅ The new priorities apply to both new applications and applications already lodged but not yet decided.

Direction 119 covers key skilled visas, including subclasses **186, 189, 190, 191, 482, 491 and 494**.

Please remember that this Direction changes the **order in which applications are processed**. It does not change visa eligibility requirements or guarantee faster processing.

Source: Australian Department of Home Affairs and section 499 of the Migration Act 1958.

23/07/2026

📢 Information Update

VFS Global has resumed operations for Indian Passport and Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) applications in Australia.

Applications are now being accepted.

For more information or to begin your application, visit the official VFS Global website:

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01/07/2026

Visa fees increased - check before you lodge!

Get your application prepared properly before paying the new fees.

🚨 Australian visa fees have increased!

From 1 July 2026, many popular Australian visa application fees have changed.

Some main applicant fees now include:

✅ Student visa 500 — from AUD2,500
✅ Temporary Graduate visa 485 — from AUD5,750
✅ Skills in Demand visa 482 — from AUD4,015
✅ Skilled Independent visa 189 — from AUD6,135
✅ Skilled Nominated 190 / Regional 491 — from AUD6,140
✅ Partner visa — from AUD11,710

Planning to lodge soon? Make sure you check the correct fee, eligibility requirements and documents before applying.

11/06/2026

🚨 Subclass 189 Invitation Round
Unofficial occupations reportedly invited – June 2026

Have you recently received a Subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa invitation?

An unofficial, crowdsourced list suggests that invitations may have been issued to applicants in a range of occupations, including:

👩‍⚕️ Health Professionals
Registered Nurses, Midwives, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists, Psychologists, General Practitioners, Medical Laboratory Scientists

👷 Trades & Construction
Electricians, Carpenters, Bricklayers, Wall and Floor Tilers, Glaziers, Welders, Metal Fabricators, Construction Project Managers

👩‍🏫 Education & Community Services
Secondary School Teachers, Early Childhood Teachers, Social Workers

⚙️ Engineering & Professional Occupations
Engineering Managers, Mining Engineers, Petroleum Engineers, Telecommunications Engineers, Architects, Solicitors, Management Consultants, Environmental Consultants, Agricultural Scientists, Statisticians

📌 Please note: This list is unofficial and based on reports shared by applicants and migration communities. It has not yet been confirmed by the Department of Home Affairs.

✅ Received an invitation?
Now is the time to make sure your visa application, points claims and documents are correct before lodgement.

❌ Did not receive an invitation?
We can review your EOI and discuss other options, including 190, 491 or employer-sponsored visas.

📩 Message AIS Migration Solutions today to book a consultation.

29/05/2026

The next invitation round for the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) visa will be held on 4 June 2026. Please ensure your Expression of Interest is up to date and that all the information you have provided is accurate. https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skillselect

15/05/2026

🚨🇦🇺 2026–27 MIGRATION PROGRAM 🇦🇺🚨

Australia’s permanent Migration Program will stay at 👉 **185,000 places** — but there are some major changes this year 👀

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📈 BIG INCREASES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

💼 Employer Sponsored
44,000 ⬆️ 58,040

🏛 State/Territory Nominated
33,000 ⬆️ 35,500

⭐ Skilled Independent (189)
16,900 ⬆️ 21,090

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📉 BIG DECREASES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌏 Regional Visas
33,000 ⬇️ 14,110

👵 Parent Visas
8,500 ⬇️ 7,060

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📊 2026–27 PROGRAM BREAKDOWN
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🛠 SKILL STREAM — 132,240 places
✅ Employer Sponsored — 58,040
✅ State/Territory Nominated — 35,500
✅ Skilled Independent — 21,090
✅ Regional — 14,110
✅ Talent & Innovation — 3,500

👨‍👩‍👧 FAMILY STREAM — 52,460 places
❤️ Partner — 41,500
👶 Child — 3,500
👵 Parent — 7,060
👨‍👩‍👧 Other Family — 400

⭐ Special Eligibility — 300 places

🔥 Biggest winners this year: Employer Sponsored and 189 visas.
📉 Biggest cut: Regional visas.

🔗 Full planning levels:

Find out about Australian visas, immigration and citizenship.

26/03/2026

🚨 Important Update – Arrival Control Determination (26 March 2026) 🚨

The Minister for Home Affairs has introduced a new Arrival Control Determination, effective from 26 March 2026 for a period of six months.

👉 Who is affected?
Visitor (Subclass 600) visa holders who:

are outside Australia on 26 March 2026, and
used an Iranian passport in their visa application

⚠️ These visas will temporarily cease to be in effect, unless an exemption applies.

💡 Key exemptions include:

Spouse/partner or dependent child of an Australian citizen or permanent resident
Parent of a child under 18 in Australia
Individuals who were in Australia at the time of commencement
Those holding a valid Permitted Travel Certificate (PTC)

📌 Permitted Travel Certificates (PTC):
Applications are assessed case-by-case and only granted in limited circumstances (e.g. parents of Australian citizens or genuine temporary entrants).

✈️ Before travelling:
Affected individuals should:

Request an Arrival Control Determination check via the Department’s portal - https://acdchecks.homeaffairs.gov.au/tep
Confirm whether their visa remains valid for travel

💰 Please note: No refunds will be provided unless eligibility is met under regulation 2.12F.

📣 As always, visa outcomes and travel permissions remain at the discretion of the Department.

10/03/2026

📢 Update for 407 Training Visa Applicants

From 11 March 2026, new rules for the Training Visa (Subclass 407) will apply.

Under the Migration Amendment (Training Visas—Sponsorship Requirements) Regulations 2026, you cannot lodge your 407 visa application until your sponsor’s Temporary Activities Sponsorship (TAS) and the training nomination are both approved.

This change may affect your application timeline, so it’s important to plan ahead.

You can read the full instrument here:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2026L00221/latest/text

If you’re planning to apply for a 407 visa, our team can guide you through the updated process and ensure your application is ready.

We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and acknowledge their continuing connection to land, waters and community.

05/12/2025

🎉 SKILLSELECT INVITATION ROUND — 13 NOVEMBER 2025
(Official Department of Home Affairs results)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📌 TOTAL INVITATIONS ISSUED
• Subclass 189: 10,000
• Subclass 491 (Family Sponsored): 300
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📅 Tie-Break Dates
• 189: Nov 2025
• 491: Oct 2025

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔧 OCCUPATIONS INVITED AT 65 POINTS
(Official minimum scores from the published table)

🛠 Trades & Construction
• Airconditioning & Mechanical Services Plumber (189)
• Bricklayer (189)
• Carpenter (189 & 491)
• Carpenter & Joiner (189)
• Electrician (General) (189 & 491)
• Fibrous Plasterer (189 & 491)
• Joiner (189)
• Plumber (General) (189)
• Solid Plasterer (189 & 491)
• Stonemason (189)
• Wall and Floor Tiler (189)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
💡 What this means for applicants
✔ Trade occupations continue to perform strongly
✔ 65-point EOIs in these occupations received invitations
✔ Update your EOI regularly — English, experience, qualifications, partner points

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📩 Need help checking your points or updating your EOI?
Send us a message — we’re here to assist. 🇦🇺✨

Send a message to learn more