Australian visa processing times

Select a visa subclass, stream and lodgement date to compare your wait with Home Affairs statistical checkpoints, not a predicted grant date.

Official benchmarks
No account needed
Current figures

Latest data update · 5 Oct 202619 streams changed since the previous Home Affairs publication.See what changed

Choose your visa subclass

186Subclass 186 189Subclass 189 190Subclass 190 482Subclass 482 485Subclass 485 491Subclass 491 494Subclass 494 500Subclass 500 600Subclass 600

Your selected visa

Subclass 186

Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)

For skilled workers nominated by their employer for permanent residence in Australia.

Eligibility, costs and application steps

Build your waiting timeline

Two details are enough to compare your wait with current Home Affairs benchmarks.

Published benchmarks

Current Processing Times

Compare how long 50% and 90% of recently decided applications took in each pathway.

What do 50% and 90% processed mean?

Agreement Pathway

For workers nominated under a labour agreement between an employer and the Australian Government.

50Days

50% processed

12Months

90% processed

Last updated: 5 Oct 2026

Direct Entry Pathway

For skilled workers nominated by an Australian employer with an occupation on the relevant eligible skilled occupation list.

21Months

50% processed

25Months

90% processed

Last updated: 5 Oct 2026

Transition Pathway

For workers who hold a subclass 457 or 482 visa, or an eligible bridging visa, and have usually worked in eligible sponsored employment for at least 2 years.

21Months

50% processed

25Months

90% processed

Last updated: 5 Oct 2026

Processing-time guide

Estimate an Australian visa decision window from your lodgement date

AusVisaTime compares a lodged application with current Home Affairs 50% and 90% processing-time checkpoints for nine popular subclasses. The result is a statistical planning window, not an exact or guaranteed grant date.

Learn what 50% and 90% processed mean

Processing times at a glance

Current Home Affairs 50% and 90% processing-time checkpoints for every subclass we cover. Open a subclass to compare your own lodgement date.

Current 50% and 90% processing times by visa subclass and stream
Visa	Stream	50% processed	90% processed
Subclass 186	Agreement Pathway	50 Days	12 Months
	Direct Entry Pathway	21 Months	25 Months
	Transition Pathway	21 Months	25 Months
Subclass 189	New Zealand Stream (closed)	54 Months	61 Months
	Points Tested Stream	61 Days	8 Months
Subclass 190	State/Territory Nominated	4 Months	16 Months
Subclass 482	Core Skills Stream	4 Months	9 Months
	Specialist Skills Stream	37 Days	78 Days
	Labour Agreement Stream	5 Months	9 Months
Subclass 485	Post-Higher Education Work	5 Days	55 Days
	Post-Vocational Education Work	52 Days	5 Months
Subclass 491	State/Territory Nominated Regional	5 Months	18 Months
	Family Sponsored Regional	4 Months	7 Months
Subclass 494	Employer Sponsored Stream	8 Months	12 Months
Subclass 500	Higher Education Sector	16 Days	4 Months
	Vocational Education and Training Sector	53 Days	7 Months
	Postgraduate Research Sector	17 Days	55 Days
	Independent ELICOS Sector	22 Days	53 Days
	Schools Sector	28 Days	7 Months
	Foreign Affairs or Defence Sector	3 Days	22 Days
	Non-Award Sector	3 Days	43 Days
Subclass 600	Tourist Stream	21 Days	33 Days
	Sponsored Family Stream	40 Days	3 Months
	Business Visitor Stream	7 Days	19 Days