Migration Planning Level 2026-27:
Employer Sponsored Up 32%. 189,190 Up and 491 Down.
LAST UPDATED 17 MAY 2026
MIGRATION POLICY
PROGRAM YEAR 2026-27
MIGRATION PLANNING LEVEL 2026-27
The Department of Home Affairs published the complete 2026–27 planning level table on 15 May 2026. The 185,000 headline is unchanged for the third consecutive year. Everything inside it has shifted and some of the moves are dramatic. This is every number, with what it means.
185,000. Same Number. Different Program.
TOTAL PROGRAM
185,000
Unchanged. Year 3
EMPLOYER SPONSORED
58,040
+14,040. Bigger mover
REGIONAL
14,110
-18,890. Down 57%
STATE/TERRITORY
35,500
+2,500 vs. Last Year
SKILLED INDEPENDENT
21,090
+4,190 vs. Last Year
ONSHORE PRIORITY
129,590
70% of Total Allocation
The government has executed the largest internal reallocation of skilled migration places in the 185,000 era. Two moves dominate: Employer-Sponsored up by 14,040 places (32 percent), and Regional down by 18,890 places (57%). These are not rounding adjustments. They are deliberate structural choices that will determine which pathways are viable and which are not for the next twelve months.
The net skilled total barely moved;132,200 to 132,240, a rounding difference of 40. The composition is unrecognisable. The government has shifted a substantial block of places out of the provisional regional stream and into direct employer-sponsored permanent residency. The message is explicit: Australia wants migrants who arrive with a job and stay permanently, not migrants who arrive on provisional visas and queue through multi-year regional conversion pathways.
"33,000 Regional places in 2025-26. 14,110 in 2026-27. That is not a policy tweak. That is a structural demolition of the provisional regional pathway and every applicant in the 491 and 494 pipeline needs to recalibrate accordingly."
The Skilled Independent (189) recovery to 21,090 is real but modest. It does not return to pre-pandemic levels of 30,000+. The Talent and Innovation category; the National Innovation Visa pathway drops from 5,300 to 3,500, signalling that the elite innovation stream is being made more selective, not more accessible. On the family side, Partner and Child see minor increases; Parent drops slightly. No family subcategory moves are significant in isolation.
THE BIGGEST WINNER
Employer-Sponsored: 58,040. Up 32%. The Program Is Now Built Around Employers.
At 58,040 places, Employer-Sponsored is now the single largest planning level category in the Skill stream; bigger than State/Territory Nominated (35,500) and Regional (14,110) combined. This is a government that has decided employers, not state nomination committees or federal points-test bureaucracies, are the most reliable mechanism for identifying where skills are genuinely needed.
482 SKILLS IN DEMAND HOLDERS (ONSHORE)
The strongest year for your 186 ENS pathway in recent memory.
With 58,040 employer-sponsored places up from 44,000; the capacity to convert 482 holders to permanent residents through the Employer Nomination Scheme has never been better resourced. If your employer is willing to nominate, act before 1 July: the Core Skills Income Threshold rises from $76,515 to $79,499 on that date.
OFFSHORE APPLICANTS WITH JOB OFFERS
A job offer has never been more valuable as a migration instrument.
With the Regional category at 14,110 and Independent at 21,090, employer sponsorship is now the widest gate in the program. If you do not yet have a sponsor, that gap is the first one to close.
One important distinction: the 58,040 covers permanent employer-sponsored grants; primarily through the 186 ENS pathway. The 482 Skills in Demand visa itself remains uncapped and demand-driven. What the expanded planning level means is that more 482 holders will be able to convert to permanent residence without competing in an undersized pool. The pipe gets wider; the tap stays on.
THE BIGGEST LOSER
Regional: 14,110. Down 57%. The Provisional Pathway Has Been Gutted.
This is the number with the most immediate and widespread impact. The Regional planning level has been cut from 33,000 to 14,110 in a single year; a reduction of 18,890 places, or 57%. This directly affects every applicant in the Subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional Provisional) and Subclass 494 (Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional) pipelines, and every applicant planning to convert to the Subclass 191 permanent visa.
To be clear about what this means in practice: the planning level does not determine who is eligible for these visas. It determines how many grants the Department of Home Affairs will process in the program year. Fewer places means longer queues, higher competition for processing priority, and slower conversion from provisional to permanent status for people already holding 491 or 494 visas.
"The provisional regional pathway; lodge a 491, work three years in regional Australia, convert to a 191 is being deliberately compressed. This is not a transition-year blip. It is a policy direction."
STATE & TERRITORY NOMINATION
State/Territory Nominated Grows to 35,500. Read the Fine Print.
The State/Territory Nominated planning level increases from 33,000 to 35,500; a rise of 2,500 places. On the surface, positive news for Subclass 190 (Skilled Nominated) applicants. In practice, the critical number is not the federal planning level but the actual nomination allocations each state and territory receives.
In 2025-26, the federal planning level for State/Territory Nominated was 33,000. Actual state nomination allocations were confirmed at only 20,350 places; a significant gap that created intense competition for nomination despite the larger federal headline. The same dynamic will apply in 2026-27. The 35,500 figure is a ceiling, not a floor.
⚡ State and territory nomination allocations for 2026-27 have not yet been confirmed as of publication. Home Affairs typically releases these within days of the planning level table. We will update this article immediately when they drop. Watch newstedglobal.com.
The Skilled Independent (189) recovery to 21,090 is the other notable move in this section of the program. While modest; well below the 30,000+ levels of pre-pandemic years; it is consistent with internal Home Affairs signals that indicated a partial revival of the independent stream. Onshore applicants will be prioritised within this allocation, but the larger pool means the absolute number of offshore invitations may also improve marginally compared to 2025-26.
THE POLICY BEHIND THE NUMBERS
Onshore First: 129,590 Places. The Structural Priority That Governs Everything.
The subclass planning level table is the mechanics. The policy engine underneath it is the onshore prioritisation. Across both Skill and Family streams, 129,590 of the 185,000 places are reserved for migrants already living in Australia. The remaining 55,110 offshore places are concentrated almost entirely on high-skilled applicants addressing Australia's long-term workforce needs.
Read the Regional cut through this lens: 14,110 Regional places plus onshore priority means the 191 conversion queue for existing 491 and 494 holders will absorb the bulk of the Regional allocation. New offshore 491 applicants are competing for whatever remains. That is a narrow pool, and it is narrowing.
Frequently Asked Question
Why has the Regional planning level been cut so drastically; from 33,000 to 14,110 in a single year?
The government is deliberately shifting the skilled migration program away from provisional regional pathways and toward direct permanent residency mechanisms; primarily employer sponsorship and state nomination. The Regional category, which funds the 491 and 494 provisional visa pipelines and their 191 conversion, has been compressed to prioritise the onshore conversion backlog rather than accommodating large new volumes of offshore regional entrants. This is a structural policy choice, not a budget savings measure.
Does the Employer-Sponsored jump to 58,040 make it easier to get a 482 Skills in Demand visa?
No. The 482 visa remains uncapped and demand-driven; the planning level applies to permanent employer-sponsored grants through the 186 ENS pathway, not to initial 482 applications. What the 58,040 figure means is that more 482 holders can convert to permanent residence in 2026-27 without competing in an undersized pool. It improves the 482-to-186 conversion pipeline. It does not change 482 eligibility or application volumes.
The State/Territory planning level is 35,500, but only 20,350 actual nominations were made in 2025-26. Will the same gap appear again?
Almost certainly yes. The federal planning level is a ceiling, not a floor. States and territories set their own nomination allocations based on their own workforce priorities and administrative capacity and those figures have consistently come in well below the federal headline. The 35,500 tells you the maximum that could be granted; the actual state nomination numbers, which will be published by Home Affairs in the coming days, will tell you the real competitive landscape for 190 applicants.
The Skilled Independent (189) has increased from 16,900 to 21,090. Will invitation thresholds drop?
Marginally, and selectively. The increase in total volume improves the absolute number of grants, but onshore applicants are prioritised, and the competitive threshold for popular occupations; ICT, engineering, accounting is unlikely to fall significantly. Invitation thresholds for healthcare, teaching, and social work may respond more noticeably. For all other occupations, treat the 190 and employer sponsorship as your primary pathways until July invitation round data confirms the new thresholds.
When will state and territory nomination allocations for 2026-27 be confirmed?
IIn 2025–26, the planning level table was released in September 2025 and state allocations were confirmed in November 2025. Given the planning level table has been released in May 2026; significantly earlier, alongside the Federal Budget; state allocations could come before the end of June, potentially in the weeks immediately preceding the new program year. We will publish the moment they are confirmed. Watch newstedglobal.com.
Is 185,000 actually the right number for Australia's economy?
By most credible independent measures, no. Treasury modelling, the Parkinson Review, and the Grattan Institute have consistently placed Australia's sustainable and necessary intake between 190,000 and 220,000 for the current labour market and demographic trajectory. 185,000 is a political decision, not an economic one and the government has now made that decision three years running. The internal reallocation is real and consequential. But it does not resolve the fundamental mismatch between what Australia needs from migration and what the program currently delivers.
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