The Department of Home Affairs has introduced Ministerial Direction 117 on 25 July 2026, replacing Ministerial Direction 102. It establishes new processing priorities for Family visa applications, while Ministerial Direction 103 continues to govern Family visa applications that are subject to capping and queueing.
Ministerial Direction No. 117 gives highest priority to Family visa applications made while the primary applicant was in Australia, for a visa that can be granted while they remain in Australia. Lower priority applies to applications where the primary applicant is outside Australia at the time of application or must be outside Australia at the time of grant.
Within these categories, applications are processed in the following order:
Order of Processing Priority (Within Each Category)
- Family migration applications that have been subject to ministerial intervention
- Applications by a partner or dependent child
- Applications by an orphan relative
- Applications by a contributory parent or contributory aged parent
- Applications by a carer
- Applications by a parent, aged parent, remaining relative, or aged dependant relative
Capped and queued applications
Direction 103 specifies that Contributory Parent, Parent, and Other Family (Carer, Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative) visa applications which are subject to capping and queuing that are processed in queue date order.
Priority processing in special circumstances
Direction 117 allows an application to be prioritised where there are special circumstances of a compassionate nature and compelling reasons to depart from the standard order.
Processing times vary depending on individual case circumstances. Applicants can refer to the Department’s Processing Times Guide for Child and Partner visa processing times, and the Partner Visa FAQs for information on seeking priority processing. Queue release dates for Parent and Other Family visas are also published separately on the Department’s website.
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