The 2026-27 Federal Budget landed on 12 May 2026. It holds the permanent migration program at 185,000 places for a third year, tilts it toward people already in Australia, and flags a new skilled points test. No application fees changed.
Program size unchanged: 185,000 permanent places for 2026-27, with 132,240 in the Skill stream and 300 in Special Eligibility.
Onshore tilt: 129,590 of 185,000 places (around 70%) are reserved for migrants already in Australia. Offshore allocation sits at 55,110 places.
Points test rewrite: First major redesign since 2012. Consultation paper in June 2026, legislative instrument by December 2026. Existing invitations honoured under transitional arrangements.
Working Holiday ballots expanded: Wider use of ballots to manage program numbers more fairly. Tern does not handle ballot-status countries.
Skills assessments funded: $85.2 million over 4 years to modernise Trades Recognition Australia and improve regulator oversight.
Salary thresholds up 1 July 2026: Core Skills Income Threshold rises to $79,499 and Specialist Skills Income Threshold to $146,717. TSMIT for regional 494 stays at $76,515.
Net Overseas Migration: Forecast 260,000 in 2025-26, falling to 225,000 in 2026-27, with a long-term anchor of 235,000.
The 2026-27 Federal Budget was handed down on the evening of Tuesday 12 May 2026. For people applying for an Australian visa, or about to, the migration measures matter for three reasons. The permanent migration ceiling has been held at 185,000 for a third year running. The share of places reserved for people already in Australia has continued to climb. And the government has flagged the first serious rewrite of the skilled points test in fourteen years, with consultation opening next month.
None of this changes the visa rules that apply tonight. What was announced is mostly structural: where the program is heading, who it favours, and how the next round of policy gets written.
What is in the 2026-27 Migration Program
The 2026-27 permanent Migration Program is set at 185,000 places, the same level as 2024-25 and 2025-26. The Skill stream takes 132,240 places (over 70% of the total), the Special Eligibility stream takes 300 places, and the remainder sits in Family.
The headline planning numbers from Budget Paper No. 2 are:
Total program: 185,000 places
Skill stream: 132,240 places
Special Eligibility: 300 places
Onshore allocation (Skill + Family combined): 129,590 places
Offshore allocation: 55,110 places, "predominantly high-skilled"
Holding the ceiling flat is itself a signal. The budget papers describe the program as being designed to "place downward pressure on net overseas migration", and the Treasurer's speech repeated that framing. The composition has shifted, but the headline number has not.
The Family stream sub-allocation (Partner, Parent, Child, Other Family) has not yet been published, so we are not going to guess at the split. Same for the Skill stream sub-categories (189, 190, 491, 186, 482 and so on). Once the Department publishes the breakdown, that detail will sit on the Department's own migration program page.
How does the onshore tilt affect my application?
Roughly 70% of all permanent places (129,590 of 185,000) are reserved for people already in Australia (onshore applicants), across both the Skill and Family streams. Applicants living outside Australia (offshore, in the budget's language) share the remaining 55,110 places, which the budget calls "predominantly high-skilled".
In plain terms, someone already in Australia on a substantive visa (any visa other than a bridging visa, such as a 482, a 500, a 485, a 417 or 462, an 820) sits inside the group the program wants to convert into permanent residents. Someone living overseas, with no Australian foothold, is fighting for a much smaller slice.
A few practical points follow straight from the allocation, with no guesswork:
Onshore partner applicants (820/801) generally sit in a stronger processing position than offshore (309/100) for the year ahead. The program is structurally weighted toward onshore conversions.
The 482 to 186 transition (employer-sponsored work visa to permanent ENS) falls inside the favoured onshore cohort. Sponsors and candidates in that pipeline are in the part of the program the budget has explicitly prioritised.
Offshore skilled and family applicants are competing in a tighter offshore pool. That does not mean offshore pathways are closed; it means selection will be sharper.
Tern Tip
If you are already in Australia on a substantive visa and weighing an onshore vs offshore application (an 820 vs a 309, or a 186 vs a Direct Entry from overseas), the 2026-27 program structure tilts the maths further toward onshore. It is one factor among several. Weigh it alongside processing times, evidence access, and your own circumstances.
A new points test for skilled migration is coming
The budget confirms a full redesign of the skilled migration points test, the first major rewrite since 2012. The stated aim is to "select better educated, higher-skilled, and younger migrants overall". The timeline runs from a consultation paper in June 2026 to a legislative instrument by December 2026, with transitional arrangements to honour invitations already issued.
The points test sits at the heart of the 189 (Skilled Independent), 190 (Skilled Nominated), and 491 (Skilled Work Regional) pathways. Almost two-thirds of permanent skilled migrants are currently selected through points-tested visas, so a redesigned test is one of the more consequential migration changes in recent years.
What the budget tells us:
Direction: Higher weighting on younger, better-educated, higher-skilled migrants. The detail of how those factors will be scored is the subject of the June 2026 consultation paper.
Timeline: June 2026 consultation paper, with a legislative instrument expected by December 2026.
Transition: Existing invitations will be honoured under transitional arrangements. The budget papers do not say what happens to existing Expressions of Interest in the pool that have not yet received an invitation; that is a typical consultation question.
Pathways affected: 189, 190, and 491.
A few things the budget does not say, and that you should treat with caution if you see them claimed elsewhere: it does not say the 189 program is being expanded, it does not commit to a specific points threshold, and it does not name occupation lists that will rise or fall in priority. The consultation paper is where those details will be debated.
Tern Tip
If you have a current EOI in the SkillSelect pool and you are eligible to be invited under the existing rules, the safest move is to submit promptly once the invitation lands. Transitional arrangements honour existing invitations. What happens to EOIs still sitting in the pool, not yet invited, is the open question. Banking an invitation under today's rules removes that uncertainty.
Working Holiday Maker: wider use of ballots
The budget signals wider use of ballots for the Working Holiday Maker program (subclasses 417 and 462). The stated goals are to manage program numbers, reduce barriers to work, allocate places more fairly, and support national interests.
Ballots already apply to several 462 partner countries where demand significantly outstrips the annual cap. The budget does not name new countries; it signals that the ballot mechanism will be used more widely. The detail of which programs move to a ballot, and when, will sit with the Department's WHM program settings rather than budget night announcements.
Two honest notes for applicants:
If you are from a country whose WHM program is already balloted, your route in is the official Home Affairs ballot. Tern does not submit Working Holiday Maker applications for ballot-status countries (currently India for 462, China for 462, and Vietnam for 462). Once your ballot result is confirmed, you apply directly through Home Affairs. We will not pretend otherwise.
If wider ballot expansion happens during 2026-27, the same constraint hits any newly balloted country. We will update our supported countries list rather than push applications through a system that does not allow them.
If you are from a non-ballot WHM country and your visa is straightforward, the application itself has not changed in this budget. Fees and eligibility rules remain as they were going into the budget.
$85.2 million for faster skills assessments
The budget gives $85.2 million over four years to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to modernise the skills assessment system. Most of that money goes to Trades Recognition Australia. For applicants in trades occupations, this is one of the most directly useful measures in the budget.
The breakdown:
$75.1 million over 4 years for Trades Recognition Australia to deliver a modern skills assessment system, including a pilot for electrician and plumber licensing pathways in partnership with states and territories. This funding is cost-recovered.
$5.6 million over 3 years for TRA to deliver onshore skills assessments for visa holders.
$4.5 million over 4 years for regulatory oversight of Assessing Authorities, including annual Assessing Authority Performance Reports from 2027.
Why this matters for visa applicants: trade occupations applying for the 482, 186, 189, or 190 commonly need a positive skills assessment from TRA before they can be invited or nominated. TRA assessments have historically been one of the slowest steps in the pipeline, and they sit outside the Department of Home Affairs entirely. Faster, more transparent assessments cut a real bottleneck.
The annual performance reports from 2027 are also worth flagging. Assessing Authorities (TRA, VETASSESS, Engineers Australia, CPA Australia, and others) have not previously been subject to a published performance regime. Once reports are published, applicants will have data to compare expected timelines across authorities, rather than guessing from forums.
What does the budget say about Net Overseas Migration?
Net Overseas Migration (NOM) is forecast at 260,000 in 2025-26, falling to 225,000 in 2026-27, then settling around a long-term anchor of 235,000. The budget describes its measures as placing "downward pressure" on NOM.
NOM is a different number from the permanent migration program. It counts everyone who arrives in Australia minus everyone who departs, across temporary and permanent visas combined. Students, working holiday makers, temporary skilled workers, partners on bridging visas, and permanent residents all sit inside the NOM figure.
In plain terms, the budget forecasts a smaller temporary pipeline. That comes from measures it is bringing in or has already brought in: student integrity funding, English-test tightening, salary thresholds rising, ballot expansion, and so on. It is not forecasting cuts to the permanent program, which remains at 185,000.
For an individual applicant, NOM is a macro indicator. It does not change the rules for your visa subclass. What it tells you is the policy direction: the government is forecasting fewer net arrivals, achieved primarily through tighter temporary visa settings rather than headline cuts to permanent residency.
International students and the 295,000 cap
The National Planning Level, which caps new international student starts, has been lifted to 295,000 for 2026, up from 270,000 in 2025. Australian-schooled students, TAFE-pathway students, and pathway-provider students sit outside the cap.
The student measures in this budget are mostly integrity and administrative rather than headline rule changes:
National Planning Level: 295,000 new student starts in 2026 (excluding the categories above).
$19.8 million over 4 years for student visa integrity, applied both onshore and offshore.
University allocation increases are tied to engagement with Southeast Asia and to progress on student accommodation.
Student visa application fees (subclass 500) were not changed in this budget; the live fee remains as it sits in our visa catalog (currently AUD $2,500). The 485 Graduate visa fee doubled earlier this year (effective 1 March 2026) and was not adjusted again in this budget.
A related change worth noting, although it was not made in this budget: nine English-language tests are now approved for student visa applications, expanded from five by the Department of Home Affairs in August 2025. If you previously hit a logistics wall booking your IELTS or PTE in a particular country, the wider provider list is worth checking before you commit to a test date.
Employer sponsorship thresholds rise on 1 July 2026
From 1 July 2026, the Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT) rises from $76,515 to $79,499 (an increase of 3.9%) and the Specialist Skills Income Threshold rises from $141,210 to $146,717. The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT), which the regional 494 continues to use, is not automatically indexed and stays at $76,515 unless the Minister updates it by legislative instrument.
These thresholds matter because they set the minimum salary a sponsor must offer to nominate a candidate. The CSIT applies to the 482 Core Skills stream and to the 186 Employer Nomination Scheme. The Specialist Skills threshold applies to the 482 Specialist Skills stream. TSMIT continues to apply to the 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa.
In practical terms:
A 482 Core Skills nomination submitted on or after 1 July 2026 must meet the $79,499 threshold. A nomination submitted before 1 July uses the existing $76,515 threshold.
A 482 Specialist Skills nomination submitted on or after 1 July 2026 must meet $146,717.
A 494 regional nomination continues to use $76,515 unless the Minister signs a separate instrument to update TSMIT. With CSIT rising and TSMIT held flat, the regional pathway becomes meaningfully cheaper for sponsors to access, in salary terms, relative to the 482.
The threshold that applies is set by the submission date. Sponsors sitting close to the line should plan their timing over the next two months.
Tern Tip
If you are a sponsor or candidate with a 482 Core Skills nomination sitting close to the current $76,515 threshold, submitting before 1 July 2026 locks in that figure. From 1 July onwards, the nomination has to meet $79,499. Same logic for Specialist Skills. This is one of the few hard deadlines in the budget.
Migrant worker protections, refugees, and English support
Three smaller measures are worth covering briefly.
Migrant worker protections, $27.0 million over 2 years. Funded under the Department of Home Affairs. It teaches migrants about workplace safeguards, their rights, and migration-law compliance. The money funds worker protection, not visa processing. It still signals the government has workplace exploitation in its sights.
Refugee, humanitarian and settlement. The total Refugee, Humanitarian and Settlement Migration envelope sits at $832.2 million in 2026-27, down slightly from $862.2 million in 2025-26. The Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) receives $3.5 million over 3 years, with $1.2 million ongoing per year thereafter, to embed the program as a continuing pathway.
Adult Migrant English Program successor. The budget confirms a new, more flexible English language program for "those most in need", launching in 2029. The budget papers do not surface a 2026-27 funding figure for it, so we won't invent one.
What about partner visas?
Partner visas (820/801 onshore and 309/100 offshore) did not get a dedicated line item in this budget. The most relevant change is structural: the 70% onshore allocation across the permanent program indirectly supports onshore partner applicants over offshore ones in processing terms.
If you are weighing onshore vs offshore, the budget reinforces what was already true: the program structure favours processing onshore partner files. But that choice has always come down to where you can live during the wait, your visa status, work rights, and evidence access. Program ratios are a minor input. Read our ultimate guide to the partner visa for the decision framework, and our after-you-submit guide for what to do during the wait under the April 2026 Department update.
What did not change in the budget: partner visa application fees, the evidence categories the Department assesses, the two-year permanent stage process, or the genuine and continuing relationship test. Those are program rules. Program size is a separate lever.
Did the 2026-27 Budget change visa application fees?
Should I apply for a 189 invitation now or wait for the new points test?
Is my Working Holiday visa going to be balloted?
Will my 482 to 186 transition be affected by the onshore prioritisation?
When do the new employer salary thresholds take effect?
What does 'downward pressure on net overseas migration' actually mean for my application?
Does the 2026-27 Budget change visa processing times?
Where can I read the official budget papers?
The 2026-27 Budget is more about direction than disruption. The program ceiling is unchanged, application fees are unchanged, and the day-to-day rules for most visa subclasses are unchanged tonight. What did change is the structural signal: more onshore, fewer offshore, a points test redesign coming, ballot expansion in Working Holiday, and a real funding commitment to faster skills assessments.
If you are weighing which pathway fits your situation, the budget reinforces decisions you may already have been making. Onshore over offshore where you have a real choice. Submitting under the current points test if you are already invitation-eligible. Locking in a 482 nomination before 1 July if you are close to the salary threshold. None of these are new ideas. The budget just makes them the clearer path of least resistance.
To explore options that fit your circumstances, start with our partner visa guide, our Working Holiday visa guide, or our employer-sponsored visa guide. If you already know where you are heading, you can begin an application directly from those pages.
Source: 2026-27 Budget Paper No. 2 (Budget Measures), Treasurer's Budget Speech, and Department of Home Affairs migration program statements, 12 May 2026.
