Australia's 2025-26 Migration Program: 185,000 Places, Explained
Migratio Editorial · Last updated
TL;DR: Australia's permanent Migration Program is set at 185,000 places for 2025-26 — Skill stream 132,200 (about 71%), Family stream 52,500 (28%), Special Eligibility 300. The 2026-27 ceiling has been held at 185,000. Inside the Skill stream, Employer Sponsored is the largest single allocation at 44,000, ahead of State/Territory Nominated and Skilled Regional (~33,000 each), Skilled Independent (16,900) and Talent and Innovation (4,300).
Most Australians could not tell you, within 50,000, how big the country's permanent migration intake actually is. This article does what the federal Migration Program announcement does badly: explains the headline 185,000 figure for 2025-26 in plain English, breaks down where the places go, compares the structure with prior years, and clarifies the very common confusion between this number and the much larger Net Overseas Migration figure (which includes students and other temporary entrants and is not the same thing as the permanent intake). Figures are from the 2025-26 Federal Budget and the Department of Home Affairs Migration Program announcement; the 2026-27 figures are the published planning levels.
| Where you look | Total places | Skill stream | Family stream | Special Eligibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | 160,000 | ~109,900 | ~50,000 | 100 |
| 2022-23 | 195,000 | ~142,400 | ~52,500 | 100 |
| 2023-24 | 190,000 | ~137,100 | ~52,500 | 400 |
| 2024-25 | 185,000 | 132,200 | 52,500 | 300 |
| 2025-26 (current) | 185,000 | 132,200 | 52,500 | 300 |
| 2026-27 (announced) | 185,000 | TBC | TBC | TBC |
What 'the Migration Program' actually means
The Migration Program is Australia's federally-set ceiling on permanent visas granted in a financial year. It does not include temporary visas (students, working holiday makers, Skills in Demand 482 visa holders), tourists, New Zealand citizens entering on the SCV, or refugee and humanitarian places — those are governed by separate programs and ceilings. The Migration Program covers only the permanent intake: Skill, Family, and the very small Special Eligibility stream. The headline figure most years is what reporters refer to as 'Australia's migration cap', but it is materially smaller than the Net Overseas Migration number — which counts everyone who has lived in Australia for 12 of the previous 16 months whether they hold a permanent visa or not, and which sat at 306,000 for 2024-25 against the 185,000-place permanent ceiling.
The 2025-26 split: Skill 132,200, Family 52,500, Special Eligibility 300
Within the 185,000-place ceiling, the Skill stream accounts for 132,200 places (about 71% of the program), the Family stream 52,500 places (28%), and Special Eligibility 300 places. The ratio has stayed approximately at 70:30 skilled-to-family for several years and was held there explicitly for 2025-26 to preserve continuity for employers and applicants planning multi-year pathways. Within the Skill stream, the largest single allocation is the Employer Sponsored category at 44,000 places (Subclasses 186, 187 and the Skills in Demand 482 transition pathway). Skilled Independent (189) sits at 16,900 places. State/Territory Nominated (190) is allocated around 33,000 places, allocated to the states by the Department of Home Affairs in mid-program. Skilled Regional (491 and 494) carries a similar ~33,000-place allocation. Talent and Innovation — which consolidates the former Distinguished Talent visa, the now-closed Global Talent program and the new National Innovation Visa (Subclass 858, which replaced Global Talent on 7 December 2024) — is 4,300 places.
Family stream: partner visas dominate, parent visas remain capped
Family stream allocations are not split by visa subclass in the same detailed way as Skill stream — the program simply allocates a total of 52,500 places. In practice the Family stream is dominated by partner visas (Subclasses 820/801 onshore and 309/100 offshore), which typically account for the large majority of family-stream grants. Contributory Parent (Subclass 143) and Aged Parent (Subclass 804) visas continue to operate within a separately-managed capped queue — Aged Parent in particular has a Department of Home Affairs-published queue time exceeding 30 years, which means the published 52,500 figure is constrained as much by partner-visa onshore processing capacity and existing parent-visa backlogs as by new program decisions.
How 185,000 compares to recent years
Australia's permanent Migration Program ran at 160,000 places for several years before 2022-23. The Albanese government lifted it to 195,000 places for 2022-23 — the highest planning level on the recent record — explicitly to draw down skilled-stream applications that had built up over COVID. The 2023-24 program was 190,000, the 2024-25 program was 185,000, and 2025-26 has been held at 185,000. The 2026-27 announcement carries the 185,000 ceiling forward with a signalled (but not yet allocated) composition shift toward higher-skilled applicants. These are planning levels, not entitlements — actual visa grants in a year can fall short of the ceiling if processing capacity or applicant supply lags, and have done so in several recent years.
What this does NOT cover
Three things people commonly conflate with the Migration Program are not part of it. Net Overseas Migration (NOM, currently 306,000 for 2024-25 per ABS) is a much broader statistic that counts every person who has lived in Australia for 12 of the previous 16 months — including international students, temporary workers, working holiday makers and other temporary visa holders — and so will always be a larger number than the permanent program. The Humanitarian Program (refugee and humanitarian permanent entrants) is set separately at 20,000 places for 2025-26. New Zealand citizens entering on the Subclass 444 Special Category Visa are not capped at all — they are admitted under the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement. None of those flows are constrained by the Migration Program cap.
How this article was researched
Figures are reconciled from the Department of Home Affairs 2025-26 Migration Program announcement and the 2025-26 and 2026-27 Federal Budget papers, plus the published Department of Home Affairs program planning documents. Subcategory allocations within the Skill stream are from the Department of Home Affairs Migration Program planning tables. State and territory nomination splits are published separately by the Department after mid-year allocations and may shift slightly through the program year. Citation of any figure on this page is welcome with a link to the source documents — Migratio does not own the underlying data, only the consolidation.
Frequently asked questions
How big is Australia's permanent migration program in 2025-26?
185,000 places, the same as 2024-25. Skill stream: 132,200. Family stream: 52,500. Special Eligibility: 300. The Skill-to-Family ratio is roughly 71:28.
Is 185,000 the same as Net Overseas Migration?
No — and this is the most common confusion. The Migration Program is the permanent-visa ceiling. Net Overseas Migration (NOM) is a much broader statistic counting everyone who has lived in Australia for 12 of the previous 16 months regardless of visa type, and includes students, temporary skilled workers and others. NOM for 2024-25 was 306,000 — separate from, and not capped by, the 185,000 permanent ceiling.
Has the 2026-27 cap been announced?
Yes — the 2026-27 program is held at 185,000 places. The Department of Home Affairs has signalled a composition shift within the Skill stream toward higher-skilled applicants but the detailed sub-allocations are published mid-program.
How is the 185,000 number set?
By the Australian Government in the Federal Budget each May, informed by recommendations from the Department of Home Affairs, employer and state-government submissions, and the Treasury's labour market and population projections. The number is a planning ceiling — actual grants in a year may fall short if processing capacity or applicant supply lags.
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