The Department of Home Affairs have released the migration program planning levels for the 2022/23 financial year. Due to the ongoing shortage of skilled workers in Australia, there has been a substantial increase in the numbers of visas that can be granted across numerous skilled visa categories.

The increased numbers are across the permanent employer sponsored, skilled independent, regional, distinguished talent and state/territory nominated visas.

The 2022-23 program will return to a pre-COVID make up of approximately two thirds of places to go to skilled visas and one third for family stream visas.

Within the skilled streams, the focus will be on:

• Regional visas. The number of visas available has more than doubled from the 2021-22 planning levels
• Places for State and Territory nominated visa categories have also significantly increased from 2021-22 planning levels. This allows the individual states/territories to respond to their own unique requirements
• Skilled Independent visas. In the last two weeks we have seen a large increase in the number of people being invited to apply for these visas following their Expression of Interest.

Should there be a need to re-evaluate the numbers of visas available in each of the skilled categories, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs can redistribute places to respond to changing economic conditions as they occur.

Within the family stream visas, Partner and Child visas will be demand driven, meaning that they are not subject to capped numbers. The Department of Home Affairs provides the following estimates for these visas in the 2022/23 financial year:

• 40,500 Partner visas are anticipated, noting this estimate is not subject to a ceiling.
• 3,000 Child visas are anticipated, noting this category is not subject to a ceiling.

Want to know more information on the visa planning levels for 2022/23?

Contact our team of immigration lawyers and registered migration agents to discuss your migration options. Our team have assisted employees and employers through the Australian visa application process and can assist you.