Offshore Family Visa Applicants Deprioritised: What the New Ministerial Direction Means

What Has Changed

From 25 July 2026, Ministerial Direction 117 replaced Ministerial Direction 102 as the instrument governing how family-stream visa applications are considered and disposed of under sections 47 and 51 of the Migration Act 1958. The change affects Partner, Parent, Child and Carer visa applications lodged in the family stream.

Under Direction 117, highest priority is given to family visa applications made while the primary applicant is in Australia, where the visa can also be granted onshore. Applications from primary applicants who are offshore at the time of application, or who must be offshore at the time of grant, are given lower priority.

Within these two broad categories, the Direction sets out a specific processing order: applications subject to ministerial intervention first, then partner and dependent child applications, then orphan relative applications, then contributory parent and contributory aged parent applications, then carer applications, and finally parent, aged parent, remaining relative and aged dependant relative applications.

Contributory Parent, Parent, Carer, Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative visa applications remain subject to capping and queuing under a separate instrument, Ministerial Direction 103, which requires processing in queue date order once an application reaches the front of that queue.

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Book a Consultation‍

If you are interested in getting more information about a visa, get in touch with Australian Migration Lawyers for a consultation.

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Why the Government Made This Change

A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson has said the direction supports targeted delivery of the 2026-27 Family Migration Program and reflects a commitment to prioritise applications from onshore migrants, with the stated aim of placing downward pressure on Net Overseas Migration. The Department has stated that processing of parent visa applications has not paused, and that updated estimated processing times for the capped migration programs for 2026-27 will be published in due course.

Parent Visa Places and Wait Times

The family visa program is capped at 52,460 places for the 2026-27 financial year. Of these, only 7,060 places are allocated to parent visas, the lowest allocation in a decade outside the pandemic-affected years.

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Estimated average processing time for parent visas lodged this year had, before the July change, ranged between 15 and 33 years depending on stream. Current reporting places the non-contributory parent visa average at around 33 years and the contributory parent visa average at around 15 years, though these figures may be revised now that onshore applicants are prioritised within the same visa categories.

What This Means for Offshore Applicants

Families with an offshore parent visa application already in the queue are not being removed from that queue, and the Department has confirmed processing has not stopped. However, because onshore applications in the same visa category now take precedence, offshore applicants may experience longer effective wait times than previously estimated, even without any change to their own application.

Migration lawyers have noted uncertainty about the practical scale of the impact, given that the annual number of visas granted in these offshore categories is relatively small in the context of overall net migration figures. Limited exceptions to the priority order exist where an application involves special circumstances of a compassionate nature and there are compelling reasons to depart from the standard order, assessed on a case-by-case basis.

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How We Can Help You

If you or your family have an offshore family visa application affected by this change, understanding where your application sits in the new priority order matters more than ever. Our migration lawyers can review your application, explain what the Ministerial Direction means for your specific circumstances, and help you plan realistically for the road ahead.

We offer a free consultation, available seven days a week, to help you understand your options under the current family visa framework.