Australia’s Immigration quota for 2024-2025 has been set at 185,000 places. The Australian government has announced a new migration level plan under the federal budget. It will help the country fill skill shortages in priority sectors and prioritize visa application processing for regional areas.
The “Skilled Independent” and “Global Talent” quotas have been dramatically decreased compared with the previous year. On the other hand, the quota has been increased for the “Regional and State/Territory Nominated” categories.
Australia announces every year migration level plans that reserve places for permanent immigration programs. Under the Federal Budget, on 14 May, the reserved places have been announced. Overall, 71% of places have been announced for the skills stream and 28% for the family stream. The Australian government has also planned that from 2025-2026, the migration level plan will be announced on a four-year basis instead of one.
This year, 5,000 fewer places have been set for the migration level plans compared to the previous year (2023-2024).
Migration Level Plan Distribution 2024-2025
According to the migration plan, the places have been divided as follows:
1- Special Eligibility Stream
Under the special eligibility stream, the reserved place has been announced as 300. This category allows the people in special circumstances such as the returning immigrants holding previously permanent resident status.
2- Skill Stream
A total of 71 percent (132,000) under the skill stream. Australia fills the skills shortage in the labor market through this visa category.
3- Family Stream
Overall, 52,500 places have been reserved for this stream. This helps Australians’ family reunification. The partner and parent visas are also handled under this visa category. It is a demand-driven stream so the 3,000 places have been reserved for the children. On the other hand, for partner visas, 40,500 applications have been estimated. For the parent visa category, 8,500 seats have been allocated.
| Stream | Category | Places (quota) |
| Skill | Employer-Sponsored | 44,000 |
| Skilled Independent | 16,900 | |
| Regional | 33,000 | |
| State/Territory Nominated | 33,000 | |
| Business Innovation & Investment | 1,000 | |
| Global Talent (Independent) | 4,000 | |
| Distinguished Talent | 300 | |
| Skill Total | 132,200 | |
| Family | Partner | 40,500 |
| Parent | 8,500 | |
| Child | 3,000 | |
| Other Family | 500 | |
| Family Total | 52,500 | |
| Special Eligibility | 300 | |
| Total | 185,000 |