- Ministerial Direction 119 changed visa queue order on July twenty-fifth, twenty twenty-six.
- Offshore priests now sit in the lowest processing tier behind onshore applicants and priority occupations.
- The new order applies to already lodged applications, so pending clergy files do not keep earlier positions.
Ministerial Direction 119 has pushed the Brisbane archdiocese’s international priests to the back of skilled visa processing, with offshore applicants now behind onshore workers and priority occupations.
The queue moved.
The direction was signed on 24 July 2026 and started on 25 July 2026. It replaced the earlier skilled-visa priority model. The ranking now turns on two things: the occupation and whether the applicant was in Australia or outside Australia when lodging.
Offshore law-enforcement and defence cases sit near the front. Nearly everyone else falls behind them.
| Priority tier | Who it covers |
|---|---|
| 1 | onshore law-enforcement or defence occupations |
| 2 | offshore law-enforcement or defence occupations |
| 3 | onshore healthcare, teaching, and construction occupations |
| 4 | all other onshore applications |
| 5 | all other offshore applications |
Priests and other church workers usually do not land in the top occupations. When they apply from overseas, they drop into the lowest processing tier. That puts them behind onshore applicants and behind the occupations the new order lists first.
The delay hits dioceses that depend on clergy from abroad. It is immediate.
The same order also reaches files already lodged but not yet decided. A priest who filed before 25 July 2026 does not keep an earlier queue position.
The new order changes the queue, not the visa rules
The direction changes processing order only. It does not change visa eligibility or approval criteria.
The Department of Home Affairs’ current visa-processing-priorities framework implements the direction. That framework now sends nearly all offshore skilled applications to the back of the line unless they fall into the narrow law-enforcement or defence categories.
The controlling rule is a migration direction made under the Migration Act 1958. It took effect on 25 July 2026.
That date now matters for pending files too. Applications already lodged but not yet decided still move under the new order, and overseas clergy remain exposed to the longest waits.
