MD 121 and MD 122 Explained: Who Gets Processed First for Australian Skilled Visas
News · 2026-09-21 · 3 min read
Here are the facts without the noise. On 19 September 2026, the Department of Home Affairs changed the rules that decide which skilled visa applications for Australia get looked at first. If you have lodged, or plan to lodge, this affects your waiting time.
Two new Ministerial Directions, MD 121 and MD 122, now stand in place of MD 119, the previous priority arrangement. Between them, they reorder the queue for nearly all of the major skilled visa routes.
The bottom line first
- Priority-sector workers should see faster movement than they would have under MD 119.
- Onshore applicants have climbed above most offshore applicants.
- Combined applications lodged from overseas are now at the bottom, so prepare for a longer wait.
Home Affairs ranks applications by government priority. Your place in that ranking, not just the date you lodged, determines how quickly a decision comes.
Which visas fall under each direction
MD 121 deals with temporary skilled visas: the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa and its now-retired forerunner, the Temporary Skill Shortage visa.
MD 122 deals with permanent skilled visas and provisional ones, a much bigger group. It includes the Skilled Independent (189), Skilled Nominated (190) and Employer Nomination Scheme (186) visas, the regional provisional visas 491, 494 and 489, plus the permanent 191 and 887.
Processing order side by side
| Position | MD 121 (temporary) | MD 122 (provisional and permanent) |
|---|---|---|
| First | Priority sectors: Construction, Healthcare, Teaching, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fishing, Resources, and work connected to defence or law enforcement | Priority-sector and national-interest cases (same industries) |
| Second | Specialist Skills stream applicants under the Skills in Demand visa | People who were in Australia at lodgement |
| Third | People who were in Australia when they lodged | Stand-alone applicants who lodged from overseas |
| Fourth | Stand-alone applicants, with no partner or family application attached, who lodged from outside Australia | All other cases |
| Fifth | Everyone else | Not applicable |
Read that table honestly. If your job is outside the priority industries and you are on a combined family application lodged from abroad, you are effectively at the back of the queue under MD 121.
Two older directions are still running
- MD 114: the closed Business Innovation and Investment (188) visa and the Business Talent (132) visa.
- MD 120, effective 25 July 2026: Class BX (858) visas, among them the National Innovation visa and the closed Distinguished Talent and Global Talent programs.
Do not trust any "guaranteed" timeline
Home Affairs' processing time tool is a guide, not a guarantee. It reflects how long recently finalised applications took; it is not a forecast for your file, and it does not review your details. If anyone tells you they can promise a fixed decision date, be careful. Even the official figures only give a general benchmark.
Protect your place in the queue
Priority now depends heavily on how and where you lodge, so a clean, complete application counts for more than before. A wrong detail or a missing document can knock you off a fast track entirely. If you cannot tell where your application will land under these rules, get professional advice before you submit, and confirm that whoever you consult is properly qualified.
Final word: know your sector, know where you will be when you lodge, and keep your paperwork tight. Applicants from Nigeria and every other country who prepare carefully put themselves in the strongest position this system allows.
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