Australia’s permanent Migration Program is capped at 185,000 places for 2025–26, with 132,200 of those reserved for the Skill stream and 52,500 for the Family stream (the rest go to special eligibility and the new Talent and Innovation category). That cap shapes everything below. There are still more PR pathways than most applicants realise, but several once-popular routes have now closed, and several others come with queues measured in years or decades.
If you are weighing up how to get PR in Australia in 2026, the question is not just “am I eligible?”. It is “which pathway is realistic for my profile, my timeline, and my budget?”.
This guide compares nine permanent residency pathways by application fee, processing time, and eligibility, and tells you straight where the route has been closed or restructured. Figures were current at 21 May 2026 and were drawn from the Department of Home Affairs (immi.gov.au). Always verify the live position before lodging, because charges are indexed every July and processing times are updated monthly.
Quick comparison: 9 Australia PR pathways in 2026
The table below sets out the nine main current pathways. Use it as a map, not a checklist. Each pathway has finer eligibility requirements that we unpack in the sections below.
| Subclass | Pathway | Who it suits | Base application fee (primary) | Indicative processing time | Points required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 189 | Skilled Independent | Highly-skilled applicants with no employer or state sponsor | AUD $4,910 | 6 to 12 months median | 65 minimum; competitive scores are higher |
| 190 | Skilled Nominated | Skilled applicants nominated by a state or territory | AUD $4,910 | 8 to 12 months median | 65 minimum; +5 from nomination |
| 491 → 191 | Skilled Work Regional (provisional) leading to permanent | Skilled applicants willing to live and work in regional Australia | AUD $4,910 (491) + low fee for 191 | 11 to 15 months for 491; 191 after 3 years’ regional residence | 65 minimum; +15 from regional nomination |
| 186 | Employer Nomination Scheme | Skilled workers with an Australian employer willing to sponsor permanent | AUD $4,910 | 8 to 12 months median (Direct Entry) | None (no points test) |
| 858 | National Innovation Visa (former Global Talent) | Internationally recognised talent in priority sectors | AUD $4,985 | Variable; priority cases under 6 months | None |
| 100 | Partner (offshore, permanent stage of 309/100) | Partners of Australian citizens, PRs, or eligible NZ citizens applying overseas | AUD $9,365 (single VAC covers 309 and 100) | 12 to 24 months for the 309; 100 follows 2 years later | None |
| 801 | Partner (onshore, permanent stage of 820/801) | Partners of Australian citizens, PRs, or eligible NZ citizens applying in Australia | AUD $9,365 (single VAC covers 820 and 801) | 13 to 21 months for the 820; 801 follows 2 years later | None |
| 143 | Contributory Parent | Parents of Australian citizens or PRs with available funds | First instalment $5,040; second instalment $43,600 per adult | Multi-year wait against capped program places | None |
| 866 | Protection (onshore) | People in Australia who engage Australia’s protection obligations | AUD $50 | Highly variable; can take years | None |
Two more deserve a quick mention but cannot be applied for fresh: Subclass 103 (non-contributory Parent) technically remains open, but the queue is so deep it is closer to a deferred-grant scheme than a pathway. Subclass 187 RSMS Direct Entry stream is closed. BIIP business and investor visas have closed entirely. We cover each below.
What “PR” actually gives you
A permanent residency visa lets you live, work, and study in Australia indefinitely. It also gives access to Medicare, the right to sponsor eligible relatives, and a pathway to Australian citizenship by conferral after you meet residence requirements. PR is not the same as citizenship, and a permanent visa carries a travel facility (currently five years from grant) that you may need to renew via a Resident Return Visa.
The right pathway depends on your circumstances. We sometimes meet clients who have spent thousands chasing the wrong subclass. Before you lodge, get a clear picture from our skilled migration lawyers or family team about which route is realistic for you.
Subclass 189 Skilled Independent: PR without a sponsor
The Subclass 189 is the most independent permanent visa in the system. You do not need an employer, you do not need a state, and you do not need to live anywhere specific. You do need to be invited.
You must:
- Be under 45 at the time of invitation
- Have a positive skills assessment for an occupation on the relevant list
- Meet at least Competent English
- Score at least 65 on the points test (in practice, invitations for many occupations now sit well above 90 points)
The base application charge is AUD $4,910 as of 1 July 2025, and processing times following the March 2026 overhaul have come down for many onshore applicants. The points test itself is also under review, and changes have been canvassed in Australia’s new points test consultation.
The Subclass 189 is high-bar. If your points score is borderline, the more realistic conversation is whether a 190 or 491 sits on your map.
Subclass 190 Skilled Nominated: PR with state backing
The Subclass 190 mirrors the 189 in most ways, but adds state or territory nomination. The nomination gives you an extra five points and unlocks access to a wider occupation list (the Core Skills Occupation List, plus state-specific shortages).
You must:
- Be under 45
- Hold a positive skills assessment
- Meet at least Competent English
- Score at least 65 on the points test (nomination contributes five)
- Be nominated by a state or territory and meet that state’s program criteria
The fee is also AUD $4,910. Each state runs its own selection, occupation list and residency commitments. We’ve seen profiles invited in Tasmania or the ACT that would not have been invited in New South Wales for years. Which state will nominate you depends on your occupation, your residency, your experience, and frankly, timing. See state nomination by state for a working breakdown.
Subclass 491 to 191: the regional pathway
The Subclass 491 is provisional (five years) and converts to permanent residency via the Subclass 191 if you meet the conditions. It carries the highest nomination boost in the points test, an extra 15 points either from state nomination or eligible-relative sponsorship in a designated regional area.
For the 491, you must:
- Be under 45 at invitation
- Have a positive skills assessment
- Meet Competent English
- Be nominated by a state or territory, or sponsored by an eligible relative in a regional area
- Score at least 65 on the points test (including the 15 from nomination or sponsorship)
For the 491 to lead to the 191, you must:
- Live and work in a designated regional area (anywhere except the immediate Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane metro areas) for at least three years as the 491 holder
- Have lodged tax returns showing taxable income at or above the prescribed minimum in three of the five 491 years (the legislative instrument that sets the minimum is tied to the Skills in Demand thresholds, so always verify the current figure on immi.gov.au before applying)
- Continue to hold a 491 visa at the time of 191 lodgement
- Have complied with the conditions on your 491 visa
The Subclass 491 base fee is AUD $4,910. The Subclass 191 carries a much lower charge (in the AUD $500 range). It is the slowest route on paper, but for many applicants it is also the most realistic. We covered the current squeeze in the 491 regional pathway in 2026.
A practical point: the income figure is a minimum floor, not a target. You must be able to evidence it with notice-of-assessment documents from the Australian Taxation Office. Gig work, cash work and seasonal periods can leave gaps that disqualify the year. Verify the current dollar figure on immi.gov.au at the time you lodge.
Subclass 186 ENS: employer-sponsored PR in one step
The Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme lets an Australian employer nominate a skilled worker for direct permanent residency. There are three streams:
- Direct Entry for applicants without prior Australian sponsorship
- Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) for current 482 or 494 holders after a qualifying period
- Labour Agreement for workers under an industry or company labour agreement
You generally must:
- Be under 45 (with limited exemptions, including high-income TRT exemptions)
- Hold a positive skills assessment (Direct Entry stream)
- Meet Competent English
- Have at least three years of relevant work experience (Direct Entry)
- Be paid at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold and the market salary rate
The base fee is AUD $4,910. Direct Entry processing typically takes 8 to 12 months; TRT moves faster for clean files. Employer obligations are heavy, and we’ve seen sponsorship audits intensify under the current compliance settings, as we discussed in employer sponsorship audits in 2026.
If you are a skilled worker with an Australian sponsor, the 186 is usually the most direct route. If you are an employer, our employer-sponsorship lawyers can run the nomination, sponsorship and visa in parallel and reduce the lag between approvals.
A note on the Subclass 187 RSMS: the Direct Entry stream of the 187 closed to new applications at 11.59pm on 15 November 2019. The Temporary Residence Transition stream of the 187 remains open, but only for a defined group of transitional 457 and transitional 482 workers. Most regional sponsored applicants in 2026 should be looking at the 494 to 191 pathway or the 186 directly, not the 187.
Subclass 858 National Innovation Visa: the renamed Global Talent route
The Subclass 858 was rebranded from the Global Talent visa to the National Innovation Visa (NIV) on 6 December 2024. The subclass number stayed the same. The legislative criteria stayed broadly similar but were sharpened around priority sectors.
To qualify, you need an internationally recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievement in an eligible field. Priority sectors include critical technologies, health, renewables and low-emission tech, plus agri-food, defence, space, fin-tech, and infrastructure. You also need a nominator who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident, eligible NZ citizen, or an Australian organisation with a national reputation in your field.
There is no points test. There is no age cap as a hard threshold, although younger applicants must clear a higher bar of demonstrated achievement. The base application charge is AUD $4,985.
This is not a route for “very good” in your field. It is a route for the genuinely top tier. If your CV does not include peer-reviewed citations at the top of your field, senior industry recognition, or globally tracked commercial achievement, the 858 is unlikely to be your pathway. Applications lodged before 6 December 2024 continue to be assessed under the previous Global Talent criteria.
Partner visas: Subclass 100 and Subclass 801
Partner visa applicants typically pay one single combined fee and go through a two-stage process.
Offshore (apply outside Australia): Subclass 309 (provisional) then Subclass 100 (permanent).
Onshore (apply inside Australia): Subclass 820 (temporary) then Subclass 801 (permanent).
The single application charge of AUD $9,365 covers both stages. There is no further VAC for the 100 or the 801 at the second stage in most cases. To be eligible, you must be the spouse, de facto partner, or registered relationship partner of an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen.
The first stage is normally decided after about 13 to 21 months for onshore 820, or 12 to 24 months for offshore 309 (the 90th percentile sits longer). The permanent stage follows roughly two years after the temporary grant, subject to ongoing relationship evidence.
Partner visa applications fail more often than they should, almost always because evidence is thin in one of the four mandatory categories (financial, social, household, commitment to a shared life). If you are starting a partner application, our family migration service can guide you on the evidence each case officer expects to see.
Parent visas: Subclass 143 contributory, Subclass 103 non-contributory
The parent stream has the longest waits and the highest fees in the family program. There are two ways in.
The Subclass 143 Contributory Parent visa is the faster route, but “faster” is a relative word. You pay a first instalment of AUD $5,040, and a substantial second instalment of AUD $43,600 per adult applicant before grant. Wait times have lengthened as program ceilings have been re-set, and applicants typically wait several years.
The Subclass 103 Parent visa is the cheaper alternative on paper, but the queue is the issue. The Department’s published queue release dates show that as at early 2026, applications lodged around 2013 are being released for final processing. For new lodgements today, the realistic outcome is a wait measured in decades.
We say that plainly because the alternative, sugarcoating the queue, costs families money on visas that will not be granted in the applicants’ realistic lifetime. If you have an aged parent who hopes to come to Australia, the conversation often needs to move to the Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa, or to citizenship sponsorship pathways for adult children. We covered the live numbers in our Contributory Parent visa 143 guide.
Subclass 866 Protection: PR for those engaging Australia’s protection obligations
The Subclass 866 is a permanent protection visa for people who are in Australia and who engage Australia’s obligations under the Refugee Convention or under the complementary protection criteria.
The application fee is AUD $50, the lowest in the visa system. Eligibility turns on the merits of the protection claim, not on points or sponsorship. Processing times vary widely and depend on country of origin, evidence, and the case officer’s assessment.
Protection visa work is high stakes and legally complex. Refusals trigger tight review deadlines at the Administrative Review Tribunal, and outcomes depend significantly on how the original claim is documented. Our humanitarian and protection visa team handles claims, reviews and onward judicial review work.
Pathways that closed or were restructured
Three pathways still come up in older articles and outdated guides. Each is closed or substantially restructured in 2026.
BIIP (Business Innovation and Investment Program): closed to new applications from 31 July 2024. The Subclass 188 provisional and Subclass 888 permanent visas no longer accept new applicants. Existing lodgements continue to be processed against a reduced annual planning ceiling, and applicants withdrawing on or after 31 July 2024 can claim refunds of the visa application charge.
Subclass 132 Business Talent (Permanent), Significant Business History stream: closed alongside BIIP from 31 July 2024. Most state nomination doors closed in 2021. The strategic replacement at the top end of the system is the Subclass 858 National Innovation Visa.
Subclass 187 RSMS Direct Entry stream: closed to new applications from 15 November 2019. The Temporary Residence Transition stream of the 187 remains open only for transitional 457 and transitional 482 workers, a closing cohort.
If you find guidance still pitching any of the above as a current PR route, treat the rest of that guidance with caution.
How to pick: a decision flow
The right pathway usually falls out of three or four questions. Walk through this in order.
- Do you have an Australian sponsoring employer who will nominate you for permanent residency?
- Yes, and you already hold a Subclass 482 with two years of qualifying work: consider Subclass 186 TRT or 494 to 191 if regional.
- Yes, but you are still offshore or have no prior Australian work: consider Subclass 186 Direct Entry, or move through the 482 to 186 sequence.
- Do you have a partner who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible NZ citizen?
- Yes, applying overseas: Subclass 309 to 100.
- Yes, applying in Australia: Subclass 820 to 801.
- Are you skilled, under 45, and can you reach 65+ points (preferably much higher)?
- Without sponsorship: Subclass 189.
- With state nomination: Subclass 190.
- Open to regional living for three years and meeting the income evidence: Subclass 491 to 191.
- Do you have internationally recognised top-tier achievement in a priority sector and a nominator with a national reputation?
- Subclass 858 National Innovation Visa.
- Is your parent the applicant, and is cost less important than waiting?
- Subclass 143 (faster, expensive) or Subclass 103 (cheaper, multi-decade queue).
- Are you onshore and do you engage Australia’s protection obligations?
- Subclass 866 Protection.
If none of the above fits cleanly, a temporary visa to PR sequence is the more realistic plan. We covered the most common conversions in how temporary visas convert to PR, and the rules on switching between visas inside Australia have tightened, see Australia’s visa hopping ban.
FAQ: Australia permanent residency 2026
What is the cheapest PR pathway in Australia in 2026? The Subclass 866 Protection visa, at AUD $50, is by far the cheapest application charge in the system, but it is only available to those who engage Australia’s protection obligations. Outside protection, the skilled visas (189, 190, 491) sit at AUD $4,910 for the primary applicant; family visas and parent visas carry significantly higher charges. The 491 leading to 191 is the cheapest skilled pathway across the combined two-step process.
Which PR pathway tends to move quickest? Processing times depend on the queue, the case file, and any priority arrangements applied to the subclass at the time of lodgement. For employer-sponsored applicants with a clean file, the Subclass 186 TRT stream often sees many decisions inside 8 months in current Home Affairs bands. The Subclass 189 has been moving steadily following the March 2026 processing changes. The Subclass 858 NIV can be decided more quickly for cases that meet the priority sector criteria. Always check the Global Visa Processing Times page on immi.gov.au before relying on any band.
Can I apply for PR while I am on a bridging visa? You can lodge most PR visas while holding a bridging visa, subject to schedule and stream eligibility, but your bridging visa rights (work, study, travel) and the visa hopping rules now in force from 2026 will affect what you can do practically. We strongly recommend taking advice before making such an application.
Does Australia still have an investor PR visa? Not for new applications. The Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) closed to new applicants on 31 July 2024. The Subclass 858 National Innovation Visa is now the top of the system for high-achievement applicants, but it is talent-led, not investment-led.
How long does PR last? A permanent visa does not expire as a right of residence, but the travel facility that lets you re-enter Australia is currently granted for five years. After that you typically need a Resident Return Visa to return from overseas. PR is also a stepping stone to Australian citizenship by conferral after the residence requirement is met.
Speak to our team before you lodge
The right PR pathway depends on age, occupation, employer, partner status, regional commitment, points, and timing. We’ve seen applicants lodge the wrong subclass, lose the fee, and end up further from PR than when they started. Our team includes Australian Legal Practitioners who are also Registered Migration Agents, which means we can take a refusal through the Administrative Review Tribunal and onward to judicial review if a case goes wrong.
If you are weighing up your options, book a consultation with our migration lawyers and we will map a realistic pathway against your profile before you lodge anything.
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About the author: Tina Nematian is the Principal Lawyer at One Planet Migration Law. She is admitted as an Australian Legal Practitioner, and has guided clients through partner, skilled, employer-sponsored, student, and humanitarian visa applications across Australia.
Visa fees, processing times, points thresholds, and income requirements in this article were current as of 21 May 2026 and sourced from the Department of Home Affairs (Skilled Independent 189, Skilled Nominated 190, Skilled Work Regional 491, Permanent Residence Skilled Regional 191, Employer Nomination Scheme 186, National Innovation Visa 858, Partner offshore 309/100, Partner onshore 820/801, Contributory Parent 143, Protection 866, BIIP closure and refunds, current visa pricing, global visa processing times, and Migration Program planning levels). Charges are indexed each 1 July. Always check immi.gov.au before lodging.
This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or migration advice. Visa rules change frequently and outcomes depend on individual circumstances. Speak with a registered migration lawyer or agent before making any application.
