Ministerial Direction 117 sets the order in which Home Affairs processes family visa applications. Since 25 July 2026 it has put applications lodged in Australia, for a visa that can be granted in Australia, ahead of every application lodged from overseas. Inside each of those two groups, partner and dependent child applications still sit near the top, behind only ministerial intervention cases.
Status as at 2 October 2026: Direction 117 is in force and has been since 25 July 2026. The visitor visa “No Further Stay” change discussed further down was announced on 17 September 2026 and is not yet law, with no start date.
For a couple waiting on an offshore partner visa, that is the part that stings. The application has not been refused or paused. It now sits in the lower of two groups. The signed text of Direction 117 is short, and the detail matters, so we go through it below.
What Direction 117 is, and when it started
A ministerial direction is a written instruction the Minister gives to departmental decision makers under section 499 of the Migration Act 1958. Delegates must follow it. Direction 117 is about order only. It does not change who is eligible for a family visa or the evidence needed to obtain a grant.
Tony Burke signed Direction 117 on 24 July 2026, and it “commences on the day after it is signed”, so it took effect on 25 July 2026. It revoked Direction 102, which was dated 9 February 2023. The Department’s news item of 29 July 2026 said three new directions came into effect on 25 July 2026 “to support the Government’s policy to prioritise applications from onshore migrants across the Skilled and Family programs and reduce Net Overseas Migration”.
Two points in the text catch people out:
- It applies to family visa applications “made, but not finally determined, before the commencement of this Direction”. An application lodged in 2024 is covered just like one lodged last week.
- It “does not apply to the ART”, the Administrative Review Tribunal. It also does not apply where “it is readily apparent that the criteria for the grant of the visa would not be satisfied”.
The full priority order under Direction 117
The direction works in two layers. The first layer is location. Section 8(2) creates two groups, and applications in the first group have “higher priority” than applications in the second:
(a) Family visa applications where: (i) the applicant is a primary applicant who is in Australia at the time of application; and (ii) the visa can be granted when the applicant is in Australia;
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(b) Family visa applications where the applicant is a primary applicant who either is outside Australia at the time of application or must be outside Australia at the time of grant
The second layer is the “Visa Processing Order”, which applies inside each group, from highest to lowest:
| Step | Applications covered |
|---|---|
| 1 | Applicants for whom the Minister has substituted a decision of the ART (or an earlier tribunal) under sections 351 and 417 of the Act, in the order those powers were exercised |
| 2 | The “spouse, de facto partner, prospective spouse or dependent child of a sponsor (or proposed sponsor)” |
| 3 | An orphan relative of the sponsor |
| 4 | Contributory Parent and Contributory Aged Parent visas, both temporary and permanent |
| 5 | Carers |
| 6 | Parent and Aged Parent visas, and applications by “a remaining relative or an aged dependent relative” |
So the full sequence runs through all six steps for the onshore group, then all six steps again for the offshore group. Family members applying as secondary applicants take the same priority as the primary applicant, whether or not their application is combined with it.
The Department’s family visa processing priorities page describes it the same way: “Lower priority is given to Family visa applications where the primary applicant either is outside Australia at the time of application or must be outside Australia at the time of grant.”
Which visas sit in each step
Direction 117 defines “Family Visas” as 16 visa classes. Matching those classes to Schedule 1 of the Migration Regulations 1994, they cover subclasses 100, 101, 102, 103, 114, 115, 116, 117, 143, 173, 300, 309, 445, 801, 802, 804, 820, 835, 836, 837, 838, 864 and 884.
| Step in the Visa Processing Order | Subclasses |
|---|---|
| Partner, prospective spouse or “dependent child” | 820/801, 309/100, 300, 101, 802 (where sponsored) |
| Orphan relative | 117, 837 |
| Contributory parent | 143, 173, 864, 884 |
| Carer | 116, 836 |
| Parent, aged parent, remaining relative, “aged dependent relative” | 103, 804, 114, 115, 835, 838 |
The direction also covers the 102 Adoption and 445 Dependent Child visas. Where they fall depends on the basis of the particular application, so we have left them out of the table.
One visa people often ask about is missing. The Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa is not one of the 16 classes, so Direction 117 does not set its order.
Which group an application falls into turns on where the primary applicant is when applying, and where the visa can be granted. For several family visas, the Regulations settle both. The 820 must be lodged in Australia, and the 802, 804 and 864 must be too. The 309, 300 and 101 must be lodged from outside Australia, which puts them in the offshore group from day one.
What changed from Direction 102
The six steps did not change. The Department’s family priorities page, as archived in March 2026, listed the same order under Direction 102, starting with ministerial intervention cases and ending with parents and other relatives.
What is new is the location layer on top. Under Direction 102 an offshore partner application and an onshore partner application sat in the same step. Under Direction 117, every onshore family application comes first.
On exceptions, the Department described the Direction 102 test as “compassionate and compelling circumstances”. Direction 117 says a delegate is to depart from the order if the applicant has satisfied the delegate that “the application involves special circumstances of a compassionate nature” and “there are compelling reasons to depart from the order of priority”.
Current partner and family visa processing times
As at 2 October 2026, the Department’s visa processing times guide shows the following. The figures were last updated on 29 September 2026.
| Visa | 50% processed in | 90% processed in |
|---|---|---|
| Partner (Provisional) Subclass 309 | 21 months | 32 months |
| Partner Subclass 100 (see note) | 9 months | 21 months |
| Partner Subclass 820 | 22 months | 30 months |
| Partner Subclass 801 (see note) | 8 months | 19 months |
| Prospective Marriage Subclass 300 | 14 months | 26 months |
| Child Subclass 101 | 24 months | 33 months |
| Child Subclass 802 | 21 months | 31 months |
Note: for the permanent 100 and 801, the Department says the processing time “starts from the date of eligibility”, which “is 2 years after you applied for the temporary and permanent Partner visas”.
These numbers look backwards. The guide says the estimate “is based on how long it has taken to process recently decided applications”. So they do not yet show how the new order will affect an application lodged now, and on the current figures the onshore 820 is not faster than the offshore 309 at the median.
For the 309 and the 300, the guide adds: “The Department continues to prioritise aged, and compassionate and compelling applications. This is reflected in current processing times.”
What it means for offshore partner, prospective marriage and child applicants
Offshore partner visas (309/100). The test for the lower group is where the primary applicant was “at the time of application”. A 309 must be lodged from outside Australia, so it sits in the offshore group, and a later trip to Australia does not move it. Within that group it is still in step 2, ahead of offshore parent, carer and other family applications. Our offshore partner visa guide covers the visa itself.
The Department’s Migration Program planning levels set 41,500 Partner places for 2026-27, and note that Partner and Child visas “are demand driven, with indicative planning levels only”.
Prospective marriage (300). The 300 is lodged offshore too, so it follows the same path as the 309: offshore group, step 2. If you are weighing a 300 against marrying first and lodging a 309, both now sit in the same place in the queue. Our Subclass 300 guide explains how the two differ.
Child visas (101 and 802). A child applying from overseas on a 101 is in the offshore group, while a child in Australia applying for an 802 is in the onshore group. Both are in step 2 where the child has a sponsor, which the 101 always requires. Our child visa guide covers which one fits.
Priority outside the order is possible, but the test has two parts. Direction 117 requires both compassionate circumstances and compelling reasons, and the Department says decisions to prioritise are made “on a case-by-case basis after considering the individual circumstances of the case”. For partner applications, it points to its Partner visa FAQs for how a request is made.
Parents: Direction 117 and the queue
On paper, every onshore family application outranks every offshore one, including an onshore Aged Parent (Subclass 804) application against an offshore partner application. In practice, parent visas run on a different timetable.
Parent, Contributory Parent and Other Family visas are subject to capping and queueing, and a separate direction, Direction 103, sets their order. Direction 117 says the two “are intended to work together”, and that “to the extent that there is any conflict between the Directions, Direction 103 … will take precedence over this Direction”.
The Department’s parent visa queue page gives its estimate for a new application as 18 years for Contributory Parent visas and 42 years for Parent and Aged Parent visas. As at 31 August 2026, it had released Contributory Parent applications with a queue date up to November 2018 for final processing.
Direction 117 keeps contributory parents (step 4) ahead of non-contributory parents (step 6). Our Contributory Parent visa guide covers what the contributory route costs.
The 2026-27 Migration Program behind it
The Department has tied Direction 117 to the Government’s onshore policy, and that policy was set in the Budget. In Budget Paper No. 2 the Government set the 2026-27 permanent Migration Program at 185,000 places, said it would “prioritise applications from onshore migrants” across the Skill and Family streams, and allocated 129,590 places to migrants already living in Australia, plus 300 for Special Eligibility. The remaining 55,110 offshore places, it said, “will predominately be allocated to high-skilled migrants”.
For family applicants overseas, that is the policy context for the lower priority.
The announced visitor visa change, and how it sits with Direction 117
On 17 September 2026 the Government announced it would introduce “a No Further Stay condition to all visitor visas to ensure they are only used by genuine visitors and not as a pathway to extending a stay in Australia”. This is an announcement only. As at 2 October 2026 we could find no instrument on the Federal Register of Legislation, there is no start date, and the Department’s visitor visa page does not mention it.
In his National Press Club speech, the Minister said it “will have no impact on anybody who is already here because this is about the issuing of future visas”. He also said that “while someone is waiting for a spouse visa to come through, their partner will be able to visit Australia on a regular basis”.
The two measures pull in different directions. Direction 117 gives priority to partner applications lodged in Australia. The announced visitor change, if made law in the form described, would make it harder for someone who arrives as a visitor to lodge a partner application in Australia, which points those couples to the offshore 309 that Direction 117 places in the lower group. The announcement does not yet say which condition will be used or whether waivers will be available. Our guide to condition 8503 and how waivers work explains the existing no further stay rules.
Frequently asked questions
When did Ministerial Direction 117 start?
On 25 July 2026. It was signed on 24 July 2026 and commenced the day after signing. It replaced Direction 102 and applies to applications already lodged as well as new ones.
Which family visas get the highest priority?
Applications lodged in Australia, for a visa that can be granted in Australia, come first. Within that group, ministerial intervention cases come first, then applications by a partner, prospective spouse or “dependent child” of the sponsor.
Why is my offshore partner visa taking so long?
As at 2 October 2026 the Department’s guide shows 50% of 309 applications processed in 21 months and 90% in 32 months. Since 25 July 2026, offshore partner applications also sit behind all onshore family applications.
Does visiting Australia move a 309 application up the queue?
No. Direction 117 looks at where the primary applicant was at the time of application. A 309 is lodged from outside Australia, so it stays in the offshore group.
Can I ask for my family visa to be prioritised?
You can ask. A delegate is to depart from the order if satisfied that the application involves special circumstances of a compassionate nature and that there are compelling reasons to depart from it. The Department decides case by case.
Where do parent visas sit under Direction 117?
Contributory parent visas are step 4 and other parent visas step 6, in both groups. Because parent visas are capped and queued, Direction 103 governs the queue and takes precedence where the two directions conflict.
Is the No Further Stay change for visitor visas law yet?
No. It was announced on 17 September 2026. As at 2 October 2026 there is no instrument and no start date, and the Minister said it is about “the issuing of future visas”.
A realistic next step
If your partner or child is applying from overseas, the useful question now is less about the queue and more about whether the application is decision ready when it reaches the front, and whether anything in your circumstances supports a request for priority. Our team advises on partner, child and parent visas, and you can book a consultation with our migration lawyers to look at where your application sits.
About the author: Tina Nematian is the Principal Lawyer at One Planet Migration Law. She is an Australian Legal Practitioner and a Registered Migration Agent (MARN), and has guided clients through partner, skilled, employer-sponsored, student, and humanitarian visa applications across Australia.
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. Figures were current as of October 2026; always check immi.homeaffairs.gov.au before lodging.
