Employer Sponsored Regional 494 processing priorities
We prioritise visa applications for the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) (SESR) (subclass 494) visa under Ministerial Direction 122.
494 Labour Agreement visa processing time, November 2026
Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional), Labour Agreement: 50% decided within 86 days, 90% within 388 days. Department of Home Affairs processing time figures.
50% decided within means half of the applications decided in the latest reporting period took this many days or fewer, counted from lodgement to decision. The 90% figure works the same way. Applications still waiting are not counted.
Stream codes: DE = Direct Entry, TRT = Transition, AGR = Agreement, PT = Points-Tested, CS = Core Skills, ST = State/Territory, HE = Higher Education, ES = Employer Sponsored.
Where it comes from: the Department of Home Affairs global visa processing times tool. We copy the figures and keep the history.
Dates: latest official update 9 Nov 2026, checked by us 14 Nov 2026. Each visa shows its own official date.
Stream codes: DE = Direct Entry, TRT = Transition, AGR = Agreement, PT = Points-Tested, CS = Core Skills, ST = State/Territory, HE = Higher Education, ES = Employer Sponsored.
Where it comes from: the Department of Home Affairs global visa processing times tool. We copy the figures and keep the history.
Dates: latest official update 9 Nov 2026, checked by us 14 Nov 2026. Each visa shows its own official date.
494 298 days Employer Sponsored 90% 615 45 d longer494 86 days Labour Agreement 90% 388 41 d shorter186 670 days Employer Nomination DE 90% 727 39 d longer189 90 days Skilled Independent PT 90% 288 29 d longer190 240 days Skilled Nominated 90% 482 108 d longer482 174 days Skills in Demand CS 90% 287 43 d longer491 521 days Skilled Regional ST 90% 920 365 d longerSee all visasall 74 streams
Home Affairs is processing 494 visa applications lodged in September 2025
494 Labour Agreement processing time: 50% decided within 86 days, 90% within 388 days.
Official figures dated · Checked by us · Official source · 494 visa page
Stream codes: DE = Direct Entry, TRT = Transition, AGR = Agreement, PT = Points-Tested, CS = Core Skills, ST = State/Territory, HE = Higher Education, ES = Employer Sponsored.
Where it comes from: the Department of Home Affairs global visa processing times tool. We copy the figures and keep the history.
Dates: latest official update 9 Nov 2026, checked by us 14 Nov 2026. Each visa shows its own official date.
Count from the day the visa application was lodged, not the nomination or invitation. Processing group: under Ministerial Direction 122 the Department states a lodgement month for each group: priority sectors (construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, resources, law enforcement and defence), and groups based on where the main applicant was when they lodged.
50% decided within86days41 days shorter than on 29 Sep 2026Lodgement to decision, among applications already decided. Not the time left on yours.
90% decided within388days130 days longer than on 29 Sep 2026Nine in ten decided applications took this long or less.
Now processing, lodged inSep 202514 months before todayOfficial statement, lodged in Australia. First recorded 14 Nov 2026, no change since.
Pressure index, 49447/ 100Moderate, full readings from 14 Nov 2026How the official figures moved. 50 is a flat month.
25%7070 days
50%8686 days
75%1124 months
90%38813 months
Days from lodgement to decision, among applications already decided. 25% means a quarter of them took this many days or fewer. Black marker: your day count.
Priority sectorsDec 25
In AustraliaHome Affairs is hereSep 25
Outside, aloneSep 25
Outside, othersOct 25
Dec 2024today
Filled bar: lodgement months the Department says it has reached. Vertical line: your lodgement month.
Day 440494 Labour Agreement, since 31 August 2025 (example date, enter yours above)
50%: 86 d90%: 388 d
- If the latest figures held, 50% of applications lodged on that date would be decided by 25 Nov 2025 and 90% by 23 Sep 2026 (both dates are already past). This is arithmetic on the official percentiles, not a predicted decision date.
- For applications lodged in Australia, the Department says it is processing applications lodged in September 2025. Your lodgement month is at or before that month.
What this can't tell you
- When your own application will be decided. Nobody outside the Department can see individual cases.
- Whether anything is wrong with an application that has passed a percentile.
- How occupation, nationality or requests for more documents change the wait. The official figures are not split that way.
Cite this page: Visa Processing Time, "494 visa processing time (Labour Agreement)", Department of Home Affairs figures dated 2 November 2026, retrieved 14 November 2026, https://visaprocessingtime.com.au/visa/494/labour-agreement/
494 Processing Pressure Index: 47 out of 100, moderate, November 2026
47out of 100Moderate
- Slower share
- 1 of 2 streams
- Drift
- -7.2% median
- Queue lag
- 13.0 months
All visas 53 Moderate
In plain words: 1 of 2 streams of the 494 visa got slower at the latest official update, the typical change was -7.2% and the lodgement months being processed trail today by 13 months on average. A reading above 50 means the published figures moved towards longer waits; below 50, towards shorter ones.
Calculated from official processing time figures only. It describes how published figures moved, not a prediction, and it is not advice. How the index is built.
Show the formula and today's working
PPI = 100 × (0.35 × slower share + 0.30 × drift + 0.35 × queue lag)
- Slower share: streams whose 50% figure rose since the previous official update, divided by all streams with a figure.
- Drift: median percentage change in the 50% figure, clipped to plus or minus 25% and mapped to 0 to 1.
- Queue lag: average number of months between today and the lodgement month the Department says it is processing, divided by 24 and capped at 1.
Every input is a figure the Department of Home Affairs publishes. Bands: 0 to 39 Low, 40 to 59 Moderate, 60 to 79 Elevated, 80 to 100 High. The index describes how the published figures moved. It says nothing about any single application and it is not advice.
| Component | Score 0 to 1 | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slower share1 of 2 streams have a higher 50% figure than at the previous official update. | 0.50 | 0.35 | 17.5 |
| DriftMedian change in the 50% figure is -7.2%. Minus 25% scores 0, no change scores 0.50, plus 25% scores 1. | 0.36 | 0.30 | 10.7 |
| Queue lagPublished lodgement months are 13.0 months behind today on average. Scale tops out at 24 months. | 0.54 | 0.35 | 19.0 |
| Reading | 47.1 |
494 lodgement months being processed (MD 122)
Priority sectorsDec 202511 months before today
Lodged in AustraliaSep 202514 months before today
Lodged outside Australia, applying aloneSep 202514 months before today
Lodged outside Australia, all othersOct 202513 months before today
Stated on the official 494 page, last changed . Archived daily from .
494 processing time since 29 Sep 2026, 50% mark
| Stream | Was | Now | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer Sponsored | 253 | 298 | 45 days longer |
| Labour Agreement | 127 | 86 | 41 days shorter |
Days. "Was" is each stream's figure before its latest change.
494 processing time then and now, 50% mark
| Stream | First | 1 yr ago | Now | vs 1 yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employer Sponsored | 222 | 216 | 298 | 82 days longer |
| Labour Agreement | 193 | 210 | 86 | 124 days shorter |
Days. First figure on record for Labour Agreement: 9 Jun 2025. Longer means applicants waited longer than a year ago.
Which lodgement months is Home Affairs processing for the 494 visa? September 2025 in Australia, September 2025 at the back
The Department prioritises 494 applications under Ministerial Direction 122 (MD 122), a direction from the Minister on processing order. It works through them in 4 groups and states, for each group, the month of lodgement it is processing (official wording: lodged in that month). This statement sits alongside the 494 processing time percentiles and is published separately.
| Visa | Priority sectors | In Australia | Outside, alone | Outside, others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 186 visaMD 122 | Nov 202512 mo behind | Mar 202520 mo behind | Nov 202424 mo behind | Jul 202428 mo behind |
| 189 visaMD 122 | Oct 20261 mo behind | Jun 20265 mo behind | Dec 202511 mo behind | Dec 202511 mo behind |
| 190 visaMD 122 | Oct 20261 mo behind | Apr 20267 mo behind | Feb 202521 mo behind | Feb 202521 mo behind |
| 191 visaMD 122 | not listed | Mar 20268 mo behind | Mar 20268 mo behind | Jan 202610 mo behind |
| 482 visaMD 121 | Jun 20265 mo behind | Jan 202610 mo behind | Oct 202513 mo behind | Oct 202513 mo behind |
| 491 visaMD 122 | Jun 202517 mo behind | Mar 202520 mo behind | Feb 202521 mo behind | Feb 202521 mo behind |
| 494 visaMD 122 | Dec 202511 mo behind | Sep 202514 mo behind | Sep 202514 mo behind | Oct 202513 mo behind |
494 lodgement month being processed, by group
Recording started 14 Nov 2026. One month on record so far. Dashed boxes are months with no reading yet; each new official statement adds a step.
| 494 group | Processing, lodged in | Recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Priority sectors | Dec 2025 | |
| Lodged in Australia | Sep 2025 | |
| Lodged outside Australia, applying alone | Sep 2025 | |
| Lodged outside Australia, all others | Oct 2025 |
Is the 494 Labour Agreement visa processing time getting faster or slower? 41 days faster since 29 September 2026, 124 days faster than a year ago
As of November 2026, the Department of Home Affairs reports that 50% of Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) (subclass 494) Labour Agreement applications are decided within 86 days and 90% within 388 days. The 50% processing time was 193 days in June 2025.
90% decided within50% decided within
| Recorded | Employer Sponsored 50% / 90% | Labour Agreement 50% / 90% |
|---|---|---|
| 298 / 615 | 86 / 388 | |
| 253 / 365 | 127 / 258 | |
| 135 / 374 | 103 / 326 | |
| 225 / 344 | 203 / 309 | |
| 151 / 339 | 89 / 302 | |
| 213 / 296 | 202 / 322 | |
| 252 / 335 | 233 / 270 | |
| 205 / 325 | 213 / 276 | |
| 225 / 337 | 204 / 303 | |
| 203 / 274 | 196 / 278 | |
| 234 / 367 | 219 / 354 | |
| 216 / 388 | 210 / 367 | |
| 238 / 330 | 210 / 353 | |
| 254 / 403 | 246 / 336 | |
| 212 / 320 | 175 / 238 | |
| 182 / 252 | 203 / 262 | |
| 222 / 282 | 193 / 237 |
Labour Agreement in the chart, all 2 streams in the table, days. 17 changes recorded since 9 June 2025. Figures before November 2026 come from public archives of the official page.
494 pressure index history: latest reading 47
Slower share and drift only, rebuilt from archived figures
The full index needs the lodgement month statements, which we began archiving on 14 November 2026. The dotted line uses the two components that can be rebuilt back to June 2025; it is not the same scale as the full reading.
What did Home Affairs post about the 494 visa? 2 banners, newest 2 November 2026
Banner notices on the Department's visa pages that mention the 494 visa, newest first.
Skilled visa income thresholds
Skilled visa income thresholds are increasing in line with changes to annual Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings.
Source: banners on official Department of Home Affairs visa pages, archived daily since 14 November 2026. 69 banners on file, read 14 November 2026. Titles and first sentences are the Department's own wording. No interpretation added.
What do the 494 processing time figures leave out? 5 things
- They count decided applications only. Cases still waiting are not in the percentiles.
- The figures describe the recent past. They are not a forecast.
- The employer nomination is a separate application with its own processing time.
- The percentiles are not published by occupation, by state, or by whether the applicant was in Australia.
- Only streams the Department lists in its global processing times tool have a figure here.
9 questions about the 494 Labour Agreement visa processing time, answered from November 2026 figures
How long does a 494 visa take to process in 2026?
In November 2026 the Department of Home Affairs reports a 494 visa processing time of 86 days for 50% of Labour Agreement applications and 388 days for 90%. Employer Sponsored is 298 and 615 days.
What is the 494 Labour Agreement processing time right now?
Half of Labour Agreement applications are decided within 86 days, a quarter within 70 days and three quarters within 112 days. These are the official processing time figures dated 2 November 2026.
Is the 494 visa processing time getting faster or slower?
The 50% processing time for Labour Agreement moved from 127 days on 29 September 2026 to 86 days now, 41 days faster. The first figure we have on record is 193 days in June 2025.
Is the 494 processing time counted from the day of lodgement?
Yes. The published processing time runs from the day the visa application was lodged to the day it was decided, and it covers decided applications only.
Which lodgement month is Home Affairs processing for the 494 visa?
The official 494 page lists 4 groups under Ministerial Direction 122: priority sectors, December 2025; applications lodged in Australia, September 2025; applications lodged outside Australia, applying alone, September 2025; applications lodged outside Australia, all others, October 2025. We read this on 14 November 2026.
Is 494 processing time different for onshore and offshore applicants?
The percentile figures are not split by location. The lodgement month the Department says it is processing is split: September 2025 for applications lodged in Australia, September 2025 for the group furthest back.
How often is the 494 visa processing time updated?
The Department usually refreshes its processing time figures once a month. The latest official date for the 494 visa is 2 November 2026. We check the official page every day and record any change with its date.
Does the 494 processing time tell me when my visa will be decided?
No. A processing time describes applications that were already decided. It is not a prediction for any single application and this site does not give migration advice.
What is the Processing Pressure Index for the 494 visa?
A 0 to 100 reading calculated from official figures only: how many 494 streams got slower, by how much, and how far behind today the lodgement month being processed is. The 494 reading is 47 (moderate); across all visas it is 53. The formula is printed on this page.