Australia: new student visa processing directive to replace Ministerial Direction 111

The Australian government has announced a new Ministerial Direction that will come into effect on November 14, which it says will “strengthen and balance distribution of international students across education providers in regional and metropolitan locations”.

Ministerial Direction 115 will replace Ministerial Direction 111 and will work to support the 2026 National Planning Level (NPL), which sets targets for international student places at Australian universities.

“Throughout 2025 we have seen the positive effect of a managed growth approach across the sector – returning student numbers to a more sustainable level,” said Julian Hill, assistant minister for international education in a statement on November 10.

“Growth has moderated, with student lodgements down by over 26% last year and commencements down on last year by 16%,” he added.

According to Hill, the introduction of the latest Ministerial Direction will continue “to build on the government’s work to maintain the quality, integrity and sustainability of our international education system”.

Under the new processing rules, student visa applications will now be assessed through a three-tier priority system. The new framework links processing times to how education providers are tracking against their indicative allocations of new overseas student commencements (NOSC).

Students applying to providers that are under 80% of their allocation (Priority 1) will have their visas processed fastest, typically within one to four weeks of lodgement.

Those linked to providers between 80 and 115% of their allocation (Priority 2) can expect processing times of around five to eight weeks.

Applications associated with providers that have exceeded 115% (Priority 3) will be processed last, with estimated timeframes of nine to 12 weeks.

The government noted that “these periods are based on 2025 lodgements and processing resources and can change, particularly when lodgements increase, and in peak periods”.

Hill said that “under the new direction, visa processing resources are allocated to support all education providers on an equitable basis” and that higher processing priorities will be “afforded to providers who manage their international student enrolments broadly in accordance with their indicative allocations under the National Planning Level”.

The direction will also promote greater utilisation of allocations to more fairly respond to the needs of small vocational education and training providers
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The assistant minister believes this system will allow for greater “utilisation of allocations to more fairly respond to the needs of small vocational education and training providers”.

As with Ministerial Direction 111, certain visa categories continue to receive priority processing.

Information sessions will be held with education providers in November and December to explain the operation of the MD 115.

Hill first flagged the new directive at the 2025 Australian International Education Conference (AIEC), where his speech focused on the government’s goals of sustainable growth and sector integrity.

Despite progress toward the government’s goal of sustainable growth, Hill told the Canberra audience that more work is needed to improve the “composition, distribution and integrity” of the overall student cohort.

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