What Are Occupation Ceilings?
Each financial year, the Department of Home Affairs sets an occupation ceiling for every occupation eligible for the subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa. This ceiling caps how many 189 invitations can be issued to applicants in that occupation group during the year.
The ceilings are not publicly published through standard channels. Instead, they were obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request — document fa-260100545. This makes them planning figures rather than official public policy documents.
The Tier System Explained
Starting in FY 2025-26, the Department introduced a four-tier system that determines how many 189 places each occupation receives. The tier directly controls the multiplier applied to calculate the ceiling.
| Tier | Multiplier | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 4.0× | Highest priority — severe national shortage (e.g. nurses, doctors) |
| Tier 2 | 2.0× | High priority — essential services (e.g. teachers, psychologists) |
| Tier 3 | 1.0× | Standard priority — moderate demand (e.g. engineers, construction managers) |
| Tier 4 | 0.5× | Lowest priority — oversupplied (e.g. accountants, software developers, chefs) |
The multiplier is applied to a base figure derived from historical visa stock data. A 4× multiplier for Tier 1 means those occupations get eight times more 189 places than a Tier 4 occupation (0.5×) of equivalent size.
Key Findings
Registered Nurses — Tier 1 13,929 ceiling
By far the largest ceiling of any occupation, with 10,390 places remaining after prior program grants. Nursing is clearly the Department's top 189 priority.
Accountants — Tier 4 1,070 ceiling
With 2,271 prior grants already exceeding the 1,070 ceiling, accountants face a severely constrained 189 pathway. The 0.5× multiplier reflects the Department's view that this occupation is oversupplied.
Software Programmers — Tier 4 912 ceiling
Similarly constrained — 1,102 prior grants already exceed the ceiling. Despite strong private-sector demand, the 189 pathway for ICT professionals is deliberately limited.
General Practitioners — Tier 1 3,623 ceiling
Medical practitioners enjoy the 4× multiplier with 660 places remaining. Health workforce shortages continue to drive generous 189 allocations.
Implications for Applicants
The tier system creates a two-speed 189 pathway. If your occupation is Tier 1 or Tier 2, you benefit from higher ceilings and more available places, which generally translates to faster invitations and lower effective point thresholds.
For Tier 4 occupations like accounting, software development, and IT — where prior grants have already exceeded the ceiling — the 189 pathway is essentially capped for the remainder of the financial year. Applicants in these fields should seriously consider alternative pathways such as state nomination (subclass 190/491) or employer sponsorship.
Tier 3 occupations sit in the middle — standard multipliers mean moderate ceilings, though several (like engineers) have incomplete data in the FOI document, making it harder to assess the exact outlook.
Data Limitations
Not all fields are populated for every occupation in the FOI document. Several Tier 3 and Tier 4 occupations have missing ceiling, average stock, or remaining-189 values. This may reflect occupations where the Department is still finalising internal figures, or where the data was redacted.
These are planning figures — the Department may adjust ceilings mid-year based on actual invitation volumes, policy changes, or shifting labour market conditions. They should be used as a guide, not treated as guarantees.
Explore the full data
View all occupation ceilings in a sortable table with tier badges, remaining places, and multiplier data.
View Occupation Ceilings →