Carer visa processing time: the queue, the cap and your likely year

Carer visa processing time is about 12 years from lodgement, on the Department of Home Affairs estimate for a new application.

As at 31 May 2026 the Department had released Carer applications with a queue date up to 31 December 2023. The carer and the relative who needs care wait together in one capped Other Family queue, which they share with the Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative visas.

How long does a Carer visa take?

A Carer visa takes about 12 years from lodgement to decision for an application lodged now. That is the Department's estimate for new Carer applications, published on its Other Family visas queue page.

• How the Department sets it: "based on the current number of places available per year".
• How often it changes: it is updated "generally … on a yearly basis at the end of each program year".
• What the Department will not give: exact processing timeframes for Other Family visas.
• Subclasses: the estimate is the same for the subclass 116 and the subclass 836.

The published figures measure two different things. The release point, 31 December 2023 as at 31 May 2026, sits about 2 years and 5 months behind, but in queue-date terms. The 12-year figure counts from lodgement. The Department does not publish how the two fit together.

When will your Carer visa queue date be released?

Your Carer visa queue date will be released when the Department reaches it in queue-date order. As at 31 May 2026 it had reached queue dates up to 31 December 2023.

The Department writes to the applicant when it releases a queued application. It does not answer individual status enquiries while the application is queued.

Queue date or lodgement date: what is the difference?

Your lodgement date is the day the Department received the application. Your queue date is the day a delegate finds the application meets every criterion assessed before queueing, and it usually falls months or years later.

In practice:

• The 836 carer clears health and character before getting a queue date.
• The 116 carer clears them after release.
• How long the first assessment takes: the Department's Other Family Visa Processing Centre online form gives "an indicative average" of between six months and two years.

How do capping and queueing work?

Capping and queueing work in five steps: lodgement, initial assessment, queue date, release and final processing.

1. Lodgement. The paper Form 47OF goes by post or courier to the processing centre in Perth. The Department acknowledges it in about 5 weeks, and investigates a missing acknowledgement after 3 weeks.
2. Initial assessment. The application is checked against the core criteria, generally in lodgement-date order. An application that fails at this stage is refused in writing.
3. Queue date. The Department gives the queue date in writing. After that it makes no contact until release.
4. Release. Queued applications are released in queue-date order as places become available within the year's cap.
5. Final processing. The Department asks for what it needs, then decides.

How many Other Family places are there each year?

Other Family places have been 500 a year in each program year from 2021–22 to 2025–26. The Carer, Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative visas share those places, and the Carer share is not published.

The 2024–25 Migration Program Report gives these figures for the Other Family category. They include partners and children on the application.

• Decisions in 2024–25: 41.4% of decided applications were granted and 58.6% were refused.
• Where the 500 applicants were: 167 had applied in Australia and 333 outside it.
• The caps: the legal cap was 500 in 2024–25 (LIN 25/018) and 500 in 2025–26 (LIN 26/042).
• Demand against places: in 2024–25, lodgements outnumbered places more than three to one.

What does the 2026–27 cut to 400 places mean for your wait?

The 2026–27 cut to 400 places means 100 fewer Other Family grants in the program year, if the cap follows the planning level. That is 20% fewer places for the same queue.

• The announcement: on 12 May 2026 the Government set the Other Family planning level at 400 for 2026–27, down from 500, according to the Department's planning levels page.
• The reason given: the Department says the Parent and Other Family cuts "accommodate increases to the Partner and Child planning levels".
• Not yet a cap: a planning level is not a legal cap. No 2026–27 cap instrument was on the Federal Register of Legislation as at 24 September 2026. The last two were made on 13 March 2025 and 10 June 2026, late in the years they covered.
• The estimate: the queue page lists "changes in planning levels" among the reasons processing times move. It does not say whether the 12-year estimate, last updated on 9 July 2026, already reflects 400 places.

As plain arithmetic, not a Department estimate: at 400 places a year, the same number of places takes 25% longer to fill than at 500.

Does an 836 leave the queue before a 116?

An 836 does not leave the queue before a 116. Both come out of one Other Family queue in queue-date order under Ministerial Direction 103, and for capped visas Direction 103 prevails over Direction 117's higher ranking for onshore applications.

Direction 117 ranks Family applications made and grantable in Australia above offshore ones. Its section 5(4), however, gives Direction 103 precedence in any conflict. Direction 103 section 9 then orders Other Family applications as ministerial-intervention cases first, followed by "all other applications in queue date order".

The real difference between the two subclasses is when health and character are checked. An applicant for the subclass 836 Carer visa clears them before the queue date. An applicant for the subclass 116 Carer visa clears them after release.

What happens when a Carer visa is released from the queue?

When a Carer visa is released from the queue, the Department writes to the applicant and asks for what it needs to decide the application.

1. The release letter arrives in writing.
2. Updated documents are requested, including police certificates.
3. Character checks and a visa medical follow, with a HAP ID for booking.
4. The criteria are tested again. The applicant must still be "a carer of" the Australian relative (clauses 836.221 and 116.221 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)), and the sponsorship must still be "in force" (clauses 836.227 and 116.222).
5. The second instalment is invoiced once every other requirement is met. It is A$2,065 per person. The Department reduces it to nil only for the carer, and only where paying would cause severe financial hardship.
6. The decision comes in writing. The 836 carer must be in Australia at that point, and the 116 carer outside Australia.

Direction 103 section 12 lets delegates set a time frame for outstanding requirements. A requirement missed in that time can leave the application "again … affected by section 86", which means it waits for the next year's cap.

What do families report about the Carer visa queue?

Families report about 26 to 33 months from lodgement to a queue date in public posts. These figures are anecdotal, not a Department figure.

Is a 12-year wait still worth it?

A 12-year wait is worth it only if the need for care, the sponsorship and the family's plans hold until the decision, because the law tests the carer criterion again on that day.

What waits at the end:

• Permanent residence for the carer.
• Carer Payment and Carer Allowance without the usual newly arrived resident's waiting period (Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) ss 201AA(5) and 966(3)).
• A path to citizenship.

What the wait costs:

• The first instalment of A$2,720 for a main applicant lodging from 1 July 2026, which is not refunded on refusal.
• Years of uncertainty. The 836 carer spends them on a bridging visa, and the 116 carer waits outside Australia.
• The risk of refusal. The 58.6% refusal rate covers all Other Family decisions in 2024–25, not carers alone.

This guide's reading: the queue suits a need that is likely to last longer than a decade better than one that may end sooner. That is a question each family weighs for the relative who needs care.

Can you complain about the Carer visa wait?

You can complain about the Carer visa wait, first to the Department's Global Feedback Unit and then to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. A complaint cannot move a capped queue.

• What the Department promises. Through its complaints, compliments and suggestions form, the Department aims to acknowledge a complaint within 2 working days (5 by post) and respond within 15 working days.
• Why a waiting-time complaint goes nowhere. A visa complaint made while the application is "inside average processing times" gets no "tailored response beyond the contents provided on the Average Processing Times page".
• If the answer does not satisfy you, ask for an internal review, or call the Commonwealth Ombudsman on 1300 362 072.
• What the Ombudsman needs. On its visa and citizenship complaints page, the Ombudsman asks you to complain to Home Affairs first and keep the reference number. It says it "generally will not investigate complaints about visa processing times".

A complaint is useful for problems that are not the queue itself, such as a missing acknowledgement after 3 weeks or documents the Department says it never received.

Which guides cover life in the Carer visa queue?

Four guides cover what happens between the queue date and release.

1. Processing order. The page on Ministerial Direction 117 sets out what the new processing order changes and what it leaves alone.
2. A death or a changed need. The page on what happens if the person you care for dies, moves into residential care or recovers explains the criterion tested at decision.
3. Other changes. New addresses, passports, marriages and babies are covered in changes while a Carer visa is queued.
4. Stopping. Refunds and the bridging-visa clock are explained in withdrawing a Carer visa application.

What else matters while you wait for a Carer visa?

Three things matter while you wait for a Carer visa: the money still to pay, a complete file, and help at release.

1. Money still to pay. The second instalment and the other costs at release are set out under Carer visa cost.
2. A complete file. A complete lodgement is the one step that shortens the time before the queue date, so check how to apply for a Carer visa before posting the forms.
3. Help at release. When a release letter arrives, a migration agent for a Carer visa is one option, and a family can describe its case through the Carer visa enquiry form.

The whole guide starts at Carer Visa Australia.

Read next

Ministerial Direction 117 and the Carer visa: what it changes and what it does notDirection 117 ranks onshore applications first, but the Carer queue still moves by date. Telling the Department about changes while a Carer visa is queuedReport a new address, passport or family change in writing while you wait. How much does a Carer visa cost? Charges, second instalment and a worked totalTwo instalments, a waiver for hardship, and every other cost added up. Subclass 836 Carer visa: applying and waiting in AustraliaThe 836 lets you apply in Australia and stay lawful while you wait.