186 Visa Processing Time: How Long the TRT Step Takes for 482 Visa Holders

The 186 visa processing time in the Temporary Residence Transition stream is 14 months for 50% of recently decided applications and 22 months for 90%, in the Home Affairs global visa processing times published 24 September 2026. Home Affairs now decides 186 applications in the order set by Ministerial Direction 122, in effect from 19 September 2026, and was processing applications lodged in February 2025 from people who were in Australia when they lodged. A 482 holder who lodges the 186 in Australia while the 482 is still valid usually receives a Bridging visa A, which takes effect when the 482 ends and keeps the holder lawful while the application waits.

How long does a 186 visa take now?

A 186 TRT application takes 14 months to 22 months on the published figures: half of recently decided applications were decided within 14 months, and nine in ten within 22 months. The figures below are those the global visa processing times tool showed on 24 September 2026:

What do the 50% and 90% figures mean?

The 50% figure is the time within which half of recently decided applications were decided, and the 90% figure is the time within which nine in ten were. They describe past decisions, not a promise: the Home Affairs TRT page calls the tool “a guide only and not specific to your application”. The tool also notes that Home Affairs is “receiving a high volume of applications” in the 186 group, and the 186 page warns that published times may temporarily move backwards while applications are reprioritised under the new Direction.

Nomination time and visa time

Home Affairs publishes one processing figure for each 186 stream and no separate figure for 186 nominations, so the nomination’s own time is not published. The nomination must be approved before the visa is granted (Schedule 2 clause 186.223(2) of the Migration Regulations 1994), and the visa application must be made no more than 6 months after the approval (clause 186.223(5)).

Home Affairs cannot link a new nomination to an existing visa application, according to its TRT page. A replacement nomination therefore means withdrawing the first visa application and lodging a new one, with a new lodgement date. The criteria both applications must meet are on the 186 TRT visa page.

Which applications go first?

Ministerial Direction 122 sets four priority tiers for the 186, as listed on the Home Affairs skilled visa processing priorities page:

1. Applications relating to the construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing and resources sectors, or to Australia’s law enforcement and defence interests.
2. Applications from applicants who were in Australia when they lodged.
3. Applications from primary applicants who were outside Australia when they lodged and whose application is not combined with another person’s at any time.
4. All other applications.

Ministerial Directions 121 and 122 replaced Ministerial Direction 119 on 19 September 2026. Direction 122 has no Specialist Skills tier: that tier exists only for the 482, under Direction 121. The 186 page showed these lodgement months in progress:

A 482 holder who lodges the 186 in Australia is in tier 2 unless the application relates to a tier-1 sector.

What slows a 186 application down?

The Home Affairs TRT page names three causes of longer processing:

1. The application is not filled in correctly.
2. Documents are missing, or Home Affairs needs more information.
3. Home Affairs takes time to verify the information.

No one can shorten the MD 122 queue, but an immigration lawyer who lodges a decision-ready nomination and visa avoids the requests for more information that Home Affairs says lengthen processing, and plans the 482’s expiry and the bridging visa around a wait of 14 months to 22 months, which makes a smooth grant more likely.

What stops a 186 application altogether?

Four events stop the grant rather than delay it (TRT page):

1. The nomination is withdrawn.
2. The position is no longer available.
3. Home Affairs knows of adverse information about the nominator, or a person associated with it, that it is not reasonable to disregard.
4. The business restructured into a new ABN or ACN and the worker’s temporary sponsorship was not updated to the new entity before the nomination was lodged.

A replacement nomination cannot be linked to the existing visa application: where a new nomination is lodged, a new visa application has to follow it.

How does it compare with the 482 queue?

The 482 and the 186 sit in different queues under different Directions:

The nomination, sponsorship and visa figures for the temporary visa are on the subclass 482 processing time page.

Where the processing time fits in the 482 to 186 move

The count of full-time sponsored employment (2 years in the last 3) comes first, then the nomination and the visa application, then this wait. Lodging in Australia while the 482 is valid brings a Bridging visa A that takes effect when the 482 ends (Home Affairs Bridging visa A page), and time on that bridging visa still counts toward the TRT visa-held test (clause 186.226(1)(d)). The full sequence is on the 482 to 186 page.