Labor has changed the visa queue and announced a points change for the housing trades. The Coalition proposes a smaller intake with new visas for major projects. Each plan leaves a different question open for residential builders.
Both major parties now say construction comes first in skilled migration. One plan is government policy and partly in force. The other is an opposition proposal that would apply after an election. Each leaves a different question open for residential builders.
The shortage they are responding to has eased across the economy but remains concentrated in the trades. Jobs and Skills Australia’s 2026 Occupation Shortage List, released in October, rated 27 per cent of the 1,021 occupations it assessed as in national shortage, down from 29 per cent in 2025. Technicians and trades workers remain the hardest hit, with 48 per cent in shortage, and the agency says long running shortages are concentrated in construction and engineering trades.
Skilled migration has been the headline answer to that shortage for some time, although, as we found in July, the workers have been slow to arrive. So we put each plan through the same questions. What does it do, what does it leave open, and when could it reach a house site?
What Labor has changed
Ministerial Directions 121 and 122 took effect on 19 September 2026 and set the order in which skilled visa applications are processed, according to the Department of Home Affairs. Construction sits in the top priority group alongside healthcare, teaching, agriculture and resources, for both the temporary Skills in Demand visa and the permanent skilled visas. Under the direction they replaced, construction applicants who lodged from overseas fell into the last group.
Labor has also announced that people skilled in the housing trades will receive the same qualification points as a university graduate in the skilled visa points test. Under the current table, a bachelor degree earns 15 points and a trade qualification 10.
This sits inside a smaller overall intake. The Budget forecast net overseas migration falling to 245,000 this financial year and 225,000 the year after.
What Labor’s plan leaves open
The points change has not been made. As at 10 November, no amendment to the points test had been registered on the Federal Register of Legislation, and no start date has been announced. Which occupations count as housing trades has not been published either, as we reported in September.
The processing change sets the order in which applications are decided. It does not add visa places or change who is eligible. A construction applicant moves up the queue, but the number of skilled visas available is set elsewhere, and the overall intake is falling.
What the Coalition proposes
The Coalition released its plan on 6 October. Its published policy would cut net overseas migration to 100,000 a year for its first two years in government, rising to about 160,000 in year four. The permanent skilled program would stay capped at 185,000 places a year, and the stock of temporary visa holders would fall by around 650,000 over four years.
Within that, it would create 15,000 Skilled Project Visas a year for major projects, with workers tied to a defined project and period. It would establish a strike force to clear the backlog of skilled construction applications, revise the temporary skilled priority list, and open the Specialist Skills stream to up to 5,000 more highly skilled workers a year. Its own table forecasts temporary skilled employment visa holders rising by about 60,400 by 2031 to 32.
The Coalition would also cap migration below the number of homes completed each year, under what it calls its Migration and Housing Pledge.
What is a Skilled Project Visa?
A Skilled Project Visa is a new visa proposed by the Coalition on 6 October 2026. It would allow 15,000 workers a year to come to Australia for major projects, tied to a defined project and period. The Coalition forecasts 45,000 holders by 2031 to 32. The policy does not define a major project. The visa does not exist under current law.
What the Coalition’s plan leaves open
The release does not say what qualifies as a major project, or whether housing developments would count. A residential builder delivering homes one or two at a time on separate blocks is a very different employer from a project with a fixed site and end date. Whether a volume builder’s estate or a staged townhouse development could sponsor workers under it is not yet known.
The extra specialist places sit in a stream that, under current rules, excludes trades workers, machinery operators and drivers, and labourers, according to the Department of Home Affairs. The release does not say whether that exclusion would change. As the stream stands, a bricklayer, carpenter or tiler would continue to come through the Core Skills stream instead.
Each plan leaves a different question open for residential builders.
Neither plan shortens the step between a visa and a licence
A visa is only the first gate. A trades applicant still needs a skills assessment, and state licensing applies before work on a licensed site. The May Budget funded a new trade skills assessment system, which was still being built in September. The Coalition’s release does not set out changes to skills assessment or licensing.
For builders sponsoring workers, the practical timeline includes the visa, the assessment and the state licence. That is part of running a building business that neither plan changes on its own.
Timing depends on who holds government
Labor’s processing priority applies now because it is the government. Its points change will apply once the regulations are made.
The Coalition’s measures would apply only if it wins the next federal election. Its forecast table begins its 100,000 cap in 2028 to 29. It has said it will release costings before that election, and that many changes could be made quickly using existing ministerial powers.
For builders, the choice is between a larger intake with construction moved up the queue and a points change still to come, and a smaller intake with new project and specialist visas whose reach into housing is still to be defined.
Hiring overseas trades for your business? Tell us how the visa process is working on your applications.
Frequently asked questions
From 19 September 2026, Ministerial Directions 121 and 122 put construction occupations in the top processing priority group for temporary and permanent skilled visas. This changes the order of processing, not the number of places. Labor has also announced that housing trades will receive the same points as a university qualification, but as at 10 November 2026 that change had not been made in the regulations.
It is a proposed visa for 15,000 workers a year on major projects, tied to a defined project and period, announced on 6 October 2026. The Coalition has not defined a major project or said whether housing developments would qualify. It would require a Coalition government to introduce.
Not under current rules. The Specialist Skills stream of the Skills in Demand visa excludes trades workers, machinery operators and drivers, and labourers. Trades use the Core Skills stream, which relies on the Core Skills Occupation List.
Labor’s Budget forecasts net overseas migration of 245,000 this financial year and 225,000 the year after. The Coalition would cut it to 100,000 a year for its first two years in government, rising to about 160,000 in year four.
Related articles
- Trade Qualifications Will Earn the Same Visa Points as Degrees, but the Skills Assessment Queue Has Not Moved Yet
- Everyone Says Migration Will Fix the Trades Shortage. Here Is Why Your Site Still Cannot Get a Bricklayer
- Australian Construction Industry Trends Guide
Last updated: 10 November 2026. Policy positions reflect published government instruments and party policy at that date.
General Information Only: The content we publish is provided for general informational and educational purposes. It is not migration, legal or financial advice and should not be relied on as such. Migration settings change frequently. Seek advice from a registered migration agent or lawyer before acting on anything in this article.
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