The Australian Government is taking action to process more visas faster
The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, directed the Department of Home Affairs to devote more staff to address the current visa backlog issue as it is an urgent priority for the Albanese Government to process the backlog of visa applications.
It is said that the Department is prioritizing the processing of the off-shore caseloads like Temporary Skilled visas, Student visas and Visitor visas, helping more people travel to Australia, contributing to the economic growth, and aiding the labor shortages.
Minister Andrew Giles said the Department is working through several prior cases while observing the volume of the applications increase across various programs. The officers previously focused on travel exemptions have already been redirected to visa processing, with nearly 140 new staff in visa processing roles since May 2022. Further, a surge of capacity to work overtime, drawn from across the Department, and the Australian Border Force, has been specified.
Minister Giles said, “The number of applications received in June 2022 is 6.5% higher than May 2022 – over the same period, there was a 10.6% increase in applications finalized”.
The 745,000 visa applications finalized since the beginning of June 2022 include over 645,000 off-shore visa applications, of which there are 388,000 visitor visas, 62,000 student visas, and 9,550 temporary skilled visas.
He also said, “The processing of visas will continue to be a major priority for this Government – but reducing the backlog of applications can’t happen overnight.”
“The Albanese Government is determined to reduce the backlog and restore the importance of the immigration function of our Government.” Minister Giles said.
Source: Government taking action to process more visas faster (homeaffairs.gov.au)