A few months after the government announced its intention to reduce migration numbers, we have observed noticeable delays across various visa categories due to shifts in government policies. Here’s a summary of the current landscape:
TSS Work Visas: Officially the Government has updated its processing times to:
- 50% are processed in 23 days
- 90% are processed in 3 months
In practice, we are seeing variations from a few days to a month and even longer (even for accredited sponsors). The Department is very clear that no escalation requests even in urgent matters are to be considered if within the above published processing times. Any escalation requests are seen as clogging the system.
Permanent Residence: Very limited permanent residence visa grants. Whilst business nominations are being approved, visa grants are being delayed until post 1 July because of the Department’s annual quotas which will reset in the new financial year.
400 Visas: These are processed by the offshore Embassy/High Commission and processing is inconsistent depending on the location of the processing office. We are not seeing a change in processing times which continue to vary from a few days to weeks.
Medical examination delays: Ongoing delays in obtaining bookings for medical examinations in Australia leading to delays with grants. Visas cannot be granted until medicals are done.
It is more important than ever to lodge applications as soon as possible to manage business expectations noting the 1 July likely increase of fees and changes to the TSMIT as per our previous update.
As we lead up to the Australian Federal Budget next week we will keep our clients updated with further developments.
