Some applicants have had to wait up to 41 months for their visas to be approved with the two-year closed border seeing hundreds of thousands of applications put on hold.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously voiced his displeasure at having inherited a very large backlog of applications when his government came into power in May.

Andrew Giles, The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs has outlined preliminary steps to speed up visa processing, including redirecting staff from travel exemption processing and establishing surge capacity for overtime.

“The processing of visas will continue to be a major priority for this Government – but reducing the backlog of applications can’t happen overnight,” he said.

The new capacity for visa processing will focus on key offshore caseloads, temporary skilled, student and v​​isitor visa applications, the government hopes an increase in approved visas will lift some pressure from the Australian economy.

The news comes as migration starts to increase dramatically in Australia, applications received in June 2022 are 6.5% higher than May 2022 and there was a 10.6% increase in finalised applications.

There have been calls for the government to take action over Austrailan visa waiting times from high places, Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott says fast-tracking visas would help bolster the Australian economy in uncertain economic times.

“Let’s remember what labour shortages are doing to inflation,” she told ABC Radio.

“If you can’t get someone to pick your fruit. If you can’t get someone to do the work, that just goes straight into shortages and prices.”

The government plans to tackle the backlog by first processing more than 60,000 permanent visa applications lodged by skilled workers based overseas. There are almost 1 million applications waiting to be processed across several visa categories.

The post Australian Visa Waiting Times: Government Attempts to Reduce Backlog appeared first on Easy Migrate.

According to the Department of Immigration, offshore partner visa applicants will be able to have their visas approved from within Australia from early 2021.

Under previous regulations, offshore applicants had to be physically offshore to recieve their visa, but as international travel became expensive and difficult during the pandemic, this option was unfeasible for many migrants.

The changes mean around 4000 partner visa applicants will not have to fly home to recieve their visa amid the turbulence of pandemic travel.

The Department has indicated that partners whose visas are about to run out will be allowed to stay in the country until the changes are made official in early 2021.

The changes will apply to other visas; child, adoption, dependent child and prospective marriage visas.

Labor MP Julian Hill is not impressed by the Government’s actions saying, “Couples who’ve already wasted tens of thousands of dollars on flights and quarantine are right to be pissed off. They deserve an apology and compensation from the Morrison government.”

Mr Hill said the changes in regulation did not have a clear enough schedule and left many in limbo, “so for months to come, partners still face a risky and expensive round trip overseas just to have their visa granted”.

If would like to know your visa options, schedule a comprehensive visa consultation with an Easy Migrate migration agent on +618 9221 4888.

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The post Overseas Partner Visa Applicants Can Apply from Australia appeared first on Easy Migrate.