A quarter of tourist applications take almost a month to complete, although the average visitor visa is being processed in six days.
Josh Murray, director of engineering and construction company Laing O’Rourke, said recruitment was hampered by visa processing time of 15 months and more.
“Inconsistent guidance, combined with a lack of feedback and pace, makes it very difficult for us to hire globally or help our existing people plan for themselves and their families,” he said.
“Prior to COVID, temporary visas were processed for about a week. Now, priority processing has expired in eight weeks.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles this week expressed concern about the state of visa processing in Australia, as a growing number of applications are long overdue or unresolved.
But the March budget, approved by Morrison’s former government, contained a one-third cut in funding for migration-related spending on Home Affairs.
Expenditures are projected to drop to $ 2 billion next fiscal year and to $ 1.7 billion in 2023-24, below $ 2.6 billion in the current fiscal year. Treasurer Jim Chalmers will deliver the first budget to the Albanian government in late October.
Former Immigration Department senior official Abul Rizvi said the approaching budget cut was taking up resources in Home Affairs.
“His focus is not on faster visa processing,” Rizvi told AFR Weekend. “Your approach is how the hell do we manage such a big budget gap?”
Short-term solution
He said it looked like Home Affairs had advanced funding to address current resource issues, but the agency had to pay the price over the next two years.
“Because [the budget cut] lasts two years and then [funding] back up, he suggests to me that what has happened is that the Department of the Interior has borrowed money from the future to spend on … various things, but next year and next year they have to return the money “, Rizvi. Dit.
There are now only 96,000 qualified temporary visa holders in Australia, a third since the start of the pandemic.
Murray, of Laing O’Rourke, said the cost of applying for visas had skyrocketed, putting the attractiveness of international skills beyond the reach of many companies.
“At the same time, candidates are reluctant to accept positions with uncertain deadlines due to the logistics involved: leaving their current projects, selling homes or breaking rental contracts, planning changes at school, or not being willing to deal with to the post-COVID mental burden of a life in visa limbo “.
New Zealand is one of the countries speeding up the visa process for skilled workers in priority occupations, which increases the pressure on Australia.
Sectoral agreements have been created, with a new “green list” of 85 high-competition positions difficult to fill to help hire construction workers, engineers, tradesmen, health and technology specialists.
Visa denial culture
Mr. Rizvi said the explosion in the number of people with bridge visas showed the system was malfunctioning.
Some 367,000 people live in Australia on bridge visas, compared to 180,000 in June 2019.
A Home Office spokesman said the increase in bridge visas since March 2020 was due “to the number of people unable to leave Australia due to the global travel restrictions of COVID-19 which they have applied for new substantive visas to stay in Australia. “
Rizvi said the resources needed to deal with the delay of bridge visas are preventing Home Affairs from dealing with the collection of offshore visa applications. Problems with the department’s culture contributed to the explosion of waiting times.
“A lot of its people have been trained in a way that doesn’t focus on customer service or efficient processing. They are trained to look for reasons to refuse, and this is a culture that has developed over the last few years, “Rizvi said.
“[Migration agents] We are very frustrated by the number of visas that are denied for incredibly petty reasons, and that discourages many business people. “
Dissatisfied department
Home Affairs morale is lower than any other public service agency with more than 1,000 employees. Less than one in two employees said they would recommend Home Affairs as a good place to work.
“A lot of unhappy people with big delays and budget cuts only make more people unhappy,” Rizvi said.
The executive director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Andrew McKellar, said companies reported significant obstacles to getting the skilled workforce they need to operate at full capacity.
“Prolonged processing times, excessive costs, confusing enforcement measures, and mandatory labor market testing are making it very difficult for many employers to hire qualified staff,” McKellar said.
Rizvi said Australia’s temporary skills shortage visa was not internationally competitive.
“When businesses complain, that’s what they’ll have in mind, that the 482 visa is bureaucratically slow and expensive.”
Delaying visas comes at the same time as major delays in processing passport applications. An increase in post-pandemic demand has created delays, with a record 16,417 reported on Tuesday, more than the daily pre-pandemic average of between 7,000 and 9,000.
Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion have been caught in visa backlog. Although they were promised priority treatment, hundreds are waiting to move from bridge visas to special humanitarian status, allowing access to essential services, Medicare and other supports.
Immigration Minister Giles said the coalition had devalued immigration, leading to “a blockage in our visa processing, which is holding us back”.
“Unlike the Liberals, Labor has been listening to stakeholders and we are determined to address backwardness as a real priority.”