Visa delays triple for skilled migrants

The processing time for skilled visas has tripled, fuelling migration pressures and exposing cracks in the Government's immigration strategy. Dr Abul Rizvi reports.

A BLOWOUT IN PROCESSING times for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482 and formerly subclass 457) is being reported by The Australian, with concerns coming from the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) and the Australian Industry Group (AIG).

The average processing time increased from 16 days in the six months to December 2023 to 48 days in the six months to December 2024. This was inevitable for a number of reasons.

According to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA):

'In 2023–24, lodgements by primary visa applicants increased by 36 per cent from 2022–23. The 45,941 lodgements in the first half of the 2024–25 program year, equating to 72 per cent of all lodgements for 2023–24, demonstrates this high level of demand for skilled overseas workers continues.'

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In other words, the application rate was already booming well before the ambitious processing times for the new version of this visa were announced. The current processing times are reaching the levels they were under former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, when he was Minister for Home Affairs and stupidly tried to make it as hard as possible to use this visa.

DHA should never have agreed to the ambitious processing times for this visa without a much larger increase in resources and advice to the Government on the pressure it would put on the permanent migration program and on net migration. The target processing times were never deliverable with the resources DHA had, given the huge and rapidly rising backlog of applications for this and a range of other visas.

The size of the backlog of skilled temporary visa applicants is highlighted by the number of onshore applicants for this visa in the bridging visa backlog, increasing from 3,038 in September 2023 to 24,003 in December 2024.

The strong onshore application rate will continue due to:

the reduction in the requirement for skilled work experience from two years to one year;
a range of other concessions to various industries and regional Australia; and
the massive number of temporary graduates in Australia (over 200,000) seeking to extend their stay.

There is currently a record number of skilled temporary entrants in Australia, rising from 90,737 at the end of 2021 to 204,812 at the end of March 2025. This increase is contrary to the Government’s 2023 Migration Strategy, which seeks to reduce reliance on temporary migrants in favour of permanent migrants.

The record number of skilled temporary entrants is contributing to rising pressure on the permanent employer-sponsored visa. While places for that visa were significantly increased in 2024–25, the Government will be under pressure to increase that much further in 2025–26. This will be very difficult given the booming demand for partner visas, which the Migration Act stipulates must be delivered on a demand-driven basis.

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The skilled temporary visa has been contributing to high levels of net migration. In 2022–23, skilled temporary entrants contributed a record 43,620 to net migration and 41,950 in 2023–24. Faster processing of skilled temporary entrants would put upwards pressure on net migration at a time when the Government is trying to reduce it. Note that skilled temporary entrants tend to come with family and are looking for larger houses compared to students and working holiday makers.

While efficient processing of skilled temporary entrants is vitally important, it is unlikely the MIA and the AIG will get their wish on this anytime soon.

The other issue that tends to arise when skilled temporary entry numbers rise quickly is the risk of worker exploitation. The new arrangements the Government has put in place to reduce the risk of migrant worker exploitation will now be put to the test.

Dr Abul Rizvi is an Independent Australia columnist and a former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration. You can follow Abul on Twitter @RizviAbul.