FACT CHECK: Does more visa processing staff clear the backlog of permanent and provisional visa applications and keep waiting times down?
NO.
WHY?
Because there are a limited number of permanent positions in any migration program year able to be approved. Visa approvals will stop when this limit is reached.
I write this in response to an article by Paul Karp in The Guardian, 21 July 2022.
Visa application backlog risks causing ‘human misery and economic carnage’ due to understaffing, says Labor MP – Paul Karp 21 July 2022, The Guardian.
In the article, it states…
‘The Albanese government must invest in clearing the lengthy visa application backlog, or else home affairs will remain known as the department of “human misery and economic carnage”, Labor MP Julian Hill has said.
It’s not rocket science: we need more staff for visa processing to the clear the backlog and keep waiting times down.’
Yes, more staff will make processing faster, but they can only process applications up to the limit set by the government. The only way to clear the backlog is to reduce the number of applications being made and / or increase the number of visas allowed to be granted in a program year.
Let’s find out why…
At the end of the 2020-21 migration program year (permanent visas) – according to Departmental statistics published in the 2020–21 Migration Program Report – there were 97,385 skilled visas on hand (in the Department’s pipeline waiting to be processed – an increase of 12.3% compared to the pipeline as at 30 June 2020). There were 94,872 applications lodged during this time and 79,620 applications granted. 71.2% of applications finalised in the Skill Stream in 2020-21 were onshore.
The Department’s 2021/22 migration program year statistics will be published and released soon, however, if there were 100,000 skilled visas on hand, including 95,000 new applications lodged and only 80,000 granted, the backlog/pipeline will continue to grow resulting in further delays.
It doesn’t matter how many more people are employed to process the backlog, the Department of Home Affairs will be unable to grant more than 109,900 skilled visas visas during the 2022/23 migration program year. Therefore, the only way to reduce the backlog and processing delays is to allow or invite less people to lodge a new skilled visa application or to somehow increase the total number of visas that can be approved in the 2022/23 migration program year.
With a capped migration program which currently consists of 109,900 skilled visas, looking at the existing Departmental pipeline or backlog of applications, if we see a consistent number of applications lodged this year as in previous years, regardless of how many people are employed to process visa applications, waiting times will remain at approximately 2-3 years for most people if applications are processed in chronological order based on the date of application.
However, with 30,300 more skilled places available in 2022-23 comparted with 2021-22, more skilled visas should be granted than applications lodged resulting in a decrease in the departments on-hand/pipeline of applications. An easy solution to clear out the backlog would be to temporarily increase the number of skilled migration places available over the next 1-2 years to 200,000 places to clear the Departments backlog and new applications made, thus assisting business and industry to address current and future workforce needs.
Mark Glazbrook
CEO
