After Covid-19 the Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) have been struggling to keep up and clear the exorbitant backlog of cases. The DOHA is overwhelmed with the number of applications making it difficult for them to keep up with regular processing times. Visa applicants are becoming incredibly anxious and stressed due to the extreme delay and lack of certainty from the DOHA. The DOHA has generated new solutions to help return the delayed processing times of applications to their original duration. To do this they will be taking on 500 new staff members over the next nine months to help clear the backlog of case files and pending visa applications.
The DOHA has also proposed changes to immigration policies to make pending applications easier to decide. Between 2022 and 2023 the department has increased the option for permanent migration by 35,000 up to 195,000. This opportunity will remain the same and hopefully increase over the next few years.
Another proposal is international graduate of Australian universities will be able to work for longer while in Australia. For example, Skilled visas (subclasses 189, 190 and 491). If you are applying for a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) you must have completed your study in Australia 6 months immediately before making an application. For postgraduates, further information regarding qualifying bachelor’s degrees will be released in October 2022.
Lastly, there will be a temporary extension of COVID concessions on student visa holders work rights. This is proposed to end June 2023.
There may be further changes currently up for discussion but have not yet been approved including:
- Review and reassessing of the skilled occupation list
- Developing more opportunities to permanent residence to slowly push past temporary migration
- Raising the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) from $53,900 to better reflect current market rates
- Addressing regional labour shortages