Australian Skilled Work Visa: Doubles the Wait Time
Australian skilled workers visa processing time has doubled and migrants are angry at delays in processing times. More than 887 skilled visa applications have been under process and it's taking more than double the time to process those applications.
More and more migrants are failing to get a visa, increasing the number to six times before the pandemic occurs, says the reports.
The Migrant Workers center has released a report on Friday stating that the Australian Visa processing system is deprecating , with processing time of skilled visa applications more than doubled since 2018.
It's taking around 24 months (in some cases more than 24) to process these skilled visa applications, for applicants who have applied to regional areas of Australia to work and live following the pathway of permanent residency.
The average processing time of visa applications in 2018 was 10 months. With delays in processing, the migrant workers are at the risk of exploitation from employers including working overtime and less wages or wages theft.
Living on an expired visa makes anyone insecure and vulnerable to exploitation in other countries.
Migrants whose visa applications are delayed for more than 24 months are preparing to have a country wide protest against the Australian Government’s failed visa system.
Many of them were sacked from their jobs, because without permanent residency they are not eligible for a job during the times of penedemice. To worsen the conditions, they were not provided with any help from the government during covid-19 due to their visa status.
Some graduates from the top universities have to work at construction sites to bear their daily wages.
The Migrant Workers center reports that the home affairs department is lacking in the required staff, which is contributing to the problem making it worse. Another reason for delay is, not getting the required resources allocation by the Department resulting in a backlog of onshore visa applications.
With an increase in the visa application in the last decade, the Department has reduced the number of resources and staff making the conditions worse.
