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

A BLOWOUT IN PROCESSING times for theSkills in Demandvisa (subclass482and formerly subclass457)is being reported byTheAustralian, withconcernscoming from the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) and the Australian Industry Group (AIG).

Thenew temporary visa streamis part of alabour agreementbetweenthe Australian Government and employers.

The averageprocessingtime 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.

Accordingto the Department of Home Affairs (DHA):

No matter who wins the 2025 Election, both major parties face enormous pressures in managing the 2025-26 migration program.

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 LeaderPeter Dutton, when he was Minister for Home Affairs and stupidlytriedto make it as hard as possible to use this visa.

DHA should never have agreed to the ambitious processing times for this visawithout 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 risingbacklogof 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 visabacklog, increasing from 3,038 in September 2023 to 24,003 in December 2024.

The strongonshoreapplication rate will continue due to:

• the reduction in therequirementfor skilled work experience from twoyears to oneyear;
• a range of otherconcessionsto various industries and regional Australia; and
• the massive number of temporarygraduatesin Australia (over 200,000) seeking toextendtheir stay.

There is currently a recordnumberof 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 Governments 2023Migration Strategy,which seeks to reduce reliance on temporary migrants in favour of permanent migrants.

Therecordnumber of skilled temporary entrants is contributing to rising pressure on the permanent employer-sponsored visa. While places for that visa were significantly increased in 202425, the Government will be underpressureto increase that much further in 202526. This will be very difficult given the booming demand for partner visas, which theMigration Actstipulates mustbe delivered on a demand-driven basis.

Dealing with the backlog of people stuck on bridging visas has to be part of the plan to reduce migration, butpoliticians don't see the link

The skilled temporary visa has been contributing to highlevelsof net migration. In 202223, skilled temporary entrants contributed a record 43,620 tonet migrationand 41,950 in 202324. 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 newarrangementsthe Government has put in place to reduce the risk of migrant worker exploitation will now be put to the test.

DrAbulRizviisan Independent Australia columnistanda former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration. You can follow Abul@RizviAbul.