Visa backlog ↔ money + people

In the 2022-23 Budget released this Tuesday, the Commonwealth committed an additional A$576 million to the Department of Home Affairs over the next four years for visa processing.

Clearing the processing backlog has been one of the Labor government’s top priorities since it took office in May, with an earlier emergency allocation of A$36.1 million already announced to boost resources.

For more on the 2022-23 Budget, see: 2022-23 Budget | PR quota still holds surprises, 189 nearly doubles, 2,500 more places for parent migration!

Over the past few months funding and new case officers have gradually come online, and we are seeing some positive changes in visa processing.

The processing data pulled from our files is updated to the end of August, giving a clearer view of some of the shifts this financial year.

*Includes primary and secondary applicants

*189 covers all streams

Good news first: 190 and 491 backlogs both down

190: the backlog at the end of August was 19,155, a decrease of 926 compared with July

491: the backlog at the end of August was 26,022, a decrease of 378 compared with July

At the very least this shows monthly grants have now overtaken new lodgements… hopefully the trend continues.

For 189, the old points-tested backlog has been largely cleared and most of what remains is the NZ stream, but this financial year’s renewed invitation round is adding to the backlog again.

Are 189 grants really faster and more numerous, or is that just an illusion?

Even though the overall backlog drop is partly due to fewer new lodgements, we can’t deny the effort case officers are putting in.

190: 1,130 visas granted in July, 1,650 in August — more

491: 901 visas granted in July, 1,250 in August — more, +1

Monthly 189 grants have also ticked up slightly — this includes the NZ and other streams. The numbers can’t match the two state-nominated categories, so the sense that 189s are being granted quickly and in large numbers is mainly because the invited occupations are highly prioritised.

New lodgements reflect the changes in this year’s invitations

The opening of state nomination was delayed this financial year, which is why new lodgements for both 491 and 190 are lower in August than in July.

But the drop of 745 in 491 lodgements is likely also because overall state-nomination quotas for 491 are higher this year, invitation conditions are better, and more people are willing to wait for a direct PR outcome.

189 issued a large invitation round on 22 August, which should be the main reason new lodgements rose from July to August. Even so, across all streams the increase was only 2,591 — including primary and secondary applicants — which also suggests the invitation acceptance rate is not particularly high.

Of course applicants have 60 days after receiving an invitation to prepare their lodgement. 189 has issued roughly 25,000 invitations to date; how acceptance rates actually land will be clearer from the September/October lodgement data.

More requests for further information across the skilled migration streams

Before the official data is released, a quick word on what we’re seeing first-hand.

Requests for further information on skilled applications are arriving one after another, proof that files are finally being reached, mostly for police checks and medicals, with plenty both onshore and offshore. We’ve already shared the grants we’ve seen; there are many more still working through further-information requests or waiting for grant after providing everything requested.

489/190/491 are all represented; for 190 and 491 the requests skew offshore, which means many are long-standing backlog files.

We’ve also noticed 887 further-information requests picking up lately, roughly reaching September 2020.

With most onshore bridging-visa applications no longer requiring a medical for now, we expect these migration visa categories to move faster.

Current Home Affairs processing times on the official website

Compared with the end-of-August version there are some updates — below is a quick summary for a few common categories.

Please note:

– Processing times are a limited guide only

– The Department of Home Affairs does not guarantee processing will be completed within these timeframes

189

The gap between the 25% and 90% figures has widened, which means the Department is simultaneously processing recent applications (mostly the priority occupations mentioned above) and working through the old backlog.

190

Not much difference, a slight speed-up

491

Likewise a modest speed-up. The data doesn’t show clearance of files lodged around two years ago, but we have seen 491 further-information requests on 2020 lodgements — hopefully they’re on the way to a grant.

489 and 887

Both have slowed further

482 TSS

Slightly slower than the previous update.

186

Basically unchanged

870 long-stay parent temporary visa

Sponsorship assessments are speeding up, with many approved within 3–4 months, and subsequent visa grants generally follow fairly quickly.

With backlogs in the tens of thousands, every step forward is bound to be heavy and slow — but from the data and on-the-ground impressions alike, things are at least moving in the right direction.