MIA and Department of Home Affairs March Quarterly Meeting: Key Highlights
Subclass 189 Skilled Independent: Next Round of Invitations Confirmed for May
MIA (the Migration Institute of Australia) held its routine quarterly meeting with the Department of Home Affairs in March, bringing news on visa processing as well as the Subclass 189 invitations that everyone is most concerned about.
Because the Department already has a sizeable number of on-hand applications (the November round of invitations was a large one), the invitation round originally planned for Q3 has fallen through, and the next round will be issued in May.
Why Employer-Sponsored Visa Processing Has Slowed
The increase in processing times for employer-sponsored Subclass 482 and Subclass 186 visas is due to a rise in the number of lodgements, as well as many applications not being decision-ready — the Department noted that 58% of applications are incomplete.
Student Visa Refusal Rates and the Current State of ART Appeals
There is currently a backlog of around 55,000 student-visa appeals at the ART (Administrative Review Tribunal), but the growth rate of new applications is slowing, with the ART processing roughly 1,200–1,500 appeals per month.
The onshore student-visa refusal rate is around 20–25%, of which 50% of refusals go on to appeal to the ART — meaning that 10–12.5% of all student-visa applications ultimately end up as ART appeals.
Of the appeals lodged, 40–45% are successfully overturned, which amounts to just under 6% of all student-visa applications.
Offshore refusals are concentrated in South Asian countries; Nepal’s refusal rate reaches 70%, and while countries such as India have seen a decline, their rates remain high.
Slow Bridging Visa B Processing: The Issue and the Official Response
MIA raised with the Department that the slow processing of Bridging Visa B (BVB) applications has shown no improvement, with applicants forced to change their travel plans because their visa had not been granted. The Department explained that BVBs require manual processing, and that BVBs linked to Subclass 482 are now being granted for 2 years, while those linked to Subclass 186 are being granted for up to 5 years. It also advised applicants not to lodge multiple BVB applications — some individuals have lodged as many as 4, which only leads to further delays. MIA, for its part, recommended improving the framework for scheduling BVB processing.
With just one month to go before the Subclass 189 invitations are released, we hope more of you successfully secure your visa before the end of the financial year. Be sure to check the validity dates of your documents in good time, so that all of your points-scoring items are still valid when invitations are issued. Happy Easter, everyone!
