Following on from earlier reports, Australian Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke is advancing a series of changes to the migration system. The main objectives are to strengthen management of temporary visa holders and further control the pressure created by growth in overseas migration.
The relevant reforms were originally due to be announced last week. The announcement has been delayed because further coordination is still required within Cabinet, and the policies are now expected to be formally released in the near future.
Based on the information currently available, the reforms are not a large-scale overhaul of the entire migration system. They are more likely to focus on optimising management of particular visa categories, strengthening enforcement of existing policies and making minor adjustments to some programmes.
One reform priority: temporary visa holders who remain long term
One term receiving attention in the reform discussions is visa overstayers.
Here, the term does not refer to ‘undocumented migrants’ in the traditional sense, but to people who originally entered Australia on temporary visas and remained for far longer than initially planned.
For example:
• People who enter Australia on a Working Holiday Visa and remain long term through renewals or applications for other temporary visas;
• People who continue staying in Australia by repeatedly lodging new visa applications after a temporary visa expires;
• People who, after a visa refusal, pursue a review process such as ART review and wait for an outcome over the long term while holding a bridging visa.
The number of bridging visa holders in Australia has risen substantially in recent years. Current data shows that it has grown from approximately 130,000 a decade ago to more than 400,000.
One important reason is the long-running backlog in Australian visa processing and review procedures before and after the pandemic. Processing across many visa categories was affected during the pandemic, with some categories experiencing substantially longer processing times and some applicants consequently waiting in Australia for extended periods.
Direction of reform: stronger enforcement, not across-the-board tightening
At present, this migration reform appears more inclined towards ‘targeted adjustments’ than an across-the-board reduction in migration.
The main areas currently under discussion reportedly include:
• Changes to family migration policy;
• Restrictions relating to Working Holiday Visas;
• Work rights for protection visa applicants;
• Faster processing of some backlogged cases.
Several government figures have said these measures are aimed primarily at optimising the existing system, strengthening policy enforcement and making limited adjustments to some migration programmes.
The Australian Government is currently maintaining its target of 185,000 permanent residency places each year, with no indication that it plans to make a substantial cut to the overall PR programme.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has also said that reducing net overseas migration to approximately 225,000 by 2028 remains an important government objective.
Partner migration and protection visas become the focus of policy debate
Family migration and protection visas are the two more contentious areas of these reforms.
Some Labor MPs have said the government needs to handle family visa changes cautiously and avoid allowing short-term political pressure to affect genuine family-reunion needs.
Some MPs have also warned against making so-called ‘performative reductions’ merely to respond to external calls.
Australia currently faces a large backlog of protection visa cases.
According to Department of Home Affairs data, large numbers of protection visa applications are ultimately refused, after which applicants enter the ART review process, causing the backlog to continue growing. The backlog of protection visa review cases now numbers in the tens of thousands, and some cases take years to be finalised.
The government is therefore considering measures including:
• Accelerating the processing of ART protection visa cases;
• Adjusting the relevant entitlements after a visa refusal;
• Reassessing work rights during prolonged waits.
Business and mining sectors oppose substantial tightening of migration policy
At the same time, Australian business groups and the mining sector have publicly expressed concern.
Businesses generally believe that the Australian economy still needs skilled workers from overseas, and that excessive tightening of migration policy could affect recruitment, economic growth and the development of critical industries.
Industry representatives have urged the government not to change the overall direction of migration policy hastily in response to short-term political pressure.
Current trend: targeted adjustments, not ‘closing the door on a large scale’
Taken together, the information currently available suggests that this round of reforms is more likely to make targeted adjustments concerning:
• Repeated long-term renewals of temporary visas;
• Long onshore waits for reviews;
• Management gaps in some visa categories;
through targeted changes.
There is currently no indication that the government is preparing a substantial cut to the permanent residency allocation, nor is there clear evidence that major changes will occur in categories such as partner migration and parent migration.
For offshore applicants, the offshore PR places previously promised by the government remain worth watching. Processing of the relevant visas may gradually return to speed in the middle or later part of the financial year.
Advice for applicants: plan early if eligible
Although the details of the reforms have not yet been formally announced, advance planning remains very important for people intending to apply for an Australian visa.
Options to consider now include:
• Eligible applicants can assess a partner migration pathway in advance and plan an appropriate onshore or offshore application strategy;
• Applicants eligible for employer-sponsored migration or skilled migration should prepare the relevant materials early to avoid uncertainty from future policy changes;
• Graduates who meet the regional second-application criteria for a 485 visa can plan their renewal timing in advance rather than waiting until their first Subclass 485 is close to expiry;
• Applicants planning to maintain lawful status through an onshore visa need to assess bridging visa arrangements and future visa pathways in advance.
Australian migration policy is constantly evolving. For applicants, the key is not to wait until policies change before acting, but to develop a reasonable plan under the existing policy framework based on their individual circumstances.
