In order to curb the country's current skills shortage crisis, Australia's government has announced a plan to drastically speed up the processing time of 457 Work Visas, also known as the Skilled Migrant Visas.
This follows after Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans told a Senate Estimates committee that 5795, or nearly half of all skilled migrant visas had not been processed within the required time of two to three months. He also stressed that if staff had to clear the backlog, they'd be working overtime.
Thus, more resources will now be provided to the Australian Immigration and Citizenship Department so that the current backlog of 457 Skilled Migrant Visas can be cleared by the end of June.
Also, specialised Australian immigration centres will be set up in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to process 457 Work Visas from July, as the number of visas granted in 2007-8 increased on the back of the mining and construction boom.
Specialised teams will concentrate on regions, industries and projects to address particular shortages.
In addition to that, employers who regularly hire overseas labour and classified as "low-risk" (i.e. firms with a good track record) will be able to have their applications fast-tracked under an accreditation system. This means that big businesses will be able to speed up the 457 Australian Work Visa process so that they can import foreign workers.
This comes after many employers have complained of significant processing delays for 457 Work Visas, backed by a report that 37% of applications by "low risk" employers took longer than eight weeks.
Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the Government had moved quickly to adopt 14 of 16 measures to improve the 457 regime recommended by an industry panel that's chaired by Xstrata Australia chairman Peter Coates, deputy chief executive of the Business Council of Australia Melinda Cilento and former chief executive of the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy Tim Shanahan.
As of April 1, 39,940 temporary Skilled Work Visas had been granted in 2007-08. Health and IT workers were found to be among the most sought after professionals.
Totals for the year are expected to be 17% higher than the previous year.
Statistics by the Australian Immigration Department showed that 20% of 457 Work Visa sponsors brought in about 75% of employees to work in Australia.
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