The federal government has announced a short-term fix for the nation’s skilled labour shortage. It will give priority to processing 57,906 applications for permanent visas by skilled workers who are based overseas, with a view to announcing an increase in the skilled migrant intake after the jobs and skills summit in September.
As a result, the processing of permanent visa applications lodged by temporary visa holders who are already in Australia will be given a lower priority.
There is currently a backlog of 961,016 visa applications across all categories; Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil says 623,000 temporary and permanent visa applications have been processed since the start of June.
