Australian Visa Changes Cause Heartache

The visa changes have caused many to despair.

On Wednesday the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship announced changes in its priority processing for skilled visas. I use the term ‘announced’ loosely here, because the changes were not released to the press or announced on either Senator Chris Evans’ website or in the DIAC newsroom. Instead the changes were initially listed on the site’s Agents’ Gateway page; and some hours later also posted under the general visa information section of the DIAC site headed ‘New in Visas; Immigration and Refugees’.

The changes concerned a reshuffle of priority processing, meaning that those who were previously quite high up in the priority order, now find themselves near the bottom of the queue. But by far the biggest bombshell was that as well as affecting all new applications, the changes would also affect applications that were already being processed.

Therefore many people were devastated to learn that, as well as being bumped down the priority processing list, they may have to wait until 2012 to get their visas finalised!

The popular expat forum Poms in Oz has been inundated with disappointed and irate applicants like PaulTerriMojo who states: “We’re applying for a SS 176 visa which was acknowledged with DIAC on the 8th of September. We were preparing to get police checks and medsdone in the next month or so, now these changes come in! My occupation is not in the CSL, so we’re bumped down 3 places in the queue. We were looking to have a reccie next year. I don’t think that’s going to happen now.â€?

Others, who have spent thousands on migration agent fees, police checks and health checks; and who were expecting their visas to be approved within the next few months, are now left confused and anxious about the changes.

Jen has been trying to get a visa since 2007 and so far has spent £4,740 on agent fees, document certification fees, skills assessment fees and medicals. On Wednesday morning she received an email from her agent to say that her family’s meds were at Sydney awaiting clearance and that they were very close to having the visa granted. Then she read about the changes and her mood turned to devastation. Jen and her family now face a wait of a further 3 years and as she puts it; “I find myself in a situation now whereby I really don’t think I can give any more time or effort into something that seems no more than a pipe dream….I feel bitter and cheated with the whole situation.�

There is also huge confusion about the time scales involved, with the official statement from the DIAC warning applicants who are no longer eligible for priority processing, that they may have to wait a further three years for their visas to come through.  However individual case officers and migration agents are telling their clients they will only have to wait a few months.

“My agent has said that the way processing times are going at Adelaide, we could still get our visa in 3-4 months….â€? says Cartertucker.  Whereas Sam&G said: “What confuses me are the postings of others whose agents suggest it will only take months before people like us start getting their visas processed rather than the 2012 date which Evans states. Why? Why are they saying this? They don’t have insider info otherwise the agents on here would be saying the same thing. To my mind, it must be in order to keep their clients calm and sweet – this news is bad news for everyone agents included. As much as I would love their speculations to be true, I seriously doubt it.â€?

Overall people are stunned by the news and the speed with which the changes were made, with no prior warning: “We have been affected by the recent changes made. We are a family of four who applied for a 176 WA state sponsored MODL visa. We lodged our application in April and received our state sponsorship in July and was given a Case Officer at the beginning of September, we were instructed to get our police checks andmedicals done which we did at a cost of around £975 inc police checks. We had our medicals two days ago on the 22nd September only for the changes to be made the day after! Surely people with case officers should be honoured ? We also have our house on the Market and have started rehoming our pets!! Fingers crossed Maybe common sense will prevail and things won’t be so bad but we will have to wait and see.â€?– Lazybass.

The feeling amongst those applying to immigrate to Australia on skilled or state sponsored visas is one of disbelief, anger and shock. With many now wondering if it’s all worth it and others suspicious of further changes the government may sneak in. As Jen says: “To sum it all up after spending just short of £5k and being within a whisker of having our visa granted I feel like we’re back to square one with no end in sight!”

It certainly is a confusing change for a Federal Government who, in recent months, have been issuing statements telling the world that more skilled migrants are needed to fill up work shortages in Australia. It was only in December of last year that the Critical Skills List was introduced and earlier this month the DIAC was looking into initialising a plan that would see a 50 year intake of up to 230,000 immigrants to Australia each year. However these current changes to the Australian skilled visas seem to make it more difficult for those wishing to enter the country through state sponsorship as the DIAC has advised that it is unlikely that applicants for offshore skilled migration visas, whose occupation is not on the Critical Skills List, will have their cases finalised before the end of 2012.

We did try to get a statement from Ann Johnson, the Manager of Skilled Migration who represents the SA government, but were told by her office that she probably wouldn’t comment as the decision was a Federal decision and not a State one.

In the meantime there reigns feelings of anguish and heartache from people who had put their houses on the market, booked their pets into quarantine, sorted out the removals and had psychologically prepared themselves for a move to Australia in a few months. Those people are now left hanging onto the tatters of their dreams, anxiously scanning the DIAC website for further clarification and hoping against hope for a change of heart from the government. We give our heartfelt thanks to them for sharing their heartache with us and wish them the very best of luck.

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