Critical IT visa delays slashed by 60pc in the past four months
Despite heavy industry backlash at the time, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil says a shake-up to the skilled migration rules has worked.
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Visa processing times for critical IT workers have been slashed by 60 per cent in the past four months, new data from the Department of Home Affairs shows, after backlash from the local tech sector when the government last year removed those workers from the priority migration skilled occupation list.
Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil, who is also the federal cyber security minister, in October signed a ministerial direction for the Department of Home Affairs to remove 27 job roles from the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) – including IT cyber security professionals and software engineers – a move that sparked a fiery response from corners of Australia’s local tech sector who said they were blindsided by the move.
“It is a surprise that in the midst of our worst ever national cybersecurity crisis, the government has decided it was the opportune time to de-prioritise these skills in our migration system,” Tech Council of Australia boss Kate Pounder said at the time, while the opposition spokesman James Paterson described the changes as “extraordinary.”
Ms O’Neil said in November that the use of the PMSOL involved complex and time-consuming assessments that added 45 minutes to the processing time for each application, contributing to the backlog of skilled visa applications.
Statistics from the Department of Home Affairs show that between October and December last year processing times for ICT workers applying for a temporary visa fell by 60 per cent, down from an average processing time of 53.5 days in October to 20 days in December, despite a consistent rate of applications during that period.
The backlog of temporary visa applications for ICT workers has also been cut down from 1554 in October to 994 in January.
Ms O’Neil said that the improvements have been driven by the government’s decision to streamline visa processes and recruit additional processing staff.
“This data shows the immediate impact that has been made by our decision to simplify the visa system,“ she told The Australian.
“I want those wait times down further, but I’m pretty pleased with the progress minister Giles and I have made. We are still in a really serious labour shortage. When I talk to business, whether it’s tech start-ups or other sectors, IT skills are one of the first things they mention in shortage.
“We acted early on to get movement in these kind of roles which is now starting to bear fruit.”
Australia weathered numerous high-profile cyber attacks in the past 12 months with millions of Australians caught up in the Optus and Medibank data breaches, leading to calls for more funding and support for the local cyber security sector.
Ms Pounder said she welcomed the progress being made.
“For 75 per cent of visas, the processing time is two to three times as long as markets like Canada and the UK,” she said. “We look forward to working with the government to bring this down further to 10 days, as well as finding ways to help train more Australians to get into these key roles.”
A spokeswoman from Australia’s largest cyber security services provider CyberCX told The Australian the cut in visa processing times was having a positive impact on the nation’s acute cyber security skills shortage.
“In this rapidly deteriorating cyber threat environment it has never been more important for Australian businesses, government, and the community to have access to qualified and trusted cyber security workers,” she said.
“Australia is expected to face a shortfall of 30,000 cyber security specialists in the next four years, and skilled migration will have to play a role in closing that gap.
“We urge the minister for home affairs and cyber security to keep this skills gap top of mind as she regears Australia’s migration system to be better placed for the challenges ahead.”
Matt Wilcox, the founder and chief executive of cyber security outfit FifthDomain, said that the skills assessment process can be improved. He pointed to recent statistics showing Australia has earned the unfortunate title of ‘most hacked nation in the world’.
“Using innovative technology, the process can be automated to improve not only timelines, but also assessment data,” he said.
“The cyber security industry is responsible for providing the Australian business community with the data needed to make informed decisions when hiring cyber skills. Because of the opaque nature of security and the money that is being poured into the industry, cyber is ripe for unqualified providers to enter the market.
“As the government continues to introduce regulation requiring businesses adoption of cyber services, it must put measures in place to prevent a cyber ‘pink batts affair’.”
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Originally published as Critical IT visa delays slashed by 60pc in the past four months
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