Visa processing delays leaving scores of skilled migrants in limbo: Tasmanian Greens senator Nick McKim
Himanshu Dhadwal is a highly qualified IT specialist who has called Tasmania home for half a decade – but now the nation’s visa system has brought his life to a standstill. HIS STORY >>
Tasmania
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Skilled migrants who call Tasmania home are living in a state of uncertainty as they wait for up to two years for their visa applications to be processed, making it difficult to apply for work or rental accommodation.
As at October 31, 2022, 90 per cent of migrants seeking 887 Skilled Regional visas were facing processing times of up to 27 months, an increase of 11 months on 2018-19 figures.
The waiting times have shot up over the course of the pandemic, however the time it takes to process applications for the 190 Skilled Nominated visa – the standard skilled visa – is significantly shorter, with 90 per cent of applicants waiting up to 15 months and 25 per cent waiting up to 3 months.
The entirety of Tasmania is classified by the federal government as regional, meaning skilled migrants working in the state typically need an 887 visa.
Himanshu Dhadwal, 30, of Mount Stuart, moved to Tasmania from India in 2018 on a 489 visa, which requires migrants to live and work in a regional area for four years as a pathway to permanent residency.
After two years, he was eligible to apply for an 887 visa, which he did in December 2020. But, more than two years later, his application still hasn’t been processed.
“Honestly, I’m feeling very depressed,” he said.
“Sometimes I tend to forget things because I am thinking about this visa too much.
“It’s almost my 26th month running and my file is in received status. So not even a single case officer has been allocated to it.”
Mr Dhadwal, who has a Master of IT from Charles Sturt University and works as a complex customer consultant for Telstra, wants to apply for a new job that requires him to be a permanent resident.
However, because he is currently on a bridging visa, he is not eligible for the position.
Tasmanian Greens senator Nick McKim, who is assisting Mr Dhadwal, said he had been inundated with requests for help from anxious migrants in limbo.
He said many 887 visa applicants had “lived, worked, raised children and paid taxes in Australia for many years”.
“They deserve better than this,” he said.
“It’s a clear case of people in regional Australia, including the whole of Tasmania, being significantly disadvantaged.
“On bridging visas, they’ve got no access to Medicare, child care subsidies, schooling rights.
“A lot of employers don’t want to employ someone who they can’t guarantee will be in the country for a particular period of time … [and] it impacts on applying for rental accommodation because the landlords don’t want to rent to someone if there’s no guarantee that they’ll be in the country because they’re only on short-term visas.”
Senator McKim called on Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to “urgently” allocate additional resources to the processing of 887 visas, saying the current situation was “untenable and unacceptable”.
Mr Giles said the former government had “left our immigration system in disarray” and that Labor had been working to fix the “mess” – however, he noted that “nine years of mismanagement can’t be [addressed] overnight”.
“There were almost one million visa applications waiting for the Albanese government,” Mr Giles said. “Today, it’s about 600,000. Across the board, we have reduced waiting times for different visa categories and provided greater certainty to families and businesses across the country.”
“This has happened because we have invested in the system. There are now an additional 470 staff supporting the visa system, with more to come.
“I will keep listening to the community on how to improve the system and welcome feedback.”
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