How the pause on visa holder arrivals will affect agriculture

Long-awaited Agriculture Visa holder arrivals have been delayed as the government monitors the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The first trial stage of the Agriculture Visa scheme is on hold until mid December, and some industry experts are nervous the scheme could hit speed bumps if it doesn’t progress to its second phase before next year’s federal election.

The first arrivals under the scheme were due to arrive from December 1, but will now arrive from December 15 at the earliest after the federal government announced delays to visa holder arrivals to assess risks posed by the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

The federal government has urged visa holders not to be deterred from travelling to Australia after it announced a two week pause on arrivals on Monday.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the decision to delay international arrivals was not one the government took lightly.

“We have been very focused on doing all we can to open our international borders as safely but quickly as we possibly can do,” she said.

“We are acutely aware of the impact that this will have on individuals, families, and businesses here in Australia.”

Workers in phase one of the Agriculture Visa trial, which runs from December 2021 to March 2022, will work with a small number of approved employers.

In phase two of the trial, which was set to commence in April 2022, the visa would be opened more broadly to employers and more workers will be able to participate.

But Work Visa Lawyers principal lawyer Chris Johnston said his firm, which specialises in immigration law, had little information to give to the hundreds of people who were contacting him hoping to apply for the visa, and the dozens of employers getting in touch looking for staff.

To date all he had been able to do was put those people on a waiting list, he said.

“We’re very happy that there has been some progress made (on the Agriculture Visa), but we don’t have a known date when it’s going to get extended beyond a limited number of employers,” he said.

“The risk is that there’s an election coming up, and if (the visa) doesn’t get up and running and get a good volume of applications through before the election, we don’t really know what what the future of that visa is,” Mr Johnston said.

He said the 14 day delay would likely “dent confidence” for seasonal workers looking to travel to Australia under a range of visas, including the working holiday visa.

Any prospective workers who had been booked to arrive between December 1 and December 15 would have to rebook their flights and “it’s not easy to line up a flight at the moment at an affordable cost”, he said.

People who couldn’t rebook quickly also faced the prospect of not being able to make full use of the time allowed on their visa, he said.

Ms Andrews urged visa holders not to be deterred by the government’s decision.

“For the skilled workers, and the international students in particular, who were looking to enter Australia post December 1, I would say to them very clearly is Australia is definitely a destination that you should look towards coming to,” she said.

“This Government has done an enormous amount of work to reopen our international borders.”

The delay comes as Victoria’s cherry and stonefruit growers head into peak harvest season.

Peta Thornton, owner of Temba stonefruit orchards at Woorinen, said finding staff was “more of a struggle” this year compared to last year.

She said the business was running smaller crews and staff were working extra hours to make sure the crop got harvested.