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The new Australian Labor government has outlined its intentions to address the massive backlog of visa applications with waiting times for some working visas as long as 41 months.
Previous Immigration Minister Dan Tehan said the backlog of visas is a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and insisted that the new government must ‘act quickly.’
Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles said the Australian Government will focus on fixing the processing delay.
“An absolute priority for me is dealing with the neglect and gridlocking of the visa system and also citizenship processing that has been result of a long period of neglect of immigration functions of our nation under the Liberal government,” he said.
He also talked about the long waiting times for other applications such as Australian Citizenship applications saying, “the fact that too many people have waited for years, that’s just unacceptable.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised the issue at his first National Cabinet meeting on Friday, saying that the Department of Home Affairs would need to reassign staff to grant more visas, “We have put people from other duties into trying to clear the visa backlog.”
“That clearly is something that’s required, is necessary and is the easiest way to make an immediate difference.”