Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, upon notice, on 4 November 2011:

(1) For each of the following financial years: 2008-09, 2009-2010, 2010-11 and 2011 to date, what is the current average processing time for visa applications at each overseas post in relation to:

(a) the migration program;

(b) the skilled program;

(c) the family program; and

(d) the refugee/humanitarian program.

(2) For each of the following financial years: 2008-09, 2009-2010, 2010-11 and 2011 to date, what is the current average processing time for onshore visa applications in relation to:

(a) the migration program;

(b) the skilled program;

(c) the family program; and

(d) the refugee/humanitarian program.

(3) How many requests for labour agreements for semi-skilled occupations have been received in the 2010-11 financial year and the 2011-12 financial year to date, and of those requests:

(a) how many have been approved and how long did it take to approve each agreement; and

(b) how many individually do those agreements cover.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

The following tables provide average processing times in days for the skilled, family and refugee/humanitarian programs. Offices which have only processed small numbers of applications (less than 10) are not shown, as the small volumes of cases are not representative for the purposes of calculating an average processing time.

(1) (a) Migration program—overseas posts.

Processing times for the migration program as a whole are not maintained and are not meaningful, due to the variations in requirements for the different components. Processing times for the migration program are covered by the answers to the subsequent parts of this question - parts (b) skilled, (c) family and (d) refugee/humanitarian.

(b) Average processing time, in days, for Skilled applications by overseas post

From 2009/2010, Business Skills visa applications (in the Skill Stream) were only processed offshore in Taipei and Hong Kong. From February 2011, Hong Kong has been the only offshore post processing Business Skills visa applications (Skill Stream).

(c) Average processing time, in days, for Family applications, by overseas post.

** less than 10 applications finalised.

(d) Average processing time, in days, for Humanitarian applications by overseas post.

Notes:

** less than 10 applications finalised.

Victoria Offshore Humanitarian Processing Centre (OHPC) processes applications from people living in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

NSW Offshore Humanitarian Processing Centre (OHPC) processes applications from people living in Africa.

(2) (a) Migration program—onshore.

Processing times for the migration program as a whole are not maintained and are not meaningful, due to the variations in requirements for the different components. Processing times for the migration program are covered by the answers to the subsequent parts of this question - parts (b) skilled, (c) family and (d) refugee/humanitarian.

(b) Average processing time, in days, for Skilled applications by onshore processing location

Notes:

** less than 10 applications finalised.

Onshore processing includes applications lodged onshore and offshore.

(c) Average processing time, in days, for Family applications, by onshore processing location.

Notes:

** less than 10 applications finalised.

# only a small number of Ministerial intervention cases processed.

Onshore processing includes applications lodged onshore and offshore.

(d) Average processing time, in days, for onshore Refugee applications.

Onshore refugee applications are applications for Protection Visas. Figures are shown separately for Irregular Maritime Arrivals (IMAs) as processing times for IMAs are calculated differently. They are calculated from the time of arrival, rather than from the time of visa application.

(3) Labour Agreements for semi-skilled occupations.

In the 2010-11 program year:

the department received 64 requests for labour agreements for semi-skilled occupations, 24 of which have been approved, with a median negotiation period of six months.

231 semi-skilled workers were granted a visa under a labour agreement.

In the 2011-12 program year, to 31 October 2011:

the department received 18 requests for labour agreements for semi-skilled occupations, two of which have been approved with a median negotiation period of two months.

295 semi-skilled workers were granted a visa under a labour agreement.