The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has advised that applicants for certain General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas may now wish to commence health and police checks, which they can then submit with their GSM application to facilitate speedy processing.

This advice from DIAC suggests that after mounting pressure from industry and employment groups strategies are finally being undertaken by DIAC to start to deal with the backlog of approximately 140,000 GSM visa applications currently awaiting a decision.

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship set new priority processing arrangements for certain GSM visas in July last year. These new arrangements separate GSM applications into different priority groups, which determine the order and timeframe in which they will be processed by DIAC.

In recent advice, DIAC is encouraging GSM applicants in priority groups 2 and 3 to initiate the process of obtaining health and police checks. This includes the following GSM applicants may commence the process of undertaking health and police (character) checks;

• All Priority Group 2 Applicants – i.e., both onshore and offshore applicants who have been nominated by a State or Territory Government for an occupation which is now included on a State Migration Plan.
• Offshore Priority Group 3 Applicants (for visa subclasses 175, 176 and 475) where their nominated occupation is included on the new Skilled Occupations List (SOL) and where they have lodged their GSM application prior to 30th June 2010.
• Onshore Priority Group 3 Applicants (for visa subclasses 885, 886 and 487) where their nominated occupation is included on the new SOL and where they have lodged their GSM application prior to 30th September 2010.

DIAC has indicated that GSM applications in the above categories are expected to be processed within the validity period of the health and police checks. Given that health and police checks are usually valid for twelve months from the date of issue, it is reasonable to conclude that DIAC intends to process these applications within a one year time frame.

GSM applicants who do not fall into these categories are advised not to seek health and police checks unless requested by DIAC. This includes Priority 3 applicants where the application was lodged outside the specified dates, and all Priority 4 applicants where the application is not part of any Australian State Migration Plan, and where the nominated occupation is not listed on the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL).

Indications that DIAC are now addressing the significant backlog of pending skilled visa applications is further supported by Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, in his recent address to the Legal and Constitutional Committee on 21 February 2011. 

Mr Metcalfe said “..the return to above-trend economic growth following the global economic crisis has resulted in an increasing focus from the business and broader community on skills availability in Australia. Our permanent migration program plays an important role in contributing to Australia's skills base in the medium to long term. For shorter-term needs for skilled labour, the 457 skilled temporary worker program is uncapped and, as it is demand-driven, is very responsive to business requirements where Australians are unable to fill vacancies.”

He further remarked that “the importance of a responsive skilled temporary and permanent migration program has been particularly emphasised by two recent occurrences. The first is the concern that has been raised about the lack of skilled labour required to respond to rebounding economic growth. The second is the reconstruction effort required following the natural disasters over summer in Queensland, northern NSW, Victoria and Western Australia...”

These matters suggest a favourable shift in the Department of Immigrations approach to the processing of skilled visa applications and provide some hope to the estimated 140,000 skilled migrants currently awaiting a decision on their Australian visa application.