We have noticed a gradual increase in processing times for decisions to be made by the Australian Department of Immigration so we are sending you the current published processing times to enable you to make the best informed decision about the time frame involved in your expatriate movements to Australia.
Temporary work visa processing times
The table below details the indicative processing times for work visas.
The Department of Immigration of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) aim to process 75 per cent of applications within the time-frames detailed below. It should be noted that individual actual processing times will vary depending on a range of factors.
What is high risk and low risk?
The terms 'Low risk' and 'High risk' show whether passport holders are eligible to apply for an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA). Low risk applies to nationals from countries which issue ETA eligible passports. High risk countries are those which are not ETA eligible.
Permanent Residence processing times
The below table describes the processing times for permanent skilled migration visa subclasses.
What does this mean for HR Managers?
For a 457 (Temporary Work - Skilled) application, from time of lodgement, a time frame of up to 3 months will have to be included in your business’ expectations.
For a permanent residence application, a time frame of up to 8 months is currently being experienced.
For a visa subclass 400 (Temporary Work - Short Stay Activity), the time frames have stayed the same for a while which can be 1 week for low risk nationals and up to 1 month for high risk nationals.