Australia’s skilled migration program needs greater speed and simplicity

When the Labour Government came into office three years ago, it acknowledged that the skilled visa process needed to be accelerated. Reforming the skilled migration system became a priority, evidenced in the Migration Strategy released in December 2023. 

Some positive steps have since been taken, but more than one year later, there is still opportunity to address prolonged processing times and complexity in the skilled migration program. 

Processing times

One of the most pressing issues for employers today is delayed visa processing times. For skilled migrants the anticipation of a long wait time can be enough to deter them from Australia altogether. 

When rolling out the new staple temporary skilled visa (the subclass 482 Skills in Demand (SID) visa), the Government committed to a seven-day median processing time for the Specialist Skills Stream and 21 days for the Core Skills Stream. However, processing times have extended to between 13 to 38 days and 41 to 61 days respectively. 

Delayed processing times are not unique to temporary visas. The wait for a permanent employer-sponsored visa is currently 13 to 18 months. This is a considerable increase from 2023, when applications were generally processed within one to seven months. 

Accredited Sponsors, who have been pre-vetted as good employers for sponsorship purposes, are not seeing any faster processing times.

Dedicating more resources to processing applications and implementing expedited processing times for accredited sponsors and expanding prioritised applications to include occupations such as university lecturers with teaching commitments, present ripe opportunities for the new Government.

Skills recognition

The 2023 Review of the Migration System led by Dr Martin Parkinson found that “Australia’s skills recognition system contributes to skills mismatch”. 

To obtain a skilled visa, a candidate may be required to obtain a skills assessment by an industry body and/or be granted an occupational licence. The time and financial cost for each of these requirements is considerable, creating a barrier for those wanting to migrate to Australia. 

Currently, the skills assessment and licensing processes are not synchronised, representing a missed opportunity for increased efficiency. If the skills assessment requirement was aligned with occupational licensing requirements, candidates could apply for their visas faster and with greater confidence. 

Globally, recruiters are increasingly shifting to skills-based hiring. There is a growing trend of countries accepting professional experience in lieu of academic qualifications for skilled visas. For example, the Opportunity Card in Germany and the Global Talent Stream in Canada. Australia has an opportunity to follow suit. 

Ultimately, when it comes to recognising skills, Australia’s migration program can put more trust in employers who have already taken candidates through a recruitment process that comprehensively assesses their skills and qualifications. These candidates may already be employed by the sponsoring organisation overseas, which further testifies to their proven skill level and the employer’s confidence in their capabilities.

Labour market testing

The SID visa requires sponsors to undertake labour market testing (LMT), demonstrating that a vacant position cannot be filled by the local market. The Parkinson Review found LMT ineffective in identifying labour market needs as well as a cause of unnecessary delays. 

The Government committed to “streamline Labour Market Testing” in its Migration Strategy. A bill currently sits with the Senate which, if passed, will mean that advertising remains valid for six months rather than only four months as it currently stands. 

While a good first step, this is not enough to meaningfully mitigate the burden that LMT poses to employers. Many would go as far as to say LMT is the primary hurdle in the SID visa process, signifying that this should be a priority for the new Government. 

The National Innovation Visa

The National Innovation Visa (NIV) consolidated a few different visa types as part of the Government’s commitment to reducing the number of Australian visa types. 

While this is a helpful move towards simplification, the NIV is proving very difficult to access. It targets the best and brightest talent, so naturally it needs to be reserved for exceptional candidates; however, the eligibility criteria remain broad, leading to overwhelming numbers of candidates seeking invitation. Very few invitations (necessary to access the visa) have been issued so far. 

This puts highly talented individuals who are not eligible for an employer-sponsored permanent visa, for example, those aged over 45, in a very uncertain position. 

In many cases, they must wait two years to become eligible under employer-sponsored age exemption pathways. When combined with extended processing times, this results in delays of up to four years before obtaining permanent residency. In contrast, countries like the UK and Canada offer more streamlined Global Talent visa options, making them an attractive alternative.

We are facing a global war for talent and if Australia truly wants the best and brightest, we need to provide greater certainty that there is a fast and secure pathway for them in Australia.

While much has been done for skilled migration over the past three years, there are still many opportunities left on the table to improve outcomes for employers, migrants and Australia at large.