KEY POINTS:
- Backpackers wanting to come to Australia only need to wait a day for their visa application to be finalised.
- Working holidaymakers can now also stay with a single employer through the course of the visa.
- The Department of Immigration said it employed 400 staff to sift through the one million visa backlog in the system.
Backpackers outside Australia can expect their visa applications to be processed in less than a day as the federal government says it's slashed the existing visa backlog.
In a bid to improve working holidaymaker visa wait times (subclasses 417 and 462), 120,000 applications have been approved for offshore backpackers in time for Christmas.
The government also announced working holidaymakers can remain working with a single employer for the length of the 12-month visa, instead of a maximum of six months.
The extension was supposed to expire on 31 December but will continue to be in force for another six months until 30 June 2023, to support Australian employers over the summer.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said 400 additional staff were hired since June to process nearly a million visa applications, culling the backlog to 600,000 by the end of the year.
“In line with the Australian Government’s commitment to improve processing times, visas for Working Holiday Makers applying outside Australia are being finalised in less than one day," Mr Giles said in a statement.
"This is a direct result of a Government that understands how important immigration is to ensuring certainty for individuals, families and businesses."
It marks a 19 per cent increase in backpacker visas (subclasses 416 and 472) that were granted in 2021-22, according to a.
Mr Giles said Labor hasn't "wasted a day" in what he describes as a "mess, waste and mismanagement" from the former government.
Teachers and healthcare workers, too, have had their as the Department of Home Affairs established its rethink of which skilled occupations should be prioritised.
Other occupations now being prioritised include welfare support workers, childcare centre managers, medical scientists, counsellors, psychologists, social workers and medical technicians.
It comes as Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil announced a review of Australia's migration system in November at the Jobs and Skills Summit in September this year, aimed at enhancing Australia's skilled workers and increasing productivity.
Four million visas have been processed since Labor came into government in May.
