Backpackers return
The Australian reported yesterday that the visa backlog has been brought down to around 600,000.
Notably, as of last week, there are 120,000 working holiday maker visas issued, rebounding from a mere 20,000 at the pandemic lows.
Back in my backpacking days you could only work for one employer for a 3-month stint, but these rules have now been eased to allow six months at a single employer (to be honest, I doubt there would be much checking of whether a company employed a working holiday maker for longer than six months).
To get a visa extension, it's still required for working holiday makers to work for 3 months in agriculture, though there have been calls to expand this into other industries experiencing skills shortages.
The rapid processing of temporary visas will be a huge relief to regional businesses, in particular, where staff shortages have been chronic.
Businesses are also calling for more to be done to get temporary visa holders numbers back up to above their pre-pandemic levels.
The Australian tourism body also wants to see the qualifying age for working holiday visas lifted to 50.
Home Affairs has hired 400 extra staff this year, and has processed over 4 million visas since coming to government.
Despite the rapid rebound in temporary visas, the processing of the skilled stream intake has been slow this year, and will need to ramp up quickly in 2023.
