Skilled Migration Visa Processing Times

Skilled Migration

The department also publishes information listing the lodgement dates of applications that have been or will soon be allocated to case officers.

Processing priority groups and order of processing

Priority processing arrangements apply to skilled migration applications. They determine the order in which the department considers applications. Applications accorded a higher priority under the arrangements will be processed ahead of lower priority applications, regardless of when the application is lodged.

The following table details processing priorities for skilled migration applications.
Note: The highest priority is listed first. SkillSelect applications (187, 186, 190 and 489) will be the highest priority in each group.

Priority Group Number	Application Type
1	Applications under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS).
2	Applications under the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS).
3	Nominated by a state or territory government agency for an occupation specified on that agency’s State Migration Plan (SMP). Order of processing will be: applications lodged from 1 July 2012 through SkillSelect (subclass 190 and 489 applications) applications in this priority for other General Skilled Migration (GSM) subclasses (subclass 176, 475, 487 and 886 applications).
4	Applications with nominated occupations on the Skilled Occupation List Schedule 1. Order of processing will be: applications lodged from 1 July 2012 through SkillSelect (subclass 189 and 489 applications) applications within this priority for other GSM subclasses (subclass 175, 176, 475, 487, 885 and 886 applications).
5	All other applications, which include the following Note: These subclasses are not listed in order of processing: applications for a State or Territory Sponsored visa (subclass 176, 475, 487 and 886 applications) where a state or territory approved nomination has either not been provided or has not been accepted by the department applications for a Skilled Independent visa (subclass 175 and 885 applications) where the nominated occupation is not on the SOL applications for a family sponsored skilled migration visa (subclass 176, 475, 487, 496 and 886 applications) where the nominated occupation is not on the SOL.

Processing times – skilled migration applications affected by processing priorities

The below table describes the processing times for skilled migration visa subclasses.

Priority Group Number	Visa Subclass	Processing Time
1	RSMS (subclass 119, 857) Skilled Regional	Low risk – 5 months High risk – 8 months
	SkillSelect (subclass 187)	6 months
2	ENS (subclass 121, 856)	Low risk – 5 months High risk – 8 months
	SkillSelect (subclass 186)	6 months
3	SMP (subclass 176, 475, 487, 886)	12 months
	SkillSelect SMP (subclass 190 and 489)	6 months
4	Nominated Occupation on the SOL – Schedule 1 (subclass 175, 495, 496, 861, 862, 863, 880, 881, 882, 883, 885 and 176, 475, 487 if not SMP)	18 months
	SkillSelect Independent and Family Sponsored (subclass 189 and 489)	12 months
5	All visas listed in priority 3 and 4 that are not SMP or Nominated Occupation on the SOL – Schedule 1	Assessment will commence when all cases in priority groups 1-4 are finalised

Processing times – skilled migration applications exempt from processing priorities

The following visa subclasses are exempt from priority processing. These subclasses are processed in the order in which they are received.

Visa Subclass	Processing Time
476	7 months
485	12 months
489 Subsequent entrant/ Renewal	6 months
887	6 months
120, 855	Low risk – 5 months High risk – 8 months

Definition – low/high 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. A list of these can be found on the department's website. High risk countries are those which are not ETA eligible. 

More information on worker category visas is available.

More information visit Future Concern .

REPORT CLAIMS UK IMMIGRATION UNFAIRLY REJECTING VISA APPLICANTS

A recently released independent report claims that UK Border Agency staff processing visa applications from Africa had been "acting unfairly" and were wrongly refusing people entry to the UK.

The reported carried out by John Vine, Chief inspector to the UKBA, claimed that many visas were unfairly rejected after employees "disregarded or misinterpreted" evidence. According to Vine, some UK visa applicants had been refused entry for not failing to provide information that had not been originally requested.

The UKBA responded to the report saying they took the findings "seriously" and would look into it.

The report detailed Vine's inspection from May 2011 to July 2011 and examined the applications processed at four UKBA visa centres in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Croydon, south London.

Various reasons for visa rejections were cited in the report, including one case, where an applicant wishing to visit his uncle in the UK was denied entry because they had different family names.

Vine said there has been little progress made by the UKBA despite recommendations made in previous inspections.

"This is especially frustrating", he said, "considering the agency has accepted the recommendations, and yet I continue to identify the same issues. I would now like to see these recommendations being embraced by the agency without delay to ensure that there is a real improvement in the quality and consistency of decision making."

"We take the independent chief inspector's findings seriously and are making reforms, which include providing detailed guidance to applicants and improving the training for staff handling visa applications," a UKBA spokesman said. "The UKBA must offer a high quality service for genuine applicants while ensuring that those who do not meet the immigration rules are prevented from entering the UK."
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