DIBP 457 visas crawling to a halt!

Some may have noticed over the past 6 months that 457 Visa applications and transfers have slowed down considerably. Last year, the allocation time for a 457 visa was 15 working days. In March it was 30 working days.
 
On the 21st April, the DIBP advise that it is a whopping 40 working days before your file is opened by a case officer. That is 8 weeks.
 
What does that mean for business? Well, if you have a working holiday person you would like to sponsor and they are within 2 months of their 6 month work condition coming to an end, then they will not have an approved visa to work with you beyond that date. It is possible to seek an exemption for this condition but best practice will be to get the application lodged early.
 
Another very important consideration is that if the department requests further information from you, regardless if you provide that information 5 minutes after the request the Department may lawfully sit on that for a further 28 days. That means 3 months minimum to get a decision.
 
The DIBP are making many requests at the moment that you may not have experienced previously so it is advisable to use a good Registered Migration Agent to prepare your application to ensure all possible documents that may be required are available to the case officer upon opening the file.
 
The final consideration is for transfers of existing 457 visas to your business.
 
It is not lawful for these employees to commence work with you until their nomination transfer has been approved by the department. Obviously this can create great difficulty for the business owner and the worker sitting on the side lines waiting to commence work. Once again, ensuring a complete application is lodged is crucial here to the fastest possible response.
 
If you have any questions about this, drop me a message or call on 02 9235 0919.