Wybory w Australii opóżniają realizację polityki emigracyjnej

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) plan to complete its transformational change under the Systems for Australian visa program (People program) has been delayed due to the Federal election on 21 August.

Speaking at the CIO Summit 2010 this week, DIAC chief information officer, Bob Correll, told attendees that the department had initially planned to complete the second drop of 2010 on 21 August, but that this had since been delayed due to the announcement of the election. The last rollout, which has not as yet been rescheduled by the department, would see the implementation of a generic visa portal, facilitating easier processing of DIAC’s 140 different types of visas, and effectively cutting down the length of time it takes to approve or deny an inbound traveller access to Australia.

The delay of the generic visa portal will, in turn, delay the department’s plans to embark on a second transformational change program, expected to last a further five years. Under the “second wave” of transformational change, the department would halve the number of different visas from 140 to 70, while moving up to 95 per cent of those visas online for application and processing; a quarter of the total number of visas are currently available online.

As part of the new transformational change, the department would also seek to implement better risk management and analytics with a view to automate the majority of low-risk decision making on visa and immigration, while strengthening DIAC’s offshore presence to facilitate easier face-to-face contact with potentially high-risk clients.

The overhaul of the Australian immigration system is taking place step-by-step, with the introduction of the new Skilled Occupations List and more emphasis on the needs of the Australian workforce rather than catering to the desires of migrants to emigrate to Australia.

The changes have been criticised by some migrants who accuse the government of raising hopes, taking money and then turning their backs on those desperate to migrate to Australia. However as the population debate rages on it is clear that immigration will play a large part in deciding who gets the Australian vote in August.

State Migration Plans which were due soon after the implementation of the Skilled Occupations List will now also be delayed until after the election.

In the meantime if you are hoping to migrate to Australia, contact us for full information on what you need and how to apply.