The Migration Institute of Australia expresses concern over changes to Priority Processing

After the new priority processing arrangements have been made by the Australian government on September 24th, many applicants who had applied to Australia for immigration have protested in numerous ways. The new rules were not only unjust and unfair but it holds back the visa applicants for a time period of 3 years. Late last week an online petition was taken out by some applicants who had been waiting for their visas since past year. This whole issue has not only raised concerns among certain organisations but it has also made some Australian authorities worrying. The Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) has written to the Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship expressing their concerns about the priority processing of General Skilled Migration applications.
The visa applicants were writing to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) for a refund of their application fees since many of the applicants do not wish to wait for next 2 to 3 years for a visa. Despite the call for a refund of visa costs to those who face a waiting period of up to three years before their Australia visa will be processed the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Senator Evans has dismissed the idea. Speaking about the opposition and call for a refund of visa fees, the Minister said Australia Immigration would continue taking applications, although the entire system including the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) was under review.
Pointing out the Minister’s quotes, MIA stated that the new visa processing regime creates numerous serious problems including damage to Australia’s reputation, additional costs related to the wait to the Australia visa application, and the difficulty for employment for applicants on bridging visas. The MIA further said there was a potential risk to Australia’s reputation with thousands of people having paid Australia visa application charges, with the reasonable expectation that the applications would be finalised within published service standard times, waiting indefinite lengths of time for a decision on their applications. The outcome could be drastic as people would start protesting. The MIA has suggested that the Department should refund fees for applicants who now wish to withdraw their application, and that it is particularly important to give priority processing exemptions to those applications which were about to be finalised just before the changes were announced. Nevertheless the proposals made by The MIA are well received by the protesting applicants whose applications for immigration to Australia under certain categories are now put on hold by the Australian Immigration department.